having authority in the settlements of Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice in the year 1803.
It remains to speak of the geographical extension of the Roman-Dutch Law in South Africa.
Geographical extension of the Roman-Dutch Law in South Africa. So long as the boundaries of Cape Colony enlarged themselves by gradual and inevitable advance, so long the Dutch civil law extended its sphere by the same natural process of expansion without express enactment. But before the middle of the last century the era of annexation had begun.
Natal. Natal was annexed to the Cape by Letters Patent of May 31, 1844, and this was followed by Cape Ordinance No. 12 of 1845, confirming the Roman-Dutch Law in and for the district of Natal. This remains the common law of the Colony, which was called into existence as a separate entity by Royal Charter of July 15, 1856; and now the Natal Act No. 39 of 1896 provides that: ‘The system, code, or body of laws commonly called the Roman-Dutch law as accepted and administered by the legal tribunals of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope up to August 27, 1845, and as modified by the Ordinances, Laws, and Acts now in force, heretofore made or passed in this Colony by the Governor or Legislature thereof, is the law for the time being of the Colony of Natal, and of His Majesty's subjects and all others within the said Colony’.
Zululand. The law of Natal, with some reservations, obtains also in Zululand, which became part of Natal on December 30, 1897.
Basutoland. In Basutoland, by proclamation dated May 29, 1884, the law to be administered (save between natives) is, as nearly as the circumstances of the country permit, the same as the law for the time being in force in the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope; but Acts of the Cape Legislature passed after the date of the Proclamation do not apply.
Bechuanaland Protectorate. By Proclamation No. 36 of 1909, the law of Cape Colony is to be administered, as far as practicable, in the Bechuanaland Protectorate to the exclusion, however, of subsequent Cape statutes.
