About us

The Department of Private Law offers a full complement of courses at undergraduate level and selected courses at postgraduate level. These courses are presented by experienced and highly-regarded law teachers who use contemporary and innovative teaching and assessment methodologies to enhance their students’ learning experiences. The department also possesses considerable supervision expertise in regard to LLM theses as well as LLD/PhD dissertations.

The Department of Private Law is known nationally and internationally for its members’ outstanding and high-level scholarship. The department boasts a number of NRF-rated researchers, one of whom is an internationally-acclaimed scholar. Members of the department consistently author books, book chapters, peer-reviewed articles and other scholarly pieces. This research is widely cited, not only by postgraduate researchers and other legal-academic scholars but also by South African courts.

Members of the department regularly read papers at national and international conferences, symposia and colloquia. Departmental members also serve on the editorial boards of various South African law journals, and frequently hold visiting professorships, research fellowships and guest lectureships at national and international law faculties and other research institutions.