Pass laws in South Africa were designed to segregate the population and severely limit the movements of the non-white populace. This legislation was one of the dominant features of the country's apartheid system. The Black population was required to carry these pass books with them when outside their homelands or designated areas. Failure to produce a pass often resulted in the person being arrested. Any white person, even a child, could ask a black African to produce his or her pass.
Read more about Pass Laws: History, Natives (Urban Areas) Act, Pass Laws Act
Famous quotes containing the words pass and/or laws:
“Like two doomed ships that pass in storm
We had crossed each other’s way:
But we made no sign, we said no word,
We had no word to say;”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“It is dangerous to tell the people that the laws are unjust; for they obey them only because they think them just. Therefore it is necessary to tell them at the same time that they must obey them because they are laws, just as they must obey superiors, not because they are just, but because they are superiors. In this way all sedition is prevented.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)