[PAST EVENT] "Working with Mandela: The Constitutional Process in Post-Apartheid South Africa"

March 31, 2014
12:50pm - 1:50pm
Location
Law School, Room 141
613 S Henry St
Williamsburg, VA 23185Map this location
The Honorable Albie Sachs, Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa (retired), will present "The Constitutional Process in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Working with Mandela" on March 31, 2014, in the W&M Law School, Room 141 at 12:50pm.

This lecture is free and open to the public, and a book signing with Justice Sachs will immediately precede and follow his talk.

Justice Sachs began his law practice at the age of 21 and spent the majority of his time defending people charged under racist apartheid statutes and repressive security laws. Justice Sachs himself was the subject of raids by security police and banning orders restricting his movement, and he was eventually placed in solitary confinement without trial for two extended periods of detention.

In 1966 Justice Sachs was forced into exile. After spending eleven years studying and teaching law in England he returned to Mozambique, where he taught law school for another eleven years. In 1988 South African security agents placed a bomb in his car in Maputo, and in the explosion he lost an arm and sight in one eye.

In 1990 he returned to South Africa, where as a member of the Constitutional Committee and the National Executive of the ANC he took active part in negotiations that led to South Africa's transition to a constitutional democracy. After the first democratic election in 1994 he was appointed by President Nelson Mandela to serve on the newly established Constitutional Court.

Co-sponsored by the Program in Comparative Legal Studies and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding at William & Mary Law School, the Reves Center for International Studies, and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. The event is co-hosted by the International Law Society and the Black Law Students' Association.
Contact

[[international]]