Severability is an important concept in the context of the relations between this Court and Parliament; like 'reading down', it is an instrument of judicial restraint which reduces the danger of producing an overbroad judicial reaction to overbroad legislation.

~ Albie Sachs

Albie Sachs Constitutional Law Law Reading Down Severability South Africa South African Law

The bad parts of the statute are not judicially severable, I consider, from the rest of its provisions that deal with imprisonment. Their roots are entangled too tenaciously in the surrounding soil for a clean extraction to be feasible. The conclusion to which I accordingly come is that we are left with no option but to declare those provisions as a whole to be constitutionally invalid on account of their objectionable overbreadth.

~ John Didcott

John Didcott Constitutional Law Imprisonment Law Metaphor Severability South Africa South African Law

If the good is not dependent on the bad and can be separated from it, one gives effect to the good that remains after the separation if it still gives effect to the main objective.

~ Johann Kriegler

Johann Kriegler Constitutional Law Law Severability South Africa South African Law