Bhe v. Magistrate of Khayelitsha; Shibi v. Sithole; South African Human Rights Commission v. President of the Republic of South Africa
South Africa Constitutional Court
18 BHRC 52 (2004)
- Written by Caitlinn Raimo, JD
Facts
Nonkululeko and Anelisa Bhe (the Bhes) and Charlotte Shibi (plaintiffs) were women who, after the deaths of their family members, were negatively impacted by the South African principle of primogeniture, which provided that widows could not inherit as the intestate heirs of their late husbands, daughters and younger sons could not inherit from their parents, and extramarital children could not inherit from their fathers. They, along with the South African Human Rights Commission (plaintiff) brought action against the magistrate of Khayelitsha, Mantabeni Sithole, and the president of the Republic of South Africa (defendants), challenging the law as violating §§ 9, 10, and 28 of the South African Constitution (the constitution).
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Langa, J.)
Concurrence (Ngcobo, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 806,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.