Time limit on advocates' arguments proposed

South African advocates could soon be limited in the time they may have to argue a case, by a change to the rules proposed in an important new draft report commissioned by the heads of court. If the proposals are accepted, there will also be a limit placed on the length of heads of argument. Other proposals for change are directed at the judiciary. The report’s aim is to create a framework that will allow the judiciary to monitor and report on its ‘performance’ so that it may be publicly accountable. In the past the Minister of Justice would report on the ‘development’ of the judiciary, but that is no longer thought appropriate since, under the Constitution, the judiciary has become so much more independent. Leading legal writer Carmel Rickard, in her latest A Matter of Justice column on the Legalbrief site, takes a look at the draft report and finds much that is significant, as well as some anomalies. Among these is the fact that a senior judge who provoked something of a crisis over a long-delayed leave to appeal judgment, now heads the committee that is recommending time-limits for judges to hand down their decisions.