Academic interest in South Africa remains considerable, though less than during the apartheid regime. Much of the focus has been on the dynamics of the negotiations, democracy and governance, race relations and on the outsized personalities of the anti-apartheid struggle. However, Diana Gordon has taken a different path. She looks at the evolving administration of justice system in South Africa. The book takes a long view of the process, beginning with the origins of colonial rule in the late seventeenth century. The problem, for those interested in South Africa, is that much of the history here is similar to the traditional law and order history that is covered in much of the South African literature. As such, the first four chapters cover well-trodden ground.

There is some problem in understanding the role of the colonial magistrate in the book. The author seems to suggest that the Dutch prefectoral system was abandoned by the British. While abandoning the Dutch system was discussed, the British eventually decided to keep the dual control system introduced by Holland, which remains largely unchanged today in rural South Africa. The author notes the important influence of Anglo-Saxon common law in South Africa. This is not surprising, given the 200 year legacy of British law and the 150 year influence of Dutch law beyond that. In fact, South African law is a combination of British and Dutch law, sometimes referred to locally as Roman Dutch law. It is also not clear in reading the book to what extent the author is clear on the historical differences in traditional administration between the Southern Cape on the one hand and Natal, the Transvaal and the Northern Cape on the other.

The chapters on South Africa are interspersed with chapters on criminal justice theory. There is much generalised theory with regard to criminal justice, some of which appears to examine normative debates on the issue. Some of this material could have been relegated to an annex for those interested, and for those who are not interested in this theory but are interested in South Africa, these chapters can be skipped.

The book correctly sees the linkage between poverty and crime as important, but does not make it clear how this can be addressed through either constitutional or community-based mechanisms of justice. The last four chapters specifically address what the author calls community-based justice, and suggest that the abandonment of participatory-based justice that came into place during the 1980s may have been a mistake. Is the answer to the crime wave in South Africa, community-based justice, which in effect allows communities to control their own system of justice? Gordon's answer is yes. Direct collective justice rather than institutional-based governance and justice systems are needed to address both security and social services concerns.

The book calls for consideration of deliberative or collective democracy in the administration of justice, suggesting that the latter best balances the rights of the individual with the rights of the collective. Perhaps this is a best case scenario, but in the worst case collectivism mobilises conformity. This is a normative question, of course, but in my view there is good reason for scepticism with regard to public-empowered or community justice.

I have four concerns in reading this book. First, it is weak on indigenous law. There could have been more discussion of pre-colonial traditional justice and the potential for its use in today's South Africa; second, there is not enough coverage of patterns of police control inherited from the homeland systems, giving the book an urban bias; third, the book should have provided a better understanding of socio-economic causes of crime and violence; and fourth, the historical analysis is weak on the continuity and change in terms of institutional patterns in South African governance.

Beyond this, however, the empirical work is solid, clear and detailed. The history is solid. As an academic work the book performs its task well. What is missing however is the passion and excitement that still characterises this remarkable country. A bit more passion might have helped the generalist through the reading process.