Zusammenfassung der Ressource
1.General Introduction
- LEGAL HISTORY
- Internal History: origins and development of legal
rules and principles under external influence
Anmerkungen:
- External: Traces sources & factors which have
contributed directly/indirectly to the dev of a
legal system
Anmerkungen:
- political, constitutional, sociological, economic & religious factors contributed to dev of legal system
- *NB = sheds light on internal hist. eg. influence of cannon law
explains rules/principles of law of ccontract
- SA Law not codified: no comprehensive written
version of law that has the force of legislation
- Search all
sources of law:
- Court decisions
- Legislation
- Common law
- Centre around which
other sources that
generate law revolve
- In SA = Roman-Dutch law as
influenced by English law
- Indigenous African law
- Customary law
- ORIGINS OF THE LAW
- Western Component
Anmerkungen:
- Roman-Dutch & English Law
- Foundation starts with foundation of Rome in 753 BC/8th Cent BC
- 4th Cent AD Roman Empire (RE) split into East & West RE
- East RE traced until death of Justinian in 6th Cent AD
- Trace Eng law to 11th cent AD
- Common law *NB
- common law *NB
- Indigenous Component
Anmerkungen:
- Earliest African history =
preliterate therefore it has
existed before time
immemorial
- Universal Component
Anmerkungen:
- Human rights: Fundamental Rights
- Human-rights = Traced back to rise of natural law theory dev
by Greek & Roman thinkers + early Christina church fathers from 4th Cent AD
- Human rights law = rise of the
natural-law theory dev by Greek &
Roman thinkers + early Christian church
fathers before 4th Cent AD
- Religious legal systems
- canon law: law of the Catholic church
- Islamic law recently has influenced our law
- SA Legal system
= hybrid due to
characteristics
of R-D, Eng &
Indig Laws
- Religious legal systems
- Canon law = Catholic church
- Islamic law
- Being investigated by the SA
Law Reform Commission to
integrate it into SA law of
marriage
- RECEPTION PHENOMENON
- Reception
- Willing adoption/absorption of rules,
principles & institutions of a legal
system into an existing legal
system
- In complexu reception
= reception of an
entire Legal system
- E.g. Eng law in SA; reception of HR into SA (Bill of Rights)
- E.g. Reception of Roman law in WE: 4 phases
- 1. Pre-reception/Infiltration, 5th Cent AD = few Roman rules
were chosen & randomly incorporated into
Germanic Customary law - Sporadic. Started in 5th
Cent when Germanic tribes adopted Roman idea of
individual land ownership.
- 2. Intellectual "rediscovery" of
Justinian's Roman law by
Glossators: 12th Cent AD, Law
School of Bologna, Italy
- 3. Early reception phase= scientific
study of Roman law: 13th & 14th Cent AD
- 4. Reception proper = 15th & 16th
Cent AD. Roman system inc into legal
system of various countries as part
of common law
- Practical reception
- Reception of actual rules
- Scientific reception
- Reception of the framework,
concepts, categories,
principles, divisions
- Also received in
Louisiana, Quebec,
Japan, Egypt &
South America
- Transplantation
- Intro of a legal
system into a
territory which
has no legal
system
- Imposition
- Impose a legal system on a
territory which already has
a legal system - against the
will of the local
inhabitants
- E.g. R-D law on indig law
- CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER OF EVENTS
- 753 BC: Foundation of the city of Rome
- Influenced by Germanic law (Holland) & Canon law
- BCE: Before Common Era: Before year Nil
- CE: Common Era: After year Nil
- Considered to be
more respectful to
other religions
- BC: Before Christ
- AD: Anno Domini: "in the year of our Lord"
- Used until 19th Cent;
Used in this module
- 4** BC: Beginning of the Republic
- AD 3** Invasions of the Germanic tribes — the Roman Empire starts declining
- AD 395: Division of the Empire into the E & W Empire
- Ad 476: Fall of Roman Empire
- AD 500: Germanic Rule of WRE
- Emperor Justinian of ERE has Roman law codified in Corpus Iuris Civilis