Introduction To Legal Materials

To understand how the legal system works, students must consider the law in terms of its structures, processes, language, and modes of thought and argument—in short, they must become literate in the field. Legal Literacy fulfills this aim by providing a foundational understanding of key concepts such as legal personhood, jurisdiction, and precedent, and by introducing students to legal research and writing skills. Examples of cases, statutes, and other legal materials support these concepts. While Legal Literacy is an introductory text, it also challenges students to consider critically the system they are studying. Touching on significant socio-legal issues such as access to justice, legal jargon, and plain language, Zariski critiques common legal traditions and practices, and analyzes what it means “to think like a lawyer.” As such, the text provides a sound basis for those who wish to pursue further studies in law or legal studies as well as those seeking a better understanding of how the legal field relates to the society that it serves.

The author of this book, Prof. S.K. Amor, is Acting Director of the Justice Training Centre and lecturer at the University of Namibia. The writing of this book was inspired mainly by the fact that, despite Namibia's independence in 1990, Namibian legal practitioners, academics and students lecturing and studying law at the University of Namibia (UNAM) still do not have a truly Namibian reference book. Instead, they rely heavily on legal literature from South Africa and other countries. An Introduction to Namibian Law is an attempt to bridge this gap by introducing law academics, lecturers and students to the most important aspects of Namibian law. It explains the origin of the country's law and looks at the various influences over the years. The book contains material covered in various UNAM courses, such as Jurisprudence, Introduction to Cases, Comparative Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law, Interpretation of Statutes, and Civil and Criminal Procedure. It also contains various extracts in support of legal arguments, in which legal concepts are illustrated and thoroughly explained, as well as sample legal forms. Full accounts of certain cases are included to give students of Namibian law a depth of understanding of how Namibian law has been applied over the years.