Common Law

When a specific matter is not governed by legislation, common law usually applies. South African common law is mainly the 17th and 18th century Roman-Dutch law that was transplanted to the Cape. This forms the basis of modern South African law and has binding authority. Examples of common law crimes include murder, robbery and rape, etc. Whilst South African common law is mainly Roman-Dutch law, not all the principles of Roman-Dutch law were transplanted to South Africa. Sometimes English law had, by means of precedent, influenced South African common law. Some common law principles are, for this reason, no longer pure Roman-Dutch law. The sources of Roman-Dutch law are the old sources which are the following:

• Legislation (placaaten) - few of these still apply in South Africa
• Judgements of the old Dutch courts
• Writings of learned authors (the so-called old authorities) such as Hugo de Groot, Voet, van Leeuwarm and van der Linden.