Lex Aurum is self-service research software: a search, summarisation, and document-drafting workspace for South African legal material. You subscribe to the software and use it yourself — we do not provide legal services, consultations, or representation of any kind.
Crafted with the bench, the bar, and the academy.
S v Malgas
2001 (1) SACR 469 (SCA)
Sentencing — minimum sentences
OpenS v Matyityi
2011 (1) SACR 40 (SCA)
Substantial & compelling circumstances
OpenDirector of Public Prosecutions v Thabethe
2011 (2) SACR 567 (SCA)
Armed robbery — restorative justice
Open120K+
Reported judgments
1,800+
Acts & regulations
48h
Judgment-to-summary
9
South African superior courts
The Platform
Case law, legislation, and topic search across every South African jurisdiction — refined by AI that understands legal language, not just keywords.
Learn moreSummarise judgments, extract ratio decidendi, compare authorities, and generate structured research notes with source citations.
Learn moreDraft contracts, pleadings, affidavits, and heads of argument from structured prompts — exportable to Word and PDF.
Learn moreUpload pleadings and opinions for AI summarisation, clause extraction, risk flagging, and version comparison.
Learn moreA curated library of South African contracts, litigation, labour, property, and commercial templates — preview, customise, download.
Learn moreWeekly digests of new judgments from the Constitutional Court, SCA, and divisions, with practitioner-grade analysis.
Learn moreAI Assistant
Natural-language questions are decomposed into legal concepts, mapped to authoritative sources, and answered with citations you can click through to the underlying judgment or section. Every output is grounded — never hallucinated.
"Summarise this judgment"
Facts · Issues · Findings · Ratio · Outcome
"Summarise the law on hearsay admissibility"
Legislation · Authority · Analysis · Sources
"Compare Pillay and Bhe"
Side-by-side principles & divergence
AI-generated content is automated research output only — not legal advice, and not a professional service.
Legislation. Section 3 of the Law of Evidence Amendment Act 45 of 1988 governs the admissibility of hearsay evidence.
Authority. See S v Ndhlovu 2002 (2) SACR 325 (SCA); S v Molimi 2008 (2) SACR 76 (CC).
Analysis. The court must weigh the seven enumerated factors in s 3(1)(c) and the interests of justice...
Continue reading — 3 authorities cited.
Example outputs
S v Malgas 2001 (1) SACR 469 (SCA)
The SCA held that prescribed minimum sentences are not absolute. Courts retain a limited discretion to depart where substantial and compelling circumstances exist, but the threshold is high.
Try this query in Lex AurumS v Matyityi 2011 (1) SACR 40 (SCA)
A departure from the minimum sentence requires circumstances that are truly significant; cumulative ordinary factors are generally insufficient on their own.
Try this query in Lex AurumS v Ndhlovu 2002 (2) SACR 325 (SCA); S v Molimi 2008 (2) SACR 76 (CC)
Section 3 of the Law of Evidence Amendment Act 45 of 1988 permits hearsay where each statutory factor is satisfied and admission serves the interests of justice.
Try this query in Lex AurumDirector of Public Prosecutions v Thabethe 2011 (2) SACR 567 (SCA)
Restorative compensation may be considered at sentencing, but it does not erase the seriousness of violent crime or automatically justify a non-custodial sentence.
Try this query in Lex AurumBhe v Khayelitsha 2005 (1) SA 580 (CC)
The Constitutional Court found the male-primogeniture rule under customary law incompatible with the right to equality and human dignity, developing the common law to give effect to section 39(2).
Try this query in Lex AurumPillay v Minister of Education 2008 (2) SA 474 (CC)
A school's code that prohibits religious or cultural dress must justify the limitation under the proportionality test in terms of section 36 of the Constitution.
Try this query in Lex AurumBuilt for the profession
Research, draft, and brief faster with grounded citations.
Shared repositories, matter management, and team-wide drafting.
Judgment analysis tools and comparative authority lookup.
The full research library at an accessible entry-level price.
Weekly Digest
Constitutional Court
06 Jun 2026
State liability · vicarious responsibility
Supreme Court of Appeal
04 Jun 2026
Banking · simulated transactions
Labour Appeal Court
02 Jun 2026
Operational requirements · s 189A
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Questions
No. Lex Aurum is software you use yourself. We do not offer consultations, representation, or any regulated professional service, and no lawyer reviews your work. All AI output is automated research material and is not legal advice.
A monthly subscription to the software: search across South African legislation and judgments, AI summarisation, document drafting tools, a template library, and weekly judgment digests. It is a fully digital, self-service product with no physical goods and no human service component.
South Africa, with full coverage of the Constitution, national legislation, provincial instruments, and reported case law from the Constitutional Court, SCA, High Court divisions, Labour Courts, and specialist tribunals.
Reported judgments are ingested, summarised, and indexed within 48 hours. Subscribers receive a curated weekly digest each Monday.
Yes. Repositories are isolated per user or firm, encrypted at rest and in transit, and never used to train shared models.
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