Johann van der Westhuizen

Johann Vincent van der Westhuizen ( born May 26, 1952 in Windhoek ) is a South African lawyer and since 2004, judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of South Africa.

Education and professional career

His schooling was van der Westhuizen, Pretoria. The study of law, he joined the University of Pretoria from 1973. 1975 Bachelor of Laws awarded him there. The following year he was admitted as a lawyer. Later he joined as a research assistant at his alma mater and was there in 1980 his Doctor of rights. At the same time he taught there in the field of legal history. In the same year he was appointed as a professor. At the same time he directed until 1994 the Department of Legal History, Comparative Law and Legal Philosophy. In 1986, he was the founding director of the Centre for Human Rights. van der Westhuizen was significantly involved in the drafting of the Constitution adopted on 9 May 1996 the Republic of South Africa. So he was already a member of the responsible for the drafting of the Transitional Administrative Law Transitional Executive Council and advised the Constituent Assembly of South Africa. In 1994 he was appointed member of a commission that was responsible for the abolition of discriminatory laws provisions of the apartheid era. Two years later he led a project of the Ministry of Justice and the South African Human Rights Commission to draw up rules on equal treatment. 1999 Nelson Mandela appointed him judge of the Transvaal Provincial Division. In February 2004, van der Westhuizen was finally appointed as a judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of South Africa.

Publications (selection )

• Introductory notes on South African human rights law. Center for Human Rights, Pretoria 1993, OCLC 32478286, LCCN 95-151058
• On equality, justice, the future of South African law schools and other dreams. Center for Human Rights, Pretoria 1993, OCLC 65096997