Fun facts from the law reports — useful, and slightly cheering
• G.J v C.J [2026] ZAGPJHC 785 (17 July 2026) — a Randburg protection order survived appeal because the High Court read the messages as a climate, not as single weather events. Cumulative emotional abuse is still abuse.
• Van Rooyen v The State 2002 (5) SA 246 (CC) is twenty-four years old this season and still the case to cite when someone in a meeting says “but magistrates are not judges.” They are judicial officers. The Constitution did not stutter.
• NSPCA v Minister of Justice [2016] ZACC 46 turns ten in December. Private prosecution by the NSPCA is no longer a theory. It is a tenth-birthday present the animals already unwrapped.
• President of the RSA v SARFU 1999 (4) SA 147 (CC) remains the recusal test: would a reasonable, objective and informed person reasonably apprehend bias? Keep it on the blotter for any matter that has already been on television.
• S v Makwanyane 1995 (3) SA 391 (CC) is not a magistrates-conditions case. It is the dignity case. Ubuntu, the value of each person, the refusal to treat a human being — or, after ZACC 46, a sentient creature — as a means.
• A quiet statistical mercy: most protection-order files that are properly particularised do not come back on the same facts. Particularity is kindness to your future self.
“A bench that never laughs is a bench that breaks.”
— standing instruction from the President’s desk, spring 2026
“Order in the court… after the spring blossoms.” A bench that never laughs is a bench that breaks.
The official spring position of JASA: a walk, a cup of tea, and a succulent on the tray remain the most constitutional intervention available before 09:00.