[3] The SALJ was edited for much of its history at the University of the Witwatersrand Law School, first by Bobby Hahlo, and then for a period of over forty years by Ellison Kahn.

[3] Its current managing editor is Graham Glover (Rhodes University).

[4] Its full list of managing editors is:[2] Notable foreign contributors to the SALJ include Lord Denning, Frank Michelman, Kent Roach, William Wade, and Reinhard Zimmermann.

Notable South African-born contributors include Edwin Cameron, Arthur Chaskalson, Michael Corbett, Jacob de Villiers, John Dugard, Bob Hepple, Lord Hoffmann, Tony Honoré, Sydney Kentridge, John Gilbert Kotzé, Pius Langa, R. W. Lee, Harold Luntz, Dikgang Moseneke, Etienne Mureinik, Kate O'Regan, Oliver Schreiner, Barend van Niekerk, Raymond Wacks, and Rex Welsh.

It was for his 1969 contribution to the SALJ that Barend van Niekerk was prosecuted for contempt of court by the apartheid government.