Learning Unit 3 – The story of our law
ILW1501
The 5 historical periods of South African Law
1. Roman law becomes Roman-Dutch law
2. Roman-Dutch Law comes to the Cape
3. English Law comes from Britain to the Cape
4. The recognition of indigenous law
5. The establishment of a constitutional democracy
Roman law becomes Roman-Dutch law:
The rise of the Roman empire and Roman law
- Rome was founded in 753 BC.
- Started out as a primitive community with primitive laws and customs.
- Experienced enormous growth to become a powerful and successful society with a complex
law.
- In 27 BC Rome became an empire.
- The Roman Empire included Western Europe, parts of Britain, North Africa and parts of Asia.
- The Roman Empire and its law reached its peak (highest stage development)
- The law applicable during this time was classical Roman law (reached its height because of
the extensive writing of jurists and legislation promulgated by emperors)
The split in the Roman empire:
- The Roman empire began to decline from 285AD.
- Factors contributing to the decline: invasion of Germanics (barbaric), government
corruption, political instability, luxurious lifestyles, economic problems and loss of
community mores.
- At the end of the Fourth century AD the Roman empire spit into two parts: Westen Roman
Empire (with Rome as the capital) and Eastern Roman Empire (with Byzantium or
Constantinople as its capital)
- The importance of Roman law began to decline. (but survived)
a) The Western Roman empire.
- Fell in AD 476 when Germanic took over/invaded.
- Government structures began to fall apart.
- GERMAN LAW began to influence the classical Roman law.
- Reasons for the survival of Roman law:
Personality principality
- Each person lived according to their own law (lived according to the law of his own mind)
- Roman law was still applied but not in it’s pure (classical Roman law) form but Roman law
influenced by Germanic law.
The Role of the Roman Catholic Church
- Roman law formed the foundation of the law of the Catholic church.
- Church law is known as canon law.
b) The Eastern Roman Law
- The Eastern Roman Empire continued to exist until 1453.
ILW1501
The 5 historical periods of South African Law
1. Roman law becomes Roman-Dutch law
2. Roman-Dutch Law comes to the Cape
3. English Law comes from Britain to the Cape
4. The recognition of indigenous law
5. The establishment of a constitutional democracy
Roman law becomes Roman-Dutch law:
The rise of the Roman empire and Roman law
- Rome was founded in 753 BC.
- Started out as a primitive community with primitive laws and customs.
- Experienced enormous growth to become a powerful and successful society with a complex
law.
- In 27 BC Rome became an empire.
- The Roman Empire included Western Europe, parts of Britain, North Africa and parts of Asia.
- The Roman Empire and its law reached its peak (highest stage development)
- The law applicable during this time was classical Roman law (reached its height because of
the extensive writing of jurists and legislation promulgated by emperors)
The split in the Roman empire:
- The Roman empire began to decline from 285AD.
- Factors contributing to the decline: invasion of Germanics (barbaric), government
corruption, political instability, luxurious lifestyles, economic problems and loss of
community mores.
- At the end of the Fourth century AD the Roman empire spit into two parts: Westen Roman
Empire (with Rome as the capital) and Eastern Roman Empire (with Byzantium or
Constantinople as its capital)
- The importance of Roman law began to decline. (but survived)
a) The Western Roman empire.
- Fell in AD 476 when Germanic took over/invaded.
- Government structures began to fall apart.
- GERMAN LAW began to influence the classical Roman law.
- Reasons for the survival of Roman law:
Personality principality
- Each person lived according to their own law (lived according to the law of his own mind)
- Roman law was still applied but not in it’s pure (classical Roman law) form but Roman law
influenced by Germanic law.
The Role of the Roman Catholic Church
- Roman law formed the foundation of the law of the Catholic church.
- Church law is known as canon law.
b) The Eastern Roman Law
- The Eastern Roman Empire continued to exist until 1453.
