-58- Unwarranted retrogression 164. Even without reference to the right to equality before the law, the requirement of 7 years’ residence for receipt of CSSA is unconstitutional. If necessary, I would be prepared so to hold on the following basis. The introduction of a 7-year requirement to replace the one-year requirement moved the previous social welfare system backwards. It therefore runs counter to art.145 of the Basic Law which, as far as that system is concerned, contemplates progression and leaves no room for retrogression except in a situation so dire as to lie beyond the contemplation of the constitution. And no such situation has arisen. So the increase from one year’s residence to 7 years’ residence amounts to unwarranted retrogression and is therefore unconstitutional. 165. But I am content to hold that increase unconstitutional on another basis, being the one to which I now turn. Unjustified distinction 166. We are in this case concerned with equality in regard to a socio- economic right. In Social Rights Jurisprudence: International and Comparative Law (ed. Emerging Trends in Malcom Langford) (2008) (Cambridge University Press) at the page immediately preceding the table of contents, what Justice Albie Sachs of the South African Constitutional Court said about socio-economic rights when speaking at the Southern Methodist University School of Law in 1999 is quoted. He said: “There is growing acceptance all over the world that certain core fundamental values of a universal character should penetrate and suffuse all governmental activity, including the furnishing of the basic conditions for a dignified life for all. I believe that 21st-century jurisprudence will focus increasingly on socio-economic rights.” I respectfully share that perception and that belief.