South Africa's Constitution At Twenty One

In the 21 years since its inception, South Africa's Constitution has acquired an almost mythical status, both at home and abroad. Yet, crucially, its primary impact has been on the nuts and bolts of people's lives.
It means that the death penalty is no longer a sentencing option, and gays and lesbians can get married and adopt. It affects directly the types of contracts and commercial arrangements the courts will countenance and on people's rights to land. This collection of essays explores what the Constitution means for South Africans and for the world - both through its definition of legal rights and through the seepage into the real world of those rights, and the culture that has arisen around them.

The contributors range from former Constitutional Court judges to activists, writers and philosophers, who look soberly at what has been achieved and what still needs to be done.