Second A-rating for law faculty

Professor Danie Visser (private law) has received an A2-rating from the National Research Foundation.

This is the second such award for the faculty in recent months. Earlier this year Prof Drucilla Cornell (customary law) clinched an A1-rating.

"I believe that the A-rating recognises that my research has helped foster understanding between differently-configured legal systems and that I have contributed to the creation of a comparative law of unjustified enrichment," Visser said.

"My acting appointment as deputy vice-chancellor comes at a good time, because I have just completed a book which draws together my research over the past decade, so it gives me some breathing space to think about my next project."

A former dean of the law faculty (1996-1998), Visser was educated in South Africa and the Netherlands, obtaining doctorates in law from Pretoria University in 1980 and the University of Leyden in 1985. He is a sometime holder of the Huber C Hurst Eminent Visiting Scholar Chair at the University of Florida.

At UCT, he teaches comparative law, comparative legal history, the law of delict, and unjust enrichment. For the past five years he has taught comparative law in the Juris Doctor programme at the University of Melbourne, Australia, as a visiting professor.

He is chair of the South African chapter of the International Academy of Comparative Law, and a former president of the Southern African Society of Legal Historians.

Visser has also served as chair of the specialist committee of the National Research Foundation's rating panel for law.

He serves in various editorial capacities on numerous publications, including the South African Law Journal and the UK Restitution Law Review.

In addition, he is a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa, the World Academy of Art and Science and an associate member of the International Academy of Comparative Law.