IN THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OF SOUTH AFRICA
Juleiga Daniels v Robin Grieve Campbell NO and Others
Case CCT 40/03
Decided on 11 March 2004
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Media Summary
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The following explanatory note is provided to assist the media in reporting this case and
is not binding on the Constitutional Court or any member of the Court.
The Constitutional Court decided today that persons married according to Muslim rites
are spouses for the purposes of inheriting or claiming from estates where the deceased
died without leaving a will.
The applicant, Mrs Daniels, was married to her now deceased husband according to
Muslim rites in 1977. The marriage was not solemnised under the civil law by a marriage
officer. When her husband died intestate in 1994, the modest, low-income house in which
they lived was transferred to the deceased estate. The applicant, who sold goods from the
front of her house to supplement her income as a domestic worker, had contributed
substantially towards the house, including its purchase price.
The respondents are the executors of the estate, and some interested family members. The
applicant was told that she could not inherit from the estate because, her marriage not
being recognised as valid in terms of the law, she did not qualify as a “surviving spouse”.
With the help of the Women’s Legal Centre she approached the Cape High Court. The
High Court held that “spouse” could only be applied to persons married according South
African law. The High Court found that this interpretation violated the applicant’s rights
to practise her religious and cultural beliefs, and ordered that words be “read-in” to the
Intestate Succession Act and the Maintenance of Surviving Spouses Act to give her the
relief she sought.
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