The Acceptance Speech of Albie Sachs（Albie Sachs的唐獎「法治獎」得獎演說）

剛剛從臉書的轉載上看見Albie Sachs法官的得獎演說，非常值得一讀！（內容主要是從宋承恩老師所轉載來的，其中文譯稿為許多老師心血討論，唐獎教育基金會將會發佈英文與中文定稿！）

PS. 我想這一段演說雖然短，但卻展現出實踐者對於基本觀念的透析力！！對於法治，Sachs法官用南非種族隔離的政策做了最顯明的註解：法治是rue of law，而非rule by law。最後，當看見freedon, bread, and rose時，腦中第一感是浮現Ken Loach的數部電影。

Acceptance Speech
Albie Sachs, Laureate, 2014 Tang Prize in Rule of Law
Taipei, Taiwan, September 18, 2014

It is always exciting to be the first of anything. I didn’t even know the Tang Prize existed, and was sorely tempted to delete the congratulatory message from my inbox as a scam. I’m still a bit shell-shocked. I have been singled out as an individual for doing what we have always done as a team. Moreover, we desired no reward whatsoever, other, perhaps, than the knowledge that we were contributing to human emancipation.

And yet it is quite, quite wonderful to be honoured in this way. I feel overwhelmingly proud. My role was to be in the wrong place at the right time. I feel proud of my generation, of my country.

We grew up under apartheid. Racial supremacy was guaranteed and enforced by law. We lived under rule by law, not rule of law.

Yet it was through developing a creative and people-centred view of the law that we were ultimately able to accomplish three great transformations. First, after centuries of racial oppression and conflict we managed to establish legal mechanisms that enabled us to look each other in the eye and negotiate a peaceful revolution. Second, we developed a home-grown constitutional order, deeply rooted in our own conditions, that avoided a hard choice between guaranteeing either civil and political rights or else social and economic rights. Our people didn’t want freedom without bread nor did they seek bread without freedom, they wanted both together. And since we are a country of great human diversity with a rich cultural heritage, they insisted on roses as well – Freedom, Bread and Roses.

The result is that the once-notorious land of apartheid today lives under the protective shelter of one of the most exemplary Constitutions in the world.

Many of our problems continue to be immense, others we unfortunately create anew for ourselves. But our Constitution and its Bill of Rights give us the space and the instruments to deal with them. In doing so we are guided by its foundational principles of upholding the rule of law and promoting non-racialism and non-sexism in an open and democratic society.

Pride of place is given to a comprehensive and forward-looking Bill of Rights. It ensures that the rule of law is not simply a mechanism to guarantee the wealth and power of the exalted in our society. It also affirms the right to human dignity of the landless, the homeless, the poor and the marginalised.

Certainly, the rule of law maintains its classical role of securing the independence of the judiciary, the vote and freedom of expression. It protects foreign and internal investment from arbitrary seizure. It denounces army coups. But it goes much further.

It protects people from being beaten in their homes or trafficked across frontiers, or ill-treated because they are refugees or migrants or belong to unpopular minorities or are abused by employers. It protects the rights of everyone to have reasonable access to education, housing, nutrition and health, including beneficial bio-pharmaceutical medication. It protects the Earth from voracious and damaging depletion. It protects and honours the diversity of cultures in the world. And it promotes the blossoming of many flowers of creativity and the free engagement of a multitude of ideas.

May this magnificent Prize encourage us, and all in the world, to keep our heads high as we journey arduously towards more complete justice for all.

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