Recontextualising the teaching of commercial transactions law for an African university
| Date | 23 August 2021 |
| Pages | 275-296 |
| Author | Hutchison, A. |
| Published date | 23 August 2021 |
| Citation | 2021 Acta Juridica 275 |
275
https://doi.org/10.47348/ACTA/2021/a10
Recontextualising the teaching of
commercial transactions law for an
African university*
ANDR EW HUTCH ISON†
This ar ticle reects on t he changin g political env ironment in South
Afric an higher education and oers one potential view of the future
of contract law te aching in the t wenty-rst century. Speci cally,
the author disc usses changes made to the nal-level LLB course,
Commercia l Transactions Law, at the University of Cape Town.
These changes were inspired by the #MustFall protest movements
and also i ncorporated the require ments of the South Afric an Council
on Higher Education’s 2018 report on the LLB degree. In essence,
this involved a recontextual isation of the component topics to speak
to a broader range of student life experiences, a s well as an attempt
to incorporate more materials focused on soc ial justice or wh ich are
ch ara cte ri sti cal ly ‘A fr ic an’.
I IN TRO DUCTION
The law can be confusing at times: it takes a depth of knowledge
and much experience to be able to unpack its intricacies. For both
the beginner and the more seasoned insider, it is always helpful
to have an expert w ith a comprehensive and detailed knowledge
to (re-)explain legal concepts and the application thereof. My
father, Professor Dale Hutchison, is such an exper t: he has built a
reputation around being able to see where others are going wrong
in the law and then to clearly explain how to resolve the problem
in question. In this essay I pay tribute to my father as a contract
law teacher1 – a role which I know he is passionate about and a lso a
* T his research is ba sed on work supported in pa rt by the National Res earch
Foundatio n of South Afr ica (gra nt number 111748). Any opinion , nding,
conclusion or recom mendation ex pressed in t his mater ial is th at of the author
and the NR F does not accept any liabi lity in this reg ard.
† BA L LB LLM PhD (Cape Town); Assoc iate Profes sor, Departme nt of
Commerci al Law, Universit y of Cape Town.
1 P rofessor Dale Hutchi son received a Disting uished Teacher’s Award, a rare
honour, from the Un iversity of Cape Town as long ago a s 1982.
2021 Acta Juridica 275
© Juta and Company (Pty) Ltd
276 THE F UTURE OF THE L AW OF CONTRACT
https://doi.org/10.47348/ACTA/2021/a10
role in which he wil l be remembered by the multitude of students
who passed through the University of Cape Town’s Law Faculty
(‘UCT Law’) between 1979 and 2019,2 his years of active service.
For me personally, my dad remains my original academic
role model. When I was a young boy, he would talk to me about
everything from politics to history to science to law – in addition
to being a present and engaged father. When I began to study at
UCT Law I became even more aware of the high esteem in which
my father’s abilities were held by others – professors prescr ibed
his published works for their courses and st udents spoke highly of
his teaching ability. Indeed, the more I learn about law, the more
impressed I am by the depth of my dad’s legal knowledge, even
outside of his specialist elds.
In what follows I wi ll discuss my own teaching of contract
law at UCT: not in the general Law of Contract course (in which
I am not involved), but in our nal year Bachelor of Laws (‘LLB’)
capstone course, Commercial Transact ions Law. I have been
the convener of this course at UCT for most years since 2010
and have learnt a lot in the process, both about law and about
teaching. I have also had occasion dur ing this period to again
watch my dad’s teaching methodology in act ion from a dierent
perspective and to learn from this; I would like to think that
I have developed as a teacher myself over the years. There have
also been great changes in South African academia dur ing this
period. The impact of the student protest movement, which began
at UCT with the #RhodesMustFall protests in April 2015, has
been funda mental.3 Ca lls for the ‘decolonisation’ of curricula
and the academic profession may have originated amongst South
African students, but these have been heard right up to the highest
2 A lthough my dad ret ired at the end of 2018, he taught on e nal insta lment
of the Law of Ces sion in 2019 and has rem ained a gue st lecturer on A dvanced
Con trac t Law.
3 A fter the fa ll of the sta tue of Rhodes a t UCT, the next movement for
change g athered under t he #FeesMustFa ll banner, w hich touched most
univers ity campuse s in South Af rica. For an i nsider’s account of t he student
protest movement , written by a UC T alumnus who w as involved in the se
events, see R Ch ikane Brea king a Rainbow, Buil ding a Nation: The Polit ics behind
#MustFall Movements (2018).
© Juta and Company (Pty) Ltd
To continue reading
Request your trial