African Customary Law Concepts with Accurate Solutions (Questions and Answers)

Define legal pluralism Correct Answer - Variety legal systems operating alongside each other - SA rainbow nation SA multi-cultural society Correct Answer - cultural pluralism alongside legal pluralism (various legal systems observed) - cultures run parallel and interact with each other - legal pluralism exists because of cultural pluralism What is the only other legal system recognised in SA? Correct Answer - customary law - applicable in SA pre-colonisation What is the narrow interpretation of legal pluralism? Correct Answer -co-existence of various officially recognised state laws - not accurate reflection of social reality in SA What does state law refer to? Correct Answer 1. RDL influenced by English Law (juridical decisions and legislation) 2. Customary law (incorporated into legislation and declared in judicial decisions - codified in 1927 in Black Administration Act - cruel and outdated) 3. Living customary law What does the narrow interpretation not consider? Correct Answer - various laws, which are unofficially observed 1. laws of religious communities 2. Hindu 3. Muslim 4. Jewish - unofficial laws ignored and only state-law legal pluralism recognised - now a shift from courts = tolerate unofficial laws What is the 2 types of African Customary Law? Correct Answer 1. Official = recognised and contained in legislation by government and in case law 2. Unofficial = rural areas and not in legislation - applied unofficial customary institutions - courts of war heads and traditional auth. courts)