Customary Criminal Law in the South African Legal System

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511844294.017

16 - Customary Criminal Law in the South African Legal System

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2012

Edited by

Paolo Galizzi and

T. W. Bennett: Affiliation:
University of Cape Town
Jeanmarie Fenrich: Affiliation:
School of Law, Fordham University, United States of America
Paolo Galizzi: Affiliation:
School of Law, Fordham University, United States of America
Tracy E. Higgins: Affiliation:
School of Law, Fordham University, United States of America

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Summary

Introduction

The occasion for writing this chapter is a long-overdue bill that has been proposed by the South African government to reconstitute the country’s system of traditional courts. Under the apartheid regime, the state had given these tribunals its full support, but since the new democratic Constitution of 1996, their status – and, more generally, that of traditional rulers – has been uncertain. Eventually, on April 9, 2008, the government tabled a Traditional Courts Bill, confirming, although in modified terms, the courts’ civil and criminal jurisdiction.

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Type: Chapter
Information: The Future of African Customary Law , pp. 363 - 386

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511844294.017 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2011

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