This thought-provoking book critically analyses jurisprudential trends, commonalities and recent progress in the treatment of the rights of minorities, across a wide range of countries. Bertus de Villiers challenges conventional beliefs and proposes new approaches, including whether the rights of minorities and Indigenous People ought to be categorized separately within the law.
The book explores the responses of courts to minority rights by considering three key questions, namely who is the legal subject (the right holder); what is the legal object (the actual right); and what is the legal remedy (the relief)? De Villiers extensively investigates and comments on the shortcomings and breakthroughs arising from jurisprudence and the challenges faced by minorities to have their rights recognised through the eyes of judges. Examining detailed case studies focusing on minority protection, the book presents creative initiatives that have been undertaken by states to accommodate minorities and Indigenous Peoples and proposes options for the future treatment of minorities.
Minorities and Constitutional Law is a vital resource for legal practitioners, judges, researchers, and students in law, political science and the social sciences. Its substantive contribution to the protection of minority rights will also be of interest to specialists in public law, policy advisors, and expert bodies specialising in constitutional and administrative law and human rights.
