Profile
Jonathan Burchell is a professor of law in the Public Law Department at the University of Cape Town where he teaches Criminal Law. He has a BA LLB from the University of Natal, LLM and Diploma in Comparative Legal Studies from Cambridge and a PhD from the University of the Witwatersrand. He held a Professorship of Law at the University of the Witwatersrand from 1981 to 1987, where he was Chairman of the Governing Committee of the School of Law from 1985 to 1987. He also held a chair at University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg from 1987 to 2000, where he was Dean of the Faculty of Law from 1993 to 1996 and a Fellow of the University. He has been an editor of the South African Journal of Criminal Justice since its inception in 1998 and Editor-in-Chief of this journal (2000 to 2009). He is currently a member of the Editorial board of the Journal of Commonwealth Criminal Law. In 2007, he was elected a Fellow of the University of Cape Town.
He is the author of the following books:
- The Law of Defamation in South Africa Jonathan Burchell (1985, Juta and Co Ltd) xxxii & pp 359. Reviewed (1985) 102 SALJ 557.
- Principles of Criminal Law by Jonathan Burchell and John Milton (1991) Juta & Co Ltd xlvii & pp 669. Book on the general principles (including specific crimes) of the South African criminal law, currently in its third edition (2005). This book is reviewed in (1992) 109 SALJ 349; (1993) 6 SACJ 98; (1998) 115 SALJ 577; (2005) 122 SALJ 696; 2005 TSAR 901; (2006) 19 SALJ 179; (2007) 11 Edin LR 140.
The third edition of Principles of Criminal Law by Jonathan Burchell was awarded a UCT Meritorious Publication Award in 2007
- Cases and Materials on Criminal Law John Milton & Jonathan Burchell (1992) Juta & Co Ltd xxiv & pp 687.Companion volume to Principles of Criminal Law (above), reviewed in (1993) 6 SACJ 104; (1993) 110 SALJ 191; 1997 De Rebus 757. Cases and Material is now in its third edition.
- Principles of Delict Jonathan Burchell (1993) Juta & Co Ltd xxii pp 269 Student textbook on the general principles of the law of delict. Reviewed in (1993) 110 SALJ 6447 and (1994) 57 THRHR 713.
- Burchell and Hunt South African Criminal Law and Procedure Vol I: General Principles of Criminal Law 2ed (1983) by the late E M Burchell, J R L Milton and J M Burchell, Juta & Co Ltd. (The last mentioned author substantially revised the chapter on degrees of participation in crime, revised a portion of the inchoate offences chapter, and wrote a new section on causation for this edition).
- South African Criminal Law and Procedure Vol I General Principles of Criminal Law 3ed (1997) Jonathan Burchell, Juta & Co Ltd. This edition is reviewed in 1997 De Rebus and (1998) 115 SALJ 577. A fourth edition of Vol I by Jonathan Burchell was published by Juta in 2011.
- Personality Rights and Freedom of Expression: The Modern Actio Injuriarum (1998) Juta & Co Ltd xxvii & pp 541 . Reviewed in 1999 De Rebus 71.
Click here to access Professor Burchell's Curriculum Vitae.
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