Lourens Ackermann

Lourens "Laurie" Wepener Hugo Ackermann (born January 14, 1934 in Pretoria ) is a South African lawyer. He was a judge at the Constitutional Court of the Republic of South Africa from 1994 to 2004 .

Education and professional career

Ackermann received his education at the Pretoria Boys' High School , where he graduated in 1950. He then took up studies at the University of Stellenbosch , which he completed in 1954 with a Bachelor of Arts . Because of his good performance one, he was a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Worcester College of the University of Oxford awarded. There he also obtained a Bachelor of Arts before he returned to the University of Stellenbosch to receive the Bachelor of Laws . In 1958 he was admitted to the Pretoria Bar Association and practiced there until 1980. From 1976 he held several positions as a temporary judge, but was not appointed full-time judge at the Transvaal Provincial Division until 1980 . He held this office until September 1987. Then he received a call to the newly founded Oppenheimer Chair for Human Rights at the University of Stellenbosch, named after Harry Frederick Oppenheimer . In addition to his work there, he was visiting professor at Columbia University and at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg . In late 1992, he retired from university and was appointed to a judge's post in the Cape of Good Hope Provincial Division in January 1993 . In August 1994 Nelson Mandela appointed him a judge at the Constitutional Court of the Republic of South Africa. During his activity there, he was entrusted with the administration and expansion of the court library. Ackermann resigned from his post as a judge in 2003 for reasons of age.

Others

Ackermann is married to Denis Ackermann with whom he has three children and five grandchildren. Between 1988 and 2003 he represented South Africa in the Rhodes Trust . In 2000 he worked as a research assistant at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law.

Awards and memberships (selection)

• Honorary doctorate from the University of Stellenbosch
• Honorary Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford

Publications (selection)

• Equality and the South African Constitution: the role of dignity . In: Journal for Foreign Public Law and International Law . Volume 60 (2000), No. 3-4, ISSN  0044-2348 , pp. 537-556.
• Constitutional comparativism in South Africa: a response to Sir Basil Markesinis and Jörg Fedtke . In: Tulane law review . Vol. 80 (2005), No. 1 ISSN  0041-3992 , pp. 169-193.
• Equality and non-discrimination: some thoughts . In: South African journal on human rights . Vol. 22 (2006), No. 4 ISSN  0258-7203 , pp. 597-612.

Web links

• Biography on the website of the Constitutional Court (English)