South African Property Law
South African Property Law Play Pause Resume Stop South African property law governs the rights individuals have in certain objects or assets. It deals with what actions individuals can take concerning specific objects under South African legal jurisdiction. Its primary roles include aligning individual interests in property, ensuring protection of individual or group rights regarding […]
South African Patent System
South African Patent System The South African patent system is the system by which patents are granted in South Africa. As is the case in many other countries, a patent provides legal protection for a new and industrially applicable invention. This invention, which constitutes either a product or process, has to be brought about as […]
South African Nationality Law
South African Nationality Law The Republic of South Africa rewrote its nationality law after the end of apartheid in 1994 and the establishment of majority rule in the country under the newly elected African National Congress. The 1995 South African Citizenship Act revoked the previous Union of South Africa Act of 1949 (which replaced the […]
South African Life Imprisonment
South African Life Imprisonment Life imprisonment in South Africa has an indeterminate length and may last for the remainder of the offender’s life. It is a mandatory punishment for premeditated murder, gang rape, serial rape including rape where the rapist knew they were HIV positive or if the victim was under 18 and/or mentally disabled. […]
South African LGBT Rights
South African LGBT Rights Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in South Africa enjoy the same rights as non-LGBT people. South Africa has a complex and diverse history regarding the human rights of LGBT people. The legal and social status of between 400,000–over 2 million lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex South Africans has […]
South African Legal Interpretation
South African Legal Interpretation Legal interpretation in South Africa refers to the juridical understanding of South African legislation and case law, and the rules and principles used to construct its meaning for judicial purposes. Broadly speaking there are three means by which and through which South African scholars and jurists construe their country’s statutory law: […]
South African Law Of Succession
South African Law Of Succession The South African law of succession prescribes the rules which determine the devolution of a person’s estate after his death, and all matters incidental thereto. It identifies the beneficiaries who are entitled to succeed to the deceased’s estate, and the extent of the benefits they are to receive, and determines […]
South African Law Of Sale
South African Law Of Sale The South African law of sale is an area of the legal system in that country that describes rules applicable to a contract of sale (or, to be more specific, purchase and sale, or emptio venditio), generally described as a contract whereby one person agrees to deliver to another the […]
South African Law Of Persons
South African Law Of Persons The law of persons in South Africa regulates the birth, private-law status and the death of a natural person. It determines the requirements and qualifications for legal subjectivity (aka legal personality) in South Africa, and the rights and responsibilities that attach to it. Objective & Subjective Law As a discipline, […]
South African Law Of Lease
South African Law Of Lease The South African law of lease is an area of the legal system in South Africa which describes the rules applicable to a contract of lease (or letting and hiring, Lat locatio conductio, Afrik huur en verhuring). This is broadly defined as a synallagmatic contract between two parties, the lessor […]
South African Law Of Evidence
South African Law Of Evidence The South African law of evidence forms part of the adjectival or procedural law of that country. It is based on English common law. There is no all-embracing statute governing the South African law of aspects: Various statutes govern various aspects of it, but the common law is the main […]
South African Law Of Delict
South African Law Of Delict The South African law of delict engages primarily with ‘the circumstances in which one person can claim compensation from another for harm that has been suffered’. JC Van der Walt and Rob Midgley define a delict ‘in general terms as a civil wrong’, and more narrowly as ‘wrongful and blameworthy […]
South African Law Of Conveyancing
South African Law Of Conveyancing The law of conveyancing in South Africa refers the legal process whereby a person, company, close corporation or trust becomes the registered and legal owner of immovable property, including improved and unimproved land, houses, farms, flats and sectional titles, as well as the registration of bonds and other rights to […]
South African Law Of Agency
South African Law Of Agency The law of agency in South Africa regulates the performance of a juristic act on behalf or in the name of one person (“the principal”) by another (“the agent”), who is authorised by the principal to act, with the result that a legal tie (vinculum juris) arises between the principal […]
South African Labour Law
South African Labour Law South African labour law regulates the relationship between employers, employees and trade unions in the Republic of South Africa. History The Native Labour Regulations Act 1911 prohibited strikes by trade unions, introduced wage ceilings and a pass system for moving around jobs. Over 70,000 Chinese labourers were brought in, and used […]
South African Intersex Rights
South African Intersex Rights Intersex people in South Africa have some of the same rights as other people, but with significant gaps in protection from non-consensual cosmetic medical interventions and protection from discrimination. The country was the first to explicitly include intersex people in anti-discrimination law. History Early and prominent intersex activists include Sally Gross […]
South African Internet Censorship
South African Internet Censorship Internet censorship in South Africa is a developing topic. Current Status South Africa is not individually classified by the OpenNet Initiative, but is included in ONI’s regional overview for sub-Saharan Africa. Digital media freedom is generally respected in South Africa. Political content is partially censored, with a number of incidents. The […]
South African Insurance Law
South African Insurance Law Insurance in South Africa describes a mechanism in that country for the reduction or minimisation of loss, owing to the constant exposure of people and assets to risks (be they natural or financial or personal). The kinds of loss which arise if such risks eventuate may be either patrimonial or non-patrimonial. […]
South African Insolvency Law
South African Insolvency Law Insolvency in South African law refers to a status of diminished legal capacity (capitis diminutio) imposed by the courts on persons who are unable to pay their debts, or (which amounts to the same thing) whose liabilities exceed their assets. The insolvent’s diminished legal capacity entails deprivation of certain of his […]
South African Human Rights
South African Human Rights Human rights in South Africa are protected under the constitution. The 1998 Human Rights report by Myles Nadioo noted that the government generally respected the rights of the citizens; however, there were concerns over the use of force by law legal and discrimination. The Human Rights Commission is mandated by the […]
South African Freedom Of Religion
South African Freedom Of Religion South Africa is a secular state, with freedom of religion enshrined in the Constitution. Legislation ConstitutionThe preamble to post-apartheid South Africa’s Constitution of 1996 contains references to God in the form of a multilingual evocation asking for God’s protection and blessing. Dutch theologian Johannes van der Ven describes this text […]
South African Firearms Regulation
South African Firearms Regulation In South Africa, the Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000 regulates the possession of firearms by civilians. Possession of a firearm is conditional on a competency test and several other factors, including background checking of the applicant, inspection of an owner’s premises, and licensing of the weapon by the police introduced […]
South African Family Law
South African Family Law South African family law is concerned with those legal rules in South Africa which pertain to familial relationships. It may be defined as “that subdivision of material private law which researches, describes and regulates the origin, contents and dissolution of all legal relationships between: (i) husband and wife (including the parties […]
South African Electoral Court
South African Electoral Court The Electoral Court is a South African court that oversees the Electoral Commission (EC) and the conduct of elections. It was established by the Electoral Commission Act, 1996 to replace a Special Electoral Court which oversaw the 1994 elections, and has status similar to that of a division of the High […]
South African Domestic Violence
South African Domestic Violence Domestic violence in South Africa has been viewed as a private matter until the last few decades. In the 2012 financial year, just over one-third of the crimes against women that had been reported were prosecuted in court. Legislation has been passed to help improve the quality of life for those […]
South African Customary Law
South African Customary Law South African customary law refers to a usually uncodified legal system developed and practised by the indigenous communities of South Africa. Customary law has been defined as an established system of immemorial rules evolved from the way of life and natural wants of the people, the general context of which was […]
South African Criminal Procedure
South African Criminal Procedure Criminal procedure in South Africa refers to the adjudication process of that country’s criminal law. It forms part of procedural or adjectival law, and describes the means by which its substantive counterpart, South African criminal law, is applied. It has its basis mainly in English law. History When the British occupied […]
South African Criminal Law
South African Criminal Law South African criminal law is the body of national law relating to crime in South Africa. In the definition of Van der Walt et al., a crime is “conduct which common or statute law prohibits and expressly or impliedly subjects to punishment remissible by the state alone and which the offender […]
South African Credit Agreements
South African Credit Agreements Credit agreements in South Africa are agreements or contracts in South Africa in terms of which payment or repayment by one party (the debtor) to another (the creditor) is deferred. This entry discusses the core elements of credit agreements as defined in the National Credit Act, and the consequences of concluding […]
South African Copyright Law
South African Copyright Law The copyright law of South Africa governs copyright, the right to control the use and distribution of artistic and creative works, in the Republic of South Africa. It is embodied in the Copyright Act, 1978 and its various amendment acts, and administered by the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission in the […]
South African Contract Law
South African Contract Law Play Pause Resume Stop South African contract law is ‘essentially a modernized version of the Roman-Dutch law of contract’, which is itself rooted in canon and Roman laws. In the broadest definition, a contract is an agreement two or more parties enter into with the serious intention of creating a legal […]
South African Constitutional Law
South African Constitutional Law South African constitutional law is the area of South African law relating to the interpretation and application of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa by the country’s courts. All laws of South Africa must conform with the Constitution; any laws inconsistent with the Constitution have no force or effect. […]
South African Company Law
South African Company Law South African company law is that body of rules which regulates corporations formed under the Companies Act. A company is a business organisation which earns income by the production or sale of goods or services. This entry also covers rules by which partnerships and trusts are governed in South Africa, together […]
South African Civil Procedure
South African Civil Procedure Civil procedure in South Africa is the formal rules and standards that courts follow in that country when adjudicating civil suits (as opposed to procedures in criminal law matters). The legal realm is divided broadly into substantive and procedural law. Substantive law is that law which defines the contents of rights […]
South African Administrative Law
South African Administrative Law South African administrative law is the branch of public law in that country which regulates the legal relations of public authorities, whether with private individuals and organisations or with other public authorities, or better say, in present-day South Africa, which regulates “the activities of bodies that exercise public powers or perform […]
South African Access To Information
South African Access To Information Offering citizens access to state-held information is “one of the most effective ways of upholding the constitutional values of transparency, openness, participation and accountability.” Currie and De Waal suggest that accountability is unattainable if the government has a monopoly on the information that informs its actions and decisions. Access to […]
South African Abortion
South African Abortion Abortion in South Africa is legal on request in the first trimester of pregnancy, and in special circumstances afterwords. Abortion was legal only under very limited circumstances until 1 February 1997, when the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act (Act 92 of 1996) came into force, providing abortion on demand for a […]