In a constitutional adjudication, must a private party be represented by a lawyer to bring or conduct the case?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In the practice file for this exercise, we read the petition as filed to see whether a lawyer lodged it, and the record of who appeared at each hearing. Any paper showing the party's qualifications also matters, since the exception turns on holding a lawyer's qualification.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading takes the sentence as a flat condition on private parties to adjudication: a private person who is a party may neither lodge a request for adjudication nor conduct the adjudication unless a lawyer is appointed as representative, the sole exception being a person who holds a lawyer's qualification. On this reading a petition filed by an unqualified private person is one the provision does not allow to be brought.
Another reading notes that the provision speaks of a private person who is a party, so the first question is who counts as a party in a given adjudication. That classification is not settled by the provision on representatives and agents, so the file has to show the party's status.
Your judgment
If the petitioner is a private body rather than an individual, how should the file show that it is a party for the purposes of this condition?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We revisit this card if the provision is amended to change the representative requirement or the exception, or if a Constitutional Court decision explains which applicants count as private parties subject to this condition.