Roman-Dutch, adjective

Origin:
See quotation 1979.
Of or pertaining to a system of law based on that of ancient Rome, modified by that of Holland, and serving as the basis of South African law; usually in the collocation Roman-Dutch law, the system of law operating in South Africa (see quotation 1920).
1845 Cape Stat. 744Ordinance for establishing the Roman-Dutch Law in and for the District of Natal.
1920 J. Wessels in S. Afr. Law Jrnl No.37, 265Roman Dutch law is not Roman law codified in Dutch nor is it Dutch law written in Latin. It is a system of law which was developed during the 16th and 17th centuries out of diverse legal elements. One of these elements was the Roman law...Another element was the customary laws of Holland founded on old German customs, and a third was the statutory law in force in the Provinces of North and South Holland and West Friesland.
c1936 S. & E. Afr. Yr Bk & Guide 145The fundamental difference between English Common Law and Roman Dutch would seem to be that whereas the former ‘has broadened down from precedent to precedent,’ the latter bases its ruling on principles of equity and common sense...Curiously enough, something of the old Roman Dutch law of the Netherlands survives to-day only in the British dependencies of South Africa, Ceylon and, till 1916, in British Guiana.
1937 J. Stevenson-Hamilton S. Afr. Eden 213Owing to the principle of inheritance embodied in the Roman-Dutch Law, many..unoccupied farms had, in the course of years, become the property of a dozen or more owners, some of whom could not be found.
1948 O. Walker Kaffirs Are Lively 170An examination of Roman Dutch law, which is Common law in South Africa.
1958 H. Wicht Rd below Me 20My grandfather was the youngest, but in accordance with Roman-Dutch law, all the sons inherited equally.
1971 Jrnl of 1820 Settlers Memorial Assoc. Nov. 22Every man is presumed to know the law. So you had better know something about the everyday working of the Roman-Dutch law, which was planted here by the Hollanders and has survived although it was superseded in the parent country by the Code of Napoleon.
1979 W.J. Hosten et al. Intro. to S. Afr. Law & Legal Theory 180He (sc. Simon van Leeuwen) was the first writer to refer to the existing Dutch law as Roman-Dutch law, and the designation is therefore attributable to him.
1986 P. Maylam Hist. of Afr. People 84Criminal cases involving Africans outside the reserves were heard under Roman-Dutch law.
1989 M. Manley tr. of L.M. Oosthuizen’s Media Policy & Ethics 35The principle of the welfare of the state community as the supreme law is solidly established in the Roman Dutch legal tradition of South Africa.
1989 Reader’s Digest Illust. Hist. of S. Afr. 394The basis of law in South Africa is called Roman-Dutch Law, which means exactly what it says: a law based on ancient Rome modified by Dutch law introduced into the country by Jan van Riebeeck in 1652.
Of or pertaining to a system of law based on that of ancient Rome, modified by that of Holland, and serving as the basis of South African law; usually in the collocation Roman-Dutch law, the system of law operating in South Africa (see quotation 1920).
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