It is a great privilege and honour for me to be speaking on this occasion,not only as Dean of one of the two law faculties which are sponsors of this event, but also in response to a paper of such lucidity and quality.It has occurred to me that in holding this conference we are not only celebrating the anniversaries of the South African Law Journal, of Juta & Co, Ltd and of the Constitution1 itself. We are also marking a milestone of another event which has special significance for administrative law. This year marks the 175th anniversary of the Charter of Justice of 1828 which effectively established the foundations of the Supreme Court of South Africa and therefore the beginnings of the system of judicial review of administrative action which has for so long formed the bedrock of our administrative law.2 In another quirk of coincidence,I could not help noticing that the official dinner of this conference was held in a hotel which is part of a shopping complex the development of which itself led to one of the great landmarks of administrative law in the courts of this country, in the case of Administrator, Transvaal and The Firs Investments (Pty) Ltd v Johannesburg City Council
