Related Research Articles
Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritance of property, rights, names, or titles by persons related through male kin. This is sometimes distinguished from cognate kinship, through the mother's lineage, also called the spindle side or the distaff side.
The Statute of Westminster 1931 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that sets the basis for the relationship between the Commonwealth realms and the Crown.
The Herstigte Nasionale Party is a South African political party which was formed as a far-right splinter group of the now defunct National Party in 1969. The party name was commonly abbreviated as HNP, evoking the Herenigde Nasionale Party, although colloquially they were also known as the Herstigtes. The party is, unlike other splinter factions from the National Party, still active but politically irrelevant.
Jan Christian Smuts, OM, CH, ED, KC, FRS was a prominent South African and Commonwealth statesman, military leader, and philosopher. He served as a Boer General during the Boer War, a British General during the First World War and was appointed Field Marshal by King George VI during the Second World War. In addition to various cabinet appointments, he served as Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 until 1924 and from 1939 until 1948. From 1917 to 1919 he was one of five members of the British War Cabinet, helping to create the Royal Air Force. He played a leading part in the post-war settlements at the end of both world wars, making significant contributions towards the creation of the League of Nations and the United Nations. He did much to redefine the relationship between Britain and the Dominions and Colonies, leading to the formation of the British Commonwealth.
Joseph Pessach, better known by his stage name Josef Marais, was a folk-singer from South Africa.
Many people of European heritage in South Africa are descended from Huguenots. Most of these originally settled in the Cape Colony, but were absorbed into the Afrikaner and Afrikaans-speaking population, because they had religious similarities to the Dutch colonists.
Foe is a 1986 novel by South African-born Nobel laureate J. M. Coetzee. Woven around the existing plot of Robinson Crusoe, Foe is written from the perspective of Susan Barton, a castaway who landed on the same island inhabited by "Cruso" and Friday as their adventures were already underway. Like Robinson Crusoe, it is a frame story, unfolded as Barton's narrative while in England attempting to convince the writer Daniel Foe to help transform her tale into popular fiction. Focused primarily on themes of language and power, the novel was the subject of criticism in South Africa, where it was regarded as politically irrelevant on its release. Coetzee revisited the composition of Robinson Crusoe in 2003 in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech.
Kobus Marais is a South African politician, Member of Parliament with the Democratic Alliance, and the current Shadow Minister of Defence and Military Veterans.
The law of persons in South Africa regulates the birth, private-law status and the death of a natural person. It determines the requirements and qualifications for legal subjectivity in South Africa, and the rights and responsibilities that attach to it.
The South African law of succession prescribes the rules which determine the devolution of a person's estate after his death, and all matters incidental thereto. It identifies the beneficiaries who are entitled to succeed to the deceased's estate, and the extent of the benefits they are to receive, and determines the different rights and duties that persons may have in a deceased's estate. It forms part of private law.
Bhe and Others v Magistrate, Khayelitsha and Others; Shibi v Sithole and Others; SA Human Rights Commission and Another v President of the RSA and Another was an important case in South African customary law.
In Geldenhuys v Borman, an important case in the South African law of succession, the testator had executed a total of three wills, each revoking the previous one. For about three years the testator was a patient in Fort England, but he was released at a later stage. At the time the last will was executed, and although the testator was declared incapable of managing his affairs, there was no declaration that the testator was mentally incapable. Geldenhuys approached the court to declare all three wills invalid. The court noted that there is a presumption of competency, so that the onus of proof is on the person alleging incapacity. The court held that Geldenhuys had not discharged this onus, as incapacity to manage one's affairs is not the same as mental incapacity. The wills were accordingly declared valid.
Harlow v Becker was an important case in the South African law of succession.
In Spies v Smith, an important case in the South African law of succession, the testator was mentally retarded and epileptic, and had appointed the two daughters of his step-mother as his sole heirs. When the testator's father died, he went to live with his uncle. Thereafter, the testator made a new will appointing the sons of his uncle as his heirs.
In Kirsten v Bailey, an important case in the South African law of succession, a testatrix made three wills. In the first and third, Bailey was nominated as the sole beneficiary of her estate; in the second will, Kirsten was nominated as the sole beneficiary. Kirsten challenged the validity of the third will.
In Ex Parte Lutchman, an important case in South African succession law, the deceased had left certain property to his six children in equal shares in a validly executed will. One of the deceased's children took out three life insurance policies on his father's life and explained to his father that in order for him to get the benefits of the policies when he died, he must draft a new will. The only provision in the second will was that the son was appointed the sole heir of the insurance policies, so he did not deal with any of the rest of his estate. Furthermore, he accidentally included a revocation clause in the new will, so its effect was that everything except the insurance policies devolved according to the law of intestate succession. At that stage, extra-marital children of persons marriage in terms of Hindu custom could not inherit intestate. The children of the deceased approached the court to declare the second will invalid insofar as it revoked the previous will. The court held that the revocation clause in the second will was obviously a mistake, so this clause was held to be pro non scripto.
In Senekal v Meyer, an important case in South African succession law, the testator had a valid will. On it he had written the word “gekanselleer” (cancelled) on both of the pages of the copy in his possession. The Master, however, accepted the testator's attorney’s copy as the deceased's valid will and testament.
Testate succession exists under the law of succession in South Africa.
ABC v. The State is a case decided by a two-judge bench of the Supreme court of India, which held that an unwed woman belonging to the Christian faith can become a legal guardian of her child without the father's consent.
Intestate succession in South African law takes place whenever the deceased leaves property which has not been disposed of by valid testamentary instrument. In other words, the law of intestate succession applies only:
References
- Marais v The Master 1984 (4) SA 288 (D).
