(Post)Colonial Culture and the South African Legal System: Understanding the Relationship between Living Customary Law and State Law

2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sindiso Mnisi

AbstractThis paper traces the relationship between state law and indigenous systems in South Africa from its incipience, and argues that living customary law has been systematically ignored or inaccurately applied. In it, I advocate a paradigm shift as being fundamental to developing the theories, methods and standards adopted in consideration of customary law. I use the law of succession as a vehicle for displaying the clash of state and customary law and, herewith, expound the process by which this tension came about. In conclusion, I argue that a paradigm shift allowing for customary law to be understood within its own functioning and value system, rather than in a manner imposing western notions of society, culture and progress is necessary. This will enable the reunion of the South African legal order and reincorporation of customary communities into the national project.

Author(s):  
Fatima Osman

In pluralistic legal systems, the regulation of non-state law through statute carries the risks associated with codification; namely the ossification and distortion of law. This article examines the effects of statutory regulation on unwritten systems of law in the South African legal context. It argues that the constitutional recognition of customary law in South Africa has forced the state to legislate in this arena, the most notable enactments being the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act 120 of 1998 and the Reform of Customary Law of Succession and Regulation of Related Matters Act 11 of 2009. The enactments' attempt to align customary law with constitutional values have imported significant portions of the common law to regulate the customary law of marriage and succession. This has resulted in a distortion of customary law to reflect common law values and rules. Furthermore, it is argued that significant lacunae in the enactments have necessitated litigation and resulted in the judiciary playing a significant role in shaping customary law. Finally, despite the incorporation of living customary law into the enactments, the implementation thereof by courts and in practice has – and perhaps inevitably so – ossified and distorted portions of the law. Nonetheless, the article argues that legislation is critical to regulate customary law. It advocates that the shortcomings identified in the article are addressed to ensure a more accurate portrayal of customary law in legislation and the successful implementation thereof.


2019 ◽  
Vol 235 ◽  
pp. 181-189
Author(s):  
Sarah Rayne ◽  
Kathryn Schnippel ◽  
Surbhi Grover ◽  
Kirstin Fearnhead ◽  
Deirdre Kruger ◽  
...  

1987 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-23
Author(s):  
Xia Jisheng

Since the enforcement of 1983 constitution, several years have passed. The 1983 constitution is the third constitution since the founding of the Union of South Africa in 1910. By observing the history of the constitutional development in more than seventy years in South Africa and the content of the current South African constitution, it is not difficult to find out that the constitution, as a fundamental state law, is an important weapon of racism. South Africa's white regime consistandy upholds and consolidates its racist rule by adopting and implementing constitutions. The aim of this article is to analyze and expose the essence of the South African racist system in mis aspect.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-73
Author(s):  
Muneer Abduroaf

This paper analyses the right of Muslim adopted children to inherit from their deceased parents in terms of the laws of succession within the South African legal context. The status of adoption in South African and Islamic law is looked at first by way of an introduction. This is followed by looking at the rights of adopted Muslim children to inherit from their deceased parents (biological and adoptive) in terms of the South African and Islamic laws of intestate (compulsory) and then testate (optional) succession.1 The paper further looks at the possibility of applying relevant Islamic law of succession provisions applicable to enable adopted Muslim children to inherit from the estate of their deceased biological parents within the South African legal framework. The paper concludes with an analysis of the findings and makes a recommendation.


2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Durbach ◽  
D Katshunga ◽  
H. Parker

This paper conducts a search for community structure in the South African company network, a social network whose elements are South African companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Companies are connected in this network if they share one or more directors on their respective boards. Discovered clusters, called communities, can be considered to be compartments of the network working relatively independently of one another, making their distribution and composition of some interest. We test whether the discovered communities of companies are (a) statistically significant, and (b) related to other attributes such as sector membership or market capitalization. We also investigate the relationship between the centrality of a company’s position in the network and its market capitalization.


2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Donaldson

This article explores the relationship between sport and war in Britain during the South African War, 1899–1902. Through extensive press coverage, as well as a spate of memoirs and novels, the British public was fed a regular diet of war stories and reportage in which athletic endeavour and organized games featured prominently. This contemporary literary material sheds light on the role sport was perceived to have played in the lives and work of the military personnel deployed in South Africa. It also, however, reveals a growing unease over an amateur-military tradition which equated sporting achievement with military prowess.


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