Moult, Kelley --- "Letting the outside in? Court clerks, discretion and the shifting boundary between community and court: domestic violence cases in South Africa" [2019] ELECD 2340; in Sterett, M. Susan; Walker, D. Lee (eds), "Research Handbook on Law and Courts" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) 290

Book Title: Research Handbook on Law and Courts

Editor(s): Sterett, M. Susan; Walker, D. Lee

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Section: Chapter 21

Section Title: Letting the outside in? Court clerks, discretion and the shifting boundary between community and court: domestic violence cases in South Africa

Author(s): Moult, Kelley

Number of pages: 18

Abstract/Description:

Court clerks in domestic violence courts in South Africa shape complex troubles into cases. As street level workers, they manage onerous caseloads, assess the worthiness of clients, and attend to the demands of supervisors and external communities. Yet they are often neglected as members of a court work group. The few studies on court clerks theorize their role from on a Global North perspective. This chapter assesses how court clerks in three different courts in a metropolitan area in South Africa interpret their work under the Domestic Violence Act. South Africa’s complex setting is central to understanding the clerks’ decisionmaking. The clerks routinely adapt policy to serve what they perceive to be the best interests of the complainant, and also their own pragmatic needs. Notions of ‘community’ are essential in understanding the clerks’ implementation of the Act, as communities both within and outside the court shape their adaptation. The clerks act therefore either as ‘gatekeepers’ for the court system or as ‘rights keepers’ on behalf of their clients, defining everyday events and relationships as either normal or problematic, and shaping the interpretation of rights and justice on the basis of these decisions.