Book Review: The Promotion of Administrative Justice Act: A commentary

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Pages: 174-175
• Date: 27 May 2019
• Published date: 27 May 2019
• Author: Geo Quinot

The Promotion of Administrative Justice Act: A Commentary

2 ed by Iain Currie. SiberInk Cape Town 2007. xiv and 234 pp. ISBN

9781920025182. Price R270.00 (soft cover)

This second edit ion of Currie & Klaaren The Promotion of Adm inistrative

Justice Act Benchbook (2001) SiberIn k by Iain Curr ie makes an impor tant

contribution to administrative law schola rship in South Africa . It is destined

to f ulll a role similar to the Promotion of Admi nistrative Justice Act 3 of

2000 (PAJA) itself in relation to general administr ative law, viz as a point of

departu re in assessing the legal validity of admi nistrative conduct.

The r ole of PAJA in general South African a dministrative law is a com-

plex one. The Act at tempts to give effect to the constitutional admi nistrative

justice right s and to ostensibly co dify the pre-exis ting common law on judi-

cial review. Un fortunat ely, PAJA is not a beacon of legislative success. In

this context Currie‘s work makes a signicant contribution in developing an

understand ing of the Act and its function in our relat ively new administra-

tive law system against the backdr op of the existing common law. The author

manages to develop a coherent approach to t he interpretation and consequent

use of PAJA by a nalyzing the jurisprudence de aling with t he constitutional

provisions pre ceding and underlying the Act as well as judicial pronounce-

ments on the Act itself with a con stant eye on the pre- existing common law.

Currie indicates that many of t he peculiarities of PAJA can only be properly

understood with r eference to the drafting history of t he Act, including the

impact of comparative legal pers pectives in that drafting proce ss.

Although this bo ok is in essence a second edition (despite the new title

– see the Preface to this edition), it contains a signicant amount of new mate-

rial. Thi s additional material is not restricted t o updated case references and

academic literature on PAJA, which represent a considerable addition, but

also includes substa ntively new analyses such as the discussions of the appli-

cation of PAJA to rule-making and labour law in paragraphs 3.33 a nd 3.34

respectively. In addition there are a number of important, if subtle, departu res

from some of the positions adopted in the previous edition. One example is the

somewhat different approach t aken to the all-important concept ual denition

of “ad ministrative a ction” in section 1 of PAJA. The previous edition sug-

gested a seven-step approach t hat has become quite popular in South Afr ican

174 STELL LR 2008 1

(2008) 19 Stell LR 174

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