Dr Martin van Staden is a South African author and jurist in the tradition of classical liberalism or libertarianism.
Martin has been the Head of Policy at the Free Market Foundation since 2023, and has held an earned Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) degree from the University of Pretoria since 2026, where he also obtained his Master of Laws (LL.M.) cum laude in 2021. He obtained both degrees under the postgraduate supervision of Professor Emeritus Koos Malan.
He is widely published in popular and academic journals and is often featured on radio, television, and online programmes. Martin writes a weekly column for the Daily Friend and is Editor in Chief of the Rational Standard.
Martin’s LL.M. dissertation, “In Favorem Libertatis: The Prospect of Liberty in the Transformation(isation) of South African Law”, is an elaboration of the liberal (individual freedom and property rights) approach to jurisprudence and how South Africa’s Roman-Dutch and English common law heritage gives effect to it. The post-Apartheid statutory and judicial approach – so-called “transformative constitutionalism”, ostensibly premised on securing justice and freedom – falls conceptually short of the standard.
His LL.D. thesis, “Transformationism in South African Constitutional Discourse: A Thematic and Historical Appraisal”, entails a comprehensive study of so-called transformative constitutionalism as the modern legal ideology underlying South African public law, followed by a consideration of whether this kind of “constitutionalism” is indeed compatible with constitutionalism per se. The conclusion is that the totalitarian implications of Transformationism make it inherently incompatible with constitutionalism.
Peer-reviewed articles by Martin have appeared in Econ Journal Watch, the Pretoria Student Law Review, the African Human Rights Law Journal, the Journal of Contemporary Roman-Dutch Law, the Cato Journal, the Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal, the International Property Rights Index, the Economic Freedom of the World Annual Report, Cosmos + Taxis, and the Journal of South African Law.
Martin’s book, The Constitution and the Rule of Law: An Introduction, was published in 2019. He also edits and manages the Race Law Project of the South African Institute of Race Relations, including its Index of Race Law.
In February 2024, Martin was honoured by the Princely Family of Liechtenstein and the European Center of Austrian Economics Foundation when he was awarded first place (ex aequo) in the Sixteenth International Vernon Smith Prize competition for his work on the rule of law, particularly his essay titled, “Rule of Law: The Universal Unwritten Constitution”. Martin received the award from His Serene Highness Prince Philipp and Prince Michael of Liechtenstein at the Princely Wine Cellars in Vaduz, Liechtenstein.
Martin has been a Policy Fellow with the Consumer Choice Center since 2020, a Fellow at the Initiative for African Trade and Prosperity as of July 2024, and a Director of the Hayek Council for a Free World as of March 2026.