Law of South Africa

Law Of South Africa

South Africa has a 'hybrid' or 'mixed' legal system, made of the interweaving of a number of distinct legal traditions: a civil law system inherited from the Dutch, a common law system inherited from the British, and a customary law system inherited from indigenous Africans (often termed African Customary Law, of which there are many variations depending on the tribal origin). These traditions have had a complex interrelationship, with the English influence most apparent in procedural aspects of the legal system and methods of adjudication, and the Roman-Dutch influence most visible in its substantive private law. As a general rule, South Africa follows English law in both criminal and civil procedure, company law and the law of evidence; while Roman-Dutch common law is followed in the South African contract law, law of delict (tort), law of persons, law of things, family law, etc. With the commencement in 1994 of the interim Constitution, and in 1997 its replacement, the final Constitution, another strand has been added to this weave.

Read more about Law Of South Africa:  Court System in South Africa, Specific Fields of Law

Famous quotes containing the words law of, law, south and/or africa:

    The very existence of government at all, infers inequality. The citizen who is preferred to office becomes the superior to those who are not, so long as he is the repository of power, and the child inherits the wealth of the parent as a controlling law of society.
    James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851)

    The basis of good manners is self-reliance. Necessity is the law of all who are not self-possessed.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    There are two places in the world where men can most effectively disappear—the city of London and the South Seas.
    Herman Melville (1819–1891)

    America is not civil, whilst Africa is barbarous.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)