South African Law

South Africa has a hybrid or mixed legal system woven from several distinct legal traditions: a civil law system inherited from the Dutch, a common law system inherited from the British, and a customary law system inherited from indigenous African communities, with many variations depending on tribal origin. Since the end of apartheid the country has operated under constitutional supremacy, meaning every other source of law is subordinate to the Constitution of South Africa. English influence is strongest in criminal and civil procedure, company law, constitutional law and the law of evidence, while Roman Dutch common law governs contract law, the law of delict, the law of persons, the law of things and family law, and South African law, especially its civil and common law elements, also underlies the legal systems of Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and Zimbabwe, introduced there during colonization. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

South African law is a mixed or hybrid legal system built from three inherited traditions: Roman-Dutch civil law from Dutch settlement at the Cape of Good Hope beginning in 1652, English common law from the British takeover of the Cape in 1806, and the customary law of indigenous African communities. The two colonial layers divide unevenly by subject: English law dominates criminal procedure, civil procedure, company law, constitutional law and the law of evidence, while Roman-Dutch law dominates the law of contract, the law of delict (the Roman-Dutch equivalent of tort), family law and property. The Union of South Africa formed as a British dominion in 1910; the post-apartheid Constitution of 1996 established constitutional supremacy over all three inherited traditions, with a Constitutional Court at the top of a hierarchical court structure, and gave customary law formal constitutional recognition alongside the common law. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/