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11 U.W. Austl. L. Rev. 133 (1973-1974)
The July in South Africa

handle is hein.journals/uwatlw11 and id is 145 raw text is: (1973) 11 West Aust L Rev 133-139 THE JURY IN SOUTH AFRICA During the period of Dutch administration of the Cape of Good Hope -1652 to 1806-a two tier system of courts was introduced into South Africa. The Raad van Justitie (Council of Justice) operated as a superior court. The number of members of the Council varied. At one stage it had 13 members.' In the country districts justice was administered by a landdrost (magistrate) assisted by as many burghers, or heemraden as they were called, as the Governor might appoint.2 Members of the Raad van Justitie as well as landdrosts were generally laymen untrained in the law.3 During the first years following conquest of the Cape of Good Hope by the British in 1806, judicial institutions remain unaltered.4 Gradu- ally, however, alterations were brought about. In 1826 an ordinance was promulgated creating justices of the peace and in the next year a Supreme Court was established. In 1830 the law of evidence was altered in such a way that the practice of the courts of Westminster rather than that of Dutch courts was followed, and the criminal pro- cedure was considerably amplified. In 1831 the jury system was fully introduced for superior court criminal trials.5 Civil juries were insti- tuted in 1854 in the Supreme Court for trial actions only.6 The Thirties of the 19th Century saw the commencement of the Great Trek, when the Boers-settlers of Dutch, German and French descent-in large numbers left the Cape Colony in order to free them- selves from British domination and to establish their own states in the interior of Southern Africa. In the initial phases of these pioneering 1 J W Wessels, HISTORY OF THE ROMAN DUTCH LAW (1908) 355. In the Eighties of the 18th Century the Council was reconstituted upon the request of the colonists so as to make provision for an equal number of burghers to serve with the officials on the council: G G. Visagie, REGSPLEGINC EN REC AAN DIE KAAP VAN 1962 TOT 1806 (1969) 44. 2 Wessels 360. 3 H R Hahlo & E Kahn, THE UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA: THE DEVELOPMENT OF ITS LAWS AND CONSTITUTION (1960) 200, and cf Visagie 41 et seq. 4 Hahlo & Kahn 363. . Hahlo & Kahn 364. 6 Hahlo & Kahn 214.

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