Prof Shaun

Prof Shaun De Freitas

Head of Department

Prof Shaun A. de Freitas obtained the degrees B. Proc., LL.B., the LL.M. by dissertation and the LL.D. at the Faculty of Law, University of the Free State. Prof De Freitas served as editor-in-chief of the Journal for Juridical Science from 2013 to 2018 and as Head of the Department of Constitutional Law and Philosophy of Law at the University of the Free State from 2008 to 2011. He currently serves as the Head of the Department of Public Law and lectures on Human Rights Law. He is the author and co-author of over sixty scholarly articles including publications in the Journal of Law and Religion, Journal of Church and State, The Historical Journal, Brigham Young University Law Review, Scottish Journal of Theology, Westminster Theological Journal and The International Journal for Religious Freedom. He has presented several scholarly papers and was rated as an established researcher by the National Research Foundation since 2016. Prof De Freitas also served on the research outputs evaluation sub-panels of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) (South Africa) for the evaluation of scholarly books, book chapters and published conference proceedings (2016-2025). Prof De Freitas specialises in constitutional as well as human rights theory, with specific focus on the intersection between law, belief and the civil authorities. Prof De Freitas served as editor-in-chief of the Journal for Juridical Science from 2013 to 2018 and is currently the Academic Head of the Department of Public Law at the UFS.
 


List of Selected Scholarly Publications: Prof Shaun de Freitas (authored:†/co-authored:‡)

“Freedom of Religion in Communities of Legal Scholarship with a Christian Theology”, Australian Journal of Law and Religion (AJLR), (forthcoming).

“Liberty of Association and a Charter for Religious Rights and Freedoms”, Journal of Church and State (J. Church State), Oxford University Press, Vol. 67, 4(2025), 1-10.

“The Divergent Approaches of the Constitutional Court to the Right to Life and Ubuntu and the Implications for Civil Society”, Stellenbosch Law Review (SLR), Vol. 35, 2(2024), 195-219.

“Gender Identity and the Protection of Ontological Difference through the Autonomy of Religious Associations”, International Journal for Religious Freedom (IJRF), Vol. 17, 2(2024), 113-127.

“Advancing the Protection of the Right to Freedom of Religion in South Africa”, Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal (PELJ), Vol. 27, (2024), 1-30.

“Whose Equality? Freedom of Religious Associations and Gaum v Van Rensburg”, Journal of Law and Religion (JLR), Cambridge University Press, Vol. 38, 2(2023), 1-16.

“A Reply to Camilla Pickles’ Pregnancy Law in South Africa: Between Reproductive Autonomy and Foetal Interests”, Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal (PELJ), Vol. 25, (2022), 1-28.

“Religion, Culture and the Constitutionality of the ‘Avoidance of Doctrinal Entanglement’ Principle”, Stellenbosch Law Review (SLR), Vol. 32, 3(2021), 435-454.

“Freedom to agreed-upon religious upbringing of the child on dissolution of a marriage: A critique of Kotze v Kotze”, De Jure Law Journal, Vol. 54, (2021), 533-548.

“Law, Judges and the Exclusionary Nature of Inclusion” in Inclusion, Exclusion and Religious Freedom in Contemporary Australia, Michael Quinlan (ed.), (Shepherd Street Press, an imprint of Connor Court Publishing: Australia, 2021), 47-71.

“The Protection of Conscientious Objection against Euthanasia in Health Care”, Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal (PELJ), Vol. 22, (2019), 1-32.

“A Critique of Ronald Dworkin’s Limitation of Passive Forms of Religious Expression in the Public Sphere”, Tijdschrift voor Recht en Religie (Journal for Law and Religion) (NTKR - Netherlands), 1(2019), 61-75.

Organisasie vir Godsdienste-Onderrig en Demokrasie v Laerskool Randhart et al: The Right to Freedom of Religion, Diversity and the Public School”, Journal for Juridical Science (JJS), Special Issue on Education Law, Vol. 43, 2(2018), 32-52.

“The protection of public schools with a religious ethos in South Africa against the background of Zylberberg v Sudbury Board of Education”, Stellenbosch Law Review (SLR), Vol. 28, 2(2017), 424-443.

“Samuel Rutherford and the Protection of Religious Freedom in Early Seventeenth-Century Scotland”, Westminster Theological Journal (WTJ), Vol. 78, Fall (2016), 231-248, USA.

“Transcending the Private-Public School Divide in the Context of the Right to Freedom of Religion in South Africa”, Chapter 19, in Religious Freedom and Religious Pluralism in Africa – Prospects and Limitations, P. Coertzen, M. Christian Green and L. D. Hansen (eds.), African Consortium for Law and Religion Studies, (SUN PReSS: Stellenbosch, 2016), 325-341.

“Doctrinal Sanction and the Protection of the Rights of Religious Associations: Ecclesia de Lange v The Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of South Africa (726/13) [2014] ZASCA 151”, Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal (PELJ), Vol. 19, (2016), 1-22.

“Sexual Conduct, Appointments and the Slippery Slope of Harm and Economic Opportunity in the context of the Rights of Religious Associations”, Chapter 19, in Law and Religion in Africa – The quest for the common good in pluralistic societies, P. Coertzen, M. Christian Green and L. D. Hansen (eds.), African Consortium for Law and Religion Studies, (SUN PReSS: Stellenbosch, 2015), 285-297.

“Proselytism and the Right to Freedom from Improper Irreligious Influence: The Example of Public School Education”, Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal (PELJ), Vol., 17, Issue 3, (2014), 868-887.

“Religious Associational Rights and Sexual Conduct in South Africa: Towards the Furtherance of the Accommodation of a Diversity of Beliefs”, Brigham Young University Law Review, Vol. 2013, Issue 3, (2013), 421-456.

“The South African Constitutional Court and the Unborn”, International Journal for Religious Freedom (IJRF), Vol. 5, Issue 2, (2012), 51-61.

“Samuel Rutherford’s theologico-political federalism in early American Society”, Journal for Christian Scholarship (JCS), Vol. 49, Issue 3, (2012), 1-42.

A, B, & C v. Ireland: The Unborn and an Appreciation of the Margin of Appreciation”, Ave Maria International Law Journal, Vol. 2, Issue 1, (2012), 1-23.

“Freedom of Association as a Foundational Right: Religious Associations and Strydom v Nederduitse Gereformeerde Gemeente Moreleta Park”, South African Journal on Human Rights (SAJHR), Special Issue: Religion and Human Rights, Vol. 28, Issue 2, (2012), 258-272.

“Mottos, Prayer and the Public University”, South African Journal on Human Rights (SAJHR), Special Issue: Religion and Human Rights, Vol. 28, Issue 2, (2012), 176-195.

“Freedom of conscience, medical practitioners and abortion in South Africa”, International Journal for Religious Freedom (IJRF), Vol. 4, Issue 1 – Advocacy and the Law, (2011), 75-85.

“Seeking Deliberation on the Unborn in International Law”, Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal (PELJ), Vol. 14, Issue 5, (2011), 8-37.

“The Public University, Religion, and a Pluralist Platform for Communication”, Acta Theologica, (Supplementum 14 on Faith, Religion and the Public University), (2011), 31-48.

“Modernity, the Judiciary and Christian Benevolence towards the Unborn”, Journal for Christian Scholarship (JCS), Vol. 46, Issues 1 & 2, (2010), 21-41.

“The Unborn and A, B, & C v. Ireland”, Case Note, Journal for Juridical Science (JJS), Vol. 35, Issue 1, (2010), 93-112.

“Belief and Legal Philosophy: A conceptual framework for Christian Scholarship in Undergraduate Legal Education”, KOERS: Bulletin for Christian Scholarship, Vol. 74, Issues 1 and 2, (2009), 43-66.

Chapter in Book: “The Reformational Legacy of Theologico-political Federalism”, 49-68, in The Ashgate Research Companion to Federalism, Ann Ward and Lee Ward (eds.), (Aldershot, UK: Ashgate Publishing Co., July 2009).

“Civic Engagement, Belief and the Scholarly Aspect in Higher Education”, Journal for Christian Scholarship (JCS), Vol. 44, Issues 3 and 4, (2008), 1-25.

“Religion, legal scholarship and higher education: perspectives for the South African context”, Acta Academica, Vol. 39, 3(2007), 45-66.

“Humanity, the Unborn and the Intersection of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law”, African Yearbook on International Humanitarian Law (AYIHL), JUTA and Co. Ltd, (2007), 39-59.

“Religion, Legal Scholarship and a Christian Response”, Journal for Christian Scholarship (JCS), Vol. 42, Issues 3 and 4, (2006), 25-56.

“A critical retrospection regarding the legality of abortion in South Africa”, Journal for Juridical Science (JJS), Vol. 30, Issue 1, (2005), 118-145.

“The Constitutional Dynamic of Civil Society and the Role of the Churches in South Africa”, Acta Academica, Vol. 37, Issue 2, (2005), 21-51.

“Theologically United and Divided: The Political Covenantalism of Samuel Rutherford and John Milton”, Westminster Theological Journal (WTJ), Vol. 67, (2005), 301-21, USA.

“Resistance, Rebellion and a Swiss Brutus?”, The Historical Journal, Vol. 48, Issue 1, (2005), 1-26, Cambridge University Press, UK.

“From Heinrich Bullinger to Puritanism: John Hooper’s Theology and the Office of Magistracy”, Scottish Journal of Theology (SJT), Vol. 56, Issue 2, (2003), 208-230, Princeton and Yale, Cambridge University Press, UK.

“Church Tribunals, Doctrinal Sanction and the South African Constitution”, Dutch-Reformed Theological Journal (now the Stellenbosch Theological Journal – STJ), Part 43, Numbers 1 and 2, March and June (2002), 276-284.

“Theologico-political Federalism: The Office of Magistracy and the Legacy of Heinrich Bullinger (1504-1575)”, The Westminster Theological Journal (WTJ), Vol. 63, (2001), 285-304, USA.
 
 


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T: +27 51 401 2451
F: + 27 51 401 3043

E: law@ufs.ac.za

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