Pa (pieter) Carstens

Biography

Pieter Carstens is the Head of the Department of Public Law, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria and a professor of criminal and medical law.  He holds the degrees BLC LLB LLD (doctorate in medical malpractice law) from the University of Pretoria. The title of his LLD thesis was “Die strafregtelike en deliktuele aanspreeklikheid van die geneesheer as gevolg van nalatigheid” (The criminal and delictual liability of the medical doctor on the grounds of negligence). He is an advocate of the High Court of South Africa, and also an extraordinary professor in the Department of Forensic Medicine at UP. He was admitted as an advocate of the High Court of South Africa in 1983, was called to the Pretoria Bar in 1989 (where he also served as secretary of the pupil training committee of the Pretoria Bar from 1998 to 1999) and is still an associate member of the Pretoria Bar. He is the chairperson of the Unit for Medicine and Law, a joint venture between UP and UNISA. He is a member of the Hospital Board of Weskoppies Hospital. Pieter Carstens is also a member of executive committee of the South African Medico-Legal Society, member of the World Association for Medical Law, and member of the Society of Advocates of South Africa. During 2000 he was a visiting professor at the Institute for Health Law at the Loyola University of Chicago, USA and during 2002 a visiting professor at the Free University, Amsterdam and the Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. As from the beginning of 2013, Prof Carstens holds the position of Head of the Department of Public Law, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria.

Research Interest

His main areas of interest are criminal law, media law, forensic medicine and medical law.