Lawyers against the emergency

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Periodical article

Title:	Lawyers against the emergency
Author:	Ellmann, Stephen
Year:	1990
Periodical:	South African Journal on Human Rights
Volume:	6
Issue:	2
Pages:	228-250
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	state of emergency lawyers
External link:	https://doi.org/10.1080/02587203.1990.11827809
Abstract:	For the past four years many South African lawyers have devoted great effort and ingenuity to the practice of emergency law on behalf of the victims of the emergency. It is sometimes argued that lawyers who have practised in this field have misdirected their energies. Seeing the question of the value of practising emergency law as a subpart of the question of the value of practising law in South Africa at all, the author first asks whether people opposed to apartheid should undertake the practice of law of any sort in South Africa. Then, having concluded that at least some forms of legal practice do make sense for opponents of apartheid, the author looks at the question of whether emergency law is so worthwile a field that anti-apartheid lawyers may properly decide to give this field a priority over other fruitful areas of practice. Contents: 1) Lawyers' moral responsibility for their work. 2) The value of emergency law work (do emergency lawyers help their clients? - do emergency lawyers undercut the struggle against apartheid?). The author's conclusion is that it is important that emergency law work continues even though other fields of law may offer more frequent victories. Notes, ref.