Strange Alchemy of Life and Law

From a young age Albie Sachs played a prominent part in the struggle for justice in South Africa. As a result he was detained in solitary confinement, tortured by sleep deprivation and eventually blown up by a car bomb which cost him his right arm and the sight of an eye. His experiences provoked an outpouring of creative thought on the role of law as a protector of human dignity in the modern world, and a lifelong commitment to seeing a new era of justiceestablished in South Africa. After playing an important role in drafting South Africa's post-apartheid Constitution, he was appointed by Nelson Mandela to be a member of the country's first Constitutional Court. Over the course of his fifteen year term on the Court he has grappled with the major issues confronting modern South Africa, and the challenges posed to the fledgling democracy as it sought to overcome the injustices of the apartheid regime. As his term on the Court approaches its end, Sachs here conveys in intimate fashion what it has been like to be a judge in these unique circumstances, how his extraordinary life has influenced his approach to the cases before him, and his views on the nature of justice and its achievement through law. The book provides unique access to an insider's perspective on modern South Africa, and a rare glimpse into the working of a judicial mind. By juxtaposing life experiences and extracts from judgments, Sachs enables the reader to see the complex and surprising ways in which legal culture transforms subjective experience into objectively reasoned decisions. With rare candour he tells of the difficulties he has when preparing a judgment, of how every judgment is a lie. Rejecting purely formalnotions of the judicial role he shows how both reason and passion (concern for protecting human dignity) are required for law to work in the service of justice.

Dazzlingly honest and original mind., If I still had responsibility for the English judiciary I would encourage every judge for whom I was responsible to read this book. I am sure it would improve their understanding of what the job really involves and what justice is about., The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law...is [Albie Sachs'] fascinating and honest account of how his own thinking, emotions and experiences contributed to some of the most startling, original, adventurous, far-reaching and moving decisions taken by any court in the world., If you love justice as much as you abhor and detest injustice, you will be deeply moved by this engrossing 300 page jurisprudential memoir by Albie Sachs...this is one of the few entertaining books which can be classified as a work on judicial reasoning and how a judge might decide from the insider perspective., Mr Sachs's book is not just an appeal for sympathy for poor old judges who have to make difficult decisions but an invitation for public understanding of the abstract strengths as well as the humanity of the process.

Albie Sachs was a Justice on the Constitutional Court of South Africa from 1994-2009. He is the author of Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter (1991), Justice in South Africa (1974), The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs (1966), and The Free Diary of Albie Sachs (2004).