Superior Courts Act, 2013

Superior Courts Act, 2013
Parliament of South Africa
Act to rationalise, consolidate and amend the laws relating to the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Appeal and the High Court of South Africa; to make provision for the administration of the judicial functions of all courts; to make provision for administrative and budgetary matters relating to the Superior Courts; and to provide for matters incidental thereto.
Citation	Act No. 10 of 2013
Territorial extent	Republic of South Africa
Enacted by	National Assembly
Date passed	22 November 2012
Enacted by	National Council of Provinces
Date passed	14 May 2013
Date assented to	12 August 2013
Date commenced	23 August 2013
Administered by	Department of Justice and Constitutional Development
Legislative history
Bill introduced in the National Assembly	Superior Courts Bill
Bill citation	B7—2011
Bill published on	2 June 2011
Introduced by	Jeff Radebe, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development
Related legislation
Constitution Seventeenth Amendment Act of 2012
Status: In force

The Superior Courts Act, 2013 (Act No. 10 of 2013) is an act of the Parliament of South Africa that restructured the court system. It reorganised the various High Courts into a single High Court of South Africa, with a division situated in each province, including two new divisions to serve Limpopo and Mpumalanga. It rationalised and consolidated the laws governing the superior courts (the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Appeal and the High Court), and altered the administration and financial management of the courts. The act was signed into law on 12 August 2013, and came into force on 23 August. It is associated with the Constitution Seventeenth Amendment Act of 2012, which makes corresponding necessary changes to the Constitution.

Transitional provisions in the 1996 Constitution require that the court system be rationalised to suit the new constitution "as soon as practical". The Superior Courts Bill was first introduced in 2003, but it was opposed by members of the judiciary and the legal profession, as well as by opposition politicians, because they claimed that it weakened the independence of the judiciary by putting the administration of the courts under the control of the Minister of Justice. The bill was ultimately allowed to lapse in 2009. In the meantime, the "Interim Rationalisation of Jurisdiction of High Courts Act" and the "Renaming of High Courts Act" were passed to allow the High Courts to be renamed and their areas of jurisdiction to be altered.

The Superior Courts Bill was reintroduced in 2010, but this new version made the Chief Justice, rather than the Minister of Justice, responsible for the administration of the courts, allaying the fears about judicial independence. The new version of the bill was supported by the official opposition Democratic Alliance. The bill did encounter substantial opposition from interested parties in Grahamstown, because it originally proposed that the main seat of the Eastern Cape Division should be moved to Bhisho; this change was ultimately reversed and the main seat will remain at Grahamstown.

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