The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law Winner of the 2010 Sunday Times Alan Paton Literary Award
Author: Albie Sachs From a young age Albie Sachs played a prominent part in the struggle for justice in South Africa. As a result he was detained in solitary confi nement, tortured by sleep deprivation and eventually blown up by a car bomb which cost him his right arm and the sight of an eye. His experiences provoked an outpouring of creative thought on the role of law as a protector of human dignity in the modern world, and a lifelong commitment to seeing a new era of justice established in South Africa.
After playing an important part in drafting South Africa’s post-apartheid Constitution, he was appointed by Nelson Mandela to be a member of the country’s fi rst Constitutional Court. Over the course of his fi fteen-year term on the Court he grappled with the major issues confronting modern South Africa, and the challenges posed to the fl edgling democracy as it sought to overcome the injustices of the apartheid regime.
PAPERBACK FEB 2011 OUP UK
320 PAGES 9780199605774
Sachs conveys in intimate fashion what it was like to be a judge in these unique circumstances, how his extraordinary life infl uenced his approach to the cases before him, and his views on the nature of justice and its achievement through law.
The book provides unique access to an insider’s perspective on modern South Africa, and a rare glimpse into the working of a judicial mind. By juxtaposing life experiences and extracts from judgments, Sachs enables the reader to see the complex and surprising ways in which legal culture transforms subjective experience into objectively reasoned decisions. With rare candour he tells of the diffi culties he has when preparing a judgment, of how every judgment is a lie. Rejecting purely formal notions of the judicial role he shows how both reason and passion (concern for protecting human dignity) are required for law to work in the service of justice.
Suitable for academics, students and lay readers interested in the workings of law in the modern world; readers interested in modern South African history, particularly the transition and post-Apartheid South Africa.
“If I still had responsibility for the English judiciary I would encourage every judge for whom I was responsible to read this book. I am sure it would improve their understanding of what the job really involves and what justice is all about.”
Lord Woolf, Formerly Lord Chief Justice of England, Wales and Northern Ireland (from the preface)
“The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law is his fascinating and honest account of how his own thinking, emotions and experiences contributed to some of the most startling, original, adventurous, far-reaching and moving decisions taken by any court in the world. ”
Marcel Berlins of The Guardian, UK
“But the thing is there’s nothing about Sachs which is that simple. Throughout the book Sachs explores, through nuanced style and content, the conjunction of opposites; of reason and passion, on intuition and rationale, of sacred and secular, of public and personal, of life and law. ”
Louise Tudor Jones, Weekend Argus
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