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Presentation Bachelor of laws Street Law, ISBN: 9781485108962
This document is the first lesson plan for the street law module.
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What is law?Definition of what law is
A body of rules of conduct of binding legal force and effect, prescribed, recognized,
and enforced by controlling authority
How does law differ from rules?
The main difference between rules and laws is the consequences associated with
breaking them. While each is developed to invoke a sense of order, fair play, and
safety, the weight of a law is much heavier than the weight of a rule.
Laws are like the legal version of rules. When you are a child, a parent sets rules to
be followed. When you are in a society, the government sets laws to be followed.
When a rule is broken, the consequences tend to be uncomfortable but mild in
comparison to the breaking of the law.
In South Africa laws are made by parliament, government organizations and town
authorities.
Where South African law comes from?
Pre-colonial period rulers used customary law to govern the people. Law was based
on customs and traditions.
Then came Roman Dutch law brought from Holland.
The English then colonized South Africa and brought English law with them. This led
to the influence Of English law but Roman Dutch law remained dominant and
continued to develop. However, the court procedure changed from Dutch
‘inquisitorial’ system where the judges ran the trials, to the English ‘adversarial
system, where the lawyers ran the trials and the judges act as referees.
After apartheid the interim and then final constitution came into effect and this is the
supreme law of the land.
Therefore South African law is a mixture of Roman Dutch Law and English Law, and
the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa is the Supreme law of the land.
, How South African law is made
South Africa has 3 levels of government, national, provincial and local. At the
national level, SA is governed by parliament, which consists of the National
Assembly and National Council of Provinces. The provinces are governed by
provincial legislature. At the local level, municipal areas are governed by municipal
councils.
Although the Constitution is the supreme law of the country, the above bodies have
the power to make laws. Laws that are passed by these bodies are called legislation.
These laws are codified meaning that they are written down. When parliament
makes laws those laws are referred to as a statute or an Act. If laws are made by the
provincial legislature it is referred to as provincial act. If laws are made by municipal
council it is called by-laws.
If a specific matter is not governed by legislation then the common law applies. The
common law is not made by parliament, or any of the bodies mentioned above, and
is not written down in statutes. Instead, it comes mainly from Roman Dutch law.
Kinds of law
There are two main kinds of law:
1. Criminal law
2. Civil law
Criminal law controls how people in society behave and what they are expected to
do. In South Africa the state brings a legal action against a person charged with a
crime. If he or she is found guilty by the court the person concerned can be
imprisoned, fined9made to pay money), or punished in some other way. Therefore
we can say: ‘A crime is a wrong against the state for which the wrongdoer (criminal)
is punished by the state’.
Civil law controls how individual people or groups of people behave towards each
other. The state is generally not directly involved as a party to cases that result from
disputes between private people. ( it may, however, be involved as a party if it is
suing or being sued, like a private person for a wrongful act, for example, if
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