media releases - Chinese Translation of a South African Legal Textbook

The University of South Africa (Unisa) Library will soon have amongst its myriad of books a Chinese translation of a South African legal textbook. The Department of Mercantile Law of Unisa will officially hand over this translated version to the Unisa Library at 12:00 PM on Friday, 3 February 2012.

The book, which appeared at the end of 2011, is a translation of the third edition of The South African Law of International Trade: Selected Topics, which is prescribed at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels at several South African universities and colleges.

It covers the following topics that are fundamental to the law of international trade:

• An introduction in which the place and content of South Africa Law of international trade are explained against the background of South African common law, legislation and case law as well as relevant international measures
• The contract of international sale
• The contract for the carriage of goods at sea
• The contract of marine cargo insurance
• The methods of payment in international trade
• The settlement of international trade disputes

The book is authored by two professors in the Department of Mercantile Law at Unisa, Professors JP van Niekerk and WG Schulze. Professor JP Van Niekerk teaches insurance law and international trade law whereas Professor Schulze teaches banking law and international trade law.

The translation into Chinese was undertaken by Professor Weidong Zhu of the Centre for African Laws and Society in the Xiangtan University in the Hunan Province of the People’s Republic of China.

‘As far as we are aware, this is the first instance of a South African legal textbook being translated in that language, if not in any foreign language’, commented Professor JP van Niekerk about the book.