Dr Paul Swanepoel

Senior Lecturer

+27 31 260 3389

Swanepoelp@ukzn.ac.za

Howard College

HC Building – Suite G 1F-18, 1st Floor

Biography

Dr Paul Swanepoel is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Law. He teaches Administrative Law, Constitutional Law and Jurisprudence as part of the Bachelor of Laws (LLB) programme as well as History and Philosophy of Constitutionalism on the Master of Laws (LLM) programme in Advanced Constitutional Litigation. Prior to joining UKZN in 2013, Dr Swanepoel graduated with an undergraduate MA (Honours) in History from the University of St Andrews, which was followed by a LLB degree from the University of Natal. He then completed articles in Durban and was admitted as an attorney. He returned to Scotland to read for a master’s and PhD in African Studies at the Centre for African Studies at the University of Edinburgh.

Academic qualifications

MA (Hons) (St Andrews)
LLB (Natal)
MSc PhD (Edinburgh)

Professional qualification

Attorney of the High Court of South Africa

Research Interests

The Colonial Judiciary
Legal History
Administrative Law
Constitutional Law
Jurisprudence

Publications

(with S. Peté) ‘In-between Black and White: Defining Racial Boundaries in Colonial Natal at the turn of the Twentieth Century – Part One’ Fundamina: A Journal of Legal History 28, no. 2 (2022): 43-72.
‘Holding the Executive to Account? Public Protector v President of the RSA 2021 (9) BCLR 929 (CC).’ Obiter 43(4) (2022) 43: 853-871.
(with K. Govender) ‘The Powers of the Office of the Public Protector and the South African Human Rights Commission: A Critical Analysis of SABC v DA and EFF v Speaker of the National Assembly 2016 3 SA 580 (CC).’ Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal 23 (2020): 1-32.
‘Codifying Criminal Law in East Africa during the Interwar Period.’ Stichproben: Vienna Journal of African Studies 37 (2019): 93-113.
(with S. Peté) ‘The Development of Racially Defined Punishment in Colonial Natal: The Early History of Durban’s Point Prison.’ Fundamina: A Journal of Legal History 25, no. 2 (2019): 169-198.
‘Colonial Judges, Administrative Officers and the Bushe Commission in Interwar Kenya and Tanganyika.’ Fundamina: A Journal of Legal History 23, no. 1 (2017): 89-110.
(with K. Govender) ‘Cynicism and the Rule of Law: A Critical Analysis of President of the RSA v M&G Media Limited 2012 (2) SA 50 (CC) and Associated Judgments.’ Southern African Public Law 30, no. 2 (2015): 580-597.
‘Kenya’s Colonial Judges: The Advocates’ Perspective.’ Journal of Asian and African Studies 50, no. 1 (2015): 41-57.
‘Transient Justice: Colonial Judges on Circuit in Interwar Tanganyika.’ Stichproben: Vienna Journal of African Studies 24 (2013): 65-97.
‘Judicial Choice during the Mau Mau Rebellion in Kenya, 1952-1960.’ Fundamina: A Journal of Legal History 18, no. 2 (2012): 145-161.

Papers Delivered

‘From the Middle Temple to the South Pacific and East Africa’, Colonial Legal Biography Workshop, Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory, Frankfurt, Germany, 27-28 April 2023.
‘Holding the Executive to Account’, Administrative Justice Association of South Africa Conference, Salt Rock, 18-20 August 2022.
‘Trusteeship: Native Lands Trust legislation in Kenya and South Africa, 1936-38’, Sixth Biennial Conference of the European Society for Comparative Legal History, University of Lisbon, Portugal, 22-24 June 2022.
‘The “Indian Question” in Kenya and South Africa, 1920-1946’, 40^th Annual Conference of the Australian and New Zealand Law and History Society, University of Technology Sydney, Australia, 1-3 December 2022.
‘Trusteeship: Native Lands Trust legislation in Kenya and South Africa, 1936-38’, Sixth Biennial Conference of the European Society for Comparative Legal History, University of Lisbon, Portugal, 22-24 June 2022.
‘Holding the Executive to Account’, Administrative Justice Association of South Africa Conference, Salt Rock, 18-20 August 2022.
‘Forging a Judicial Identity: The Colonial Legal Service’, Foreign Judges on Domestic Courts Workshop, University of Hong Kong, 6-7 May 2021.
‘The Development of Racially Defined Punishment in Colonial Natal: The Early History of Durban’s Point Prison’, Juris Diversitas Conference, University of the North West, Potchefstroom, 15-17 April 2019.
‘Codifying Criminal Law in East Africa, 1920-1945’, Fifth Biennial Conference of the European Society for Comparative Legal History, École normale supérieure, Paris, 28-30 June 2018.
‘The Nature and Effect of the Public Protector’s Findings and Remedial Action’, Administrative Justice Association of South Africa Conference, Salt Rock, 10-11 August 2017.
‘Judicial Identities in Tanganyika, 1920-1961’, Fourth Biennial Conference of the European Society for Comparative Legal History, University of Gdansk, Poland, 28 June to 1 July 2016.
‘Cynicism and the Rule of Law: Gaining Access to the Khampepe Report’, Administrative Justice Association of South Africa Conference, Salt Rock, 11-12 February 2016.
‘Colonial Judges, Administrative Officers and Indirect Rule in East Africa: A War of Ideas’, Third Biennial Conference of the European Society for Comparative Legal History, University of Macerata, Italy, 8-9 July 2014.
‘Judicial Choice during the Mau Mau Rebellion in Kenya, 1952-1960’, Colonies and Postcolonies of Law: A Public Conference on Legal History, University of Princeton, 18-19 March 2011.
‘Railways, Steamboats and Courts: Tanganyika’s Judges on Circuit, 1920-45’, Performing Colonial Modernity, University of Edinburgh, 18-19 May 2010.
‘“Indifferent Justice?” Judicial Biographies from Colonial Tanganyika’, Transcending Boundaries: Biographical Research in Colonial and Postcolonial African History, German Historical Institute, London, 7-8 May 2010.
‘Kenya’s Colonial Judges: The Advocates’ Perspective’, British Institute in Eastern Africa Annual Conference, British Academy, London, 18 September 2008.

School of Law