Unit 3- The Story Of Our Law

Question 1

Three layers of the history of our legal system

Answer 1

1- way in which Roman law came to form part of the law in Europe (Roman Dutch law in Netherlands)
2- movement of Roman Dutch law from the Netherlands to the cape
3- the way Roman Dutch law developed after it came to the cape.

Question 2

1 Roman law becomes Roman Dutch law

Answer 2

-Roman Empire at its peak during second half of first century BC
-master of all peoples around the Mediterranean Sea (classical Roman law)
-end of fourth century AC it split into western and eastern Roman Empire
-after this Roman law started to decline
-Germanic tribes took over WRE and in AD 476 a Germanic ruler took the throne
-Roman law remained alive and thus helped to make easier the reception of Roman law into Europe
-Germanic rulers allowed their Roman subjects to be governed by Roman law
-Roman Catholic Church later known as canon law
-classical Roman law survived better in ERE
-sixth century Roman empower Justinian codified Roman law (corpus iuris civilis) thus kept Roman law alive and made it possible to be received in Europe
-Roman law merged with existing European law
-reception of Roman law in Netherlands led to Roman Dutch law
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Question 3

2 Roman Dutch law comes to the cape

Answer 3

• Jan van Riebeeck, employee of the Dutch east India company, came to the cape in 1652
• affairs initially regulated in terms of artyckelbrief (document that set out rules for employees)
• later when the cape became a settlement people were governed by placaeten (posters in public places stating rules)
• Roman Dutch law makes it easier for SA to communicate with other countries

Question 4

3 English and African customary law

Answer 4

• British occupied the cape in 1795 and 1806 which resulted in the reception of English law
• British government decide go to deliberately change the law of the colony but the influence of English law was still felt
• indigenous law is largely unwritten, passed down from generations
• in KZN it is mostly now contained in a code which is formally recognized
• recognized in various statutes
• in the past only applied to blacks, this changed in 1996, it’s now applied where applicable