Proclamation No. R. 151, Natal Code of Zulu Law, 3 September 1987

Annu Rev Popul Law. 1988:15:68, 420-39.

Abstract

PIP: This document contains major provisions of the 1987 South African Proclamation amending the Natal Code of Zulu Law. Chapter 4 of these provisions covers personal status, property rights, the age of majority, and houses or families of which children become members. Chapter 5 deals with family heads in general, the earnings of minor children, the ownership and control of family property, the control of family members, and the responsibilities and privileges of family heads. The seventh chapter regulates customary marriages in general, the investigation of complaints about unreasonable withholding of consent on the part of a father or guardian, reporting of the arranged marriage date and payment of fees, the appointment and duties of official witnesses, the payment of "lobolo," the registration of customary marriages, issuance of the certificate of customary marriage, grounds for divorce, grounds for a declaration of nullity, duties of the party seeking the divorce, return of lobolo, child custody, and "ukungena" unions. The provisions of the eight chapter include the date of payment and delivery of lobolo and death of the lobolo cattle, the women who may receive lobolo, the constitution of lobolo, the amount of lobolo paid for women of varying social ranks, claims relative to lobolo payments, and the claiming of a ngquthu beast. Chapter 9 details the family system in terms of the establishment of senior or affiliated houses, the status of the first wife, the status of wives taken by a commoner subsequent to the first wife, a formal declaration of intention to divide a family home into sections, the declaration of the status of a second and subsequent wives, the declaration of the status of a third wife as a qade wife, junior houses affiliated with senior houses, the status of wives of the hereditary chief, the circumstances when members may leave a family home, and the property of a girl entering a customary marriage. The tenth chapter contains the laws of inheritance and succession, including testate and intestate inheritance of certain property, the rule of primogeniture, and cases of customary marriage. Chapter 12 defines actionable wrongs, which include damage to the reputation of an unmarried girl, the seduction of an unmarried female, adultery, and the abduction of a wife, child, or ward. Finally, Chapter 13 decrees that Black females are not to be considered chattels or property.

Publication types

  • Legislation

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Africa
  • Africa South of the Sahara
  • Africa, Southern
  • Age Factors
  • Child*
  • Demography
  • Developing Countries
  • Divorce*
  • Economics
  • Family Characteristics
  • Family Planning Policy*
  • Family Relations
  • Legislation as Topic*
  • Marriage*
  • Ownership
  • Parents*
  • Population
  • Population Characteristics
  • Public Policy
  • Socioeconomic Factors
  • South Africa
  • Spouses*
  • Wills*
  • Women's Rights*