The family is a crucial site for the interaction of law and religion the world over, including Africa. In many African societies, the family is governed by a range of sources of law, including civil, constitutional, customary and religious law. International law and human rights principles have been domesticated into African legal systems, particularly to protect the rights of women and children. Religious rites and rituals govern sexuality, marriage, divorce, child-rearing, inheritance, intergenerational relations and more in Christianity, Islam and indigenous African custom. This book examines the African family with attention to tradition and change, comparative law, the relation of parents and children to the state, indigenous religion and customary law, child marriage and child labour and migration, diaspora and displacement.

"Omudile muua ohapo; epangelo liua ohamba". Freely translated, this proverb of the Ovakwanyama of northern Namibia means: "New leaves produce a good shade; the laws of a king are always as good as new". The proverb paints a picture of wisdom to express the dialectical relationship between continuity and change in customary law. Since royal orders are supposed not to change from one king to the next, they are always as good as new, reads the explanatory note to the proverb by the anthropologist Loeb, who recorded the proverb. Traditional authority is like a tree standing on its roots, rooted in the tradition created by the ancestors of the ruler and the community. These roots remain firm, stable and unchanged, not so the concrete manifestation of authority that changes and responds to changes of the environment. This makes that new leaves are produced by the rooted tree. The new leaves are new and old. They are old, because in structure, colour and their capacity to protect by giving shade, they are more or less like the leaves of last year and the year before; they are new because they react to the challenge of seasons. The Shade of New Leaves emerged out of an international conference on the living reality of customary law and traditional governance held in Windhoek in 2004. The conference was organised by the Centre for Applied Social Sciences and the Human Rights and Documentation Centre, both affiliated to the Faculty of Law of the University of Namibia, in co-operation with the Law Departments of the Universities of Bremen, Germany, and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. The contributions to this book are grouped into six parts: Part 1: Legal pluralism, traditional governance and the challenge of the democratic constitutional order * Part 2: Traditional administration of justice revisited * Part 3: Ascertaining customary law: prerequisite of good governance in traditional authority * Part 4: Legal philosophy, African philosophy and African jurisprudence * Part 5: Research, training and teaching of customary law * Part 6: Afterthoughts

In terms of the South African Constitution of 1996 there is a general need for an introduction to comparative law and one that covers what is technically known as applied comparative law; more particularly applied comparative law that involves a study of the bills of rights in other countries.

Derived from the renowned multi-volume International Encyclopaedia of Laws, this concise exposition and analysis of the essential elements of law with regard to family relations, marital property, and succession to estates in South Africa covers the legal rules and customs pertaining to the intertwined civic status of persons, the family, and property. After an informative general introduction, the book proceeds to an in-depth discussion of the sources and instruments of family and succession law, the authorities that adjudicate and administer the laws, and issues surrounding the person as a legal entity and the legal disposition of property among family members. Such matters as nationality, domicile, and residence; marriage, divorce, and cohabitation; adoption and guardianship; succession and inter vivos arrangements; and the acquisition and administration of estates are all treated to a degree of depth that will prove useful in nearly any situation likely to arise in legal practice. The book is primarily designed to assist lawyers who find themselves having to apply rules of international private law or otherwise handling cases connected with South Africa. It will also be of great value to students and practitioners as a quick guide and easy-to-use practical resource in the field, and especially to academicians and researchers engaged in comparative studies by providing the necessary, basic material of family and succession law.

The focus of this volume is on the various forms of local, informal and/or customary law and their interaction with human rights.

Described as 'ground-breaking' in Kent McNeil's Foreword, this book develops an alternative approach to conventional Aboriginal title doctrine. It explains that aboriginal customary law can be a source of common law title to land in former British colonies, whether they were acquired by settlement or by conquest or cession from another colonising power. The doctrine of Common Law Aboriginal Customary Title provides a coherent approach to the source, content, proof and protection of Aboriginal land rights which overcomes problems arising from the law as currently understood and leads to more just results. The doctrine's applicability in Australia, Canada and South Africa is specifically demonstrated. While the jurisprudential underpinnings for the doctrine are consistent with fundamental common law principles, the author explains that the Australian High Court's decision in Mabo provides a broader basis for the doctrine: a broader basis which is consistent with a re-evaluation of case-law from former British colonies in Africa, as well as from the United States, New Zealand and Canada. In this context, the book proffers a reconceptualisation of the Crown's title to land in former colonies and a reassessment of conventional doctrines, including the doctrine of tenure and the doctrine of continuity. 'With rare exceptions ... the existing literature does not probe as deeply or question fundamental assumptions as thoroughly as Dr Secher does in her research. She goes to the root of the conceptual problems around the legal nature of Indigenous land rights and their vulnerability to extinguishment in the former colonial empire of the Crown. This book is a formidable contribution that I expect will be influential in shifting legal thinking on Indigenous land rights in progressive new directions.' From the Foreword by Professor Kent McNeil (to read the Foreword please click on the 'sample chapter' link).

Derived from the renowned multi-volume International Encyclopaedia of Laws, this convenient resource provides systematic information on how South Africa deals with the role religion plays or can play in society, the legal status of religious communities and institutions, and the legal interaction among religion, culture, education, and media. After a general introduction describing the social and historical background, the book goes on to explain the legal framework in which religion is approached. Coverage proceeds from the principle of religious freedom through the rights and contractual obligations of religious communities; international, transnational, and regional law effects; and the legal parameters affecting the influence of religion in politics and public life. Also covered are legal positions on religion in such specific fields as church financing, labour and employment, and matrimonial and family law. A clear and comprehensive overview of relevant legislation and legal doctrine make the book an invaluable reference source and very useful guide. Succinct and practical, this book will prove to be of great value to practitioners in the myriad instances where a law-related religious interest arises in South Africa. Academics and researchers will appreciate its value as a thorough but concise treatment of the legal aspects of diversity and multiculturalism in which religion plays such an important part.