Law of South Africa

Module 6

Contract, delict, property, family and succession: the common law of contract and its remedies, the law of delict, land and land reform, marriage and divorce, and wills and estates

South African private law is the part of the legal system that is most distinctively Roman-Dutch, and it has been reshaped by the Constitution and by statute. Contract is a matter of common law, with statutes for consumers, credit and the sale of land. Delict, the law of civil wrongs, is organised around five elements: conduct, wrongfulness, fault, causation and harm. Land is registered in the Deeds Office, and land law cannot be understood without the history of dispossession and the constitutional duty of land reform. Family law recognises civil, customary and civil union marriages, and succession is governed by freedom of testation, with statutes for those who die without a will. This module explains how the system works for the people who sign, buy, marry and inherit in South Africa.

General education on the law of South Africa, using invented people and businesses. It states laws and procedures in simplified form and is not legal advice. The law and its practice change, and every case turns on its facts, the province and the authority concerned. It does not offer legal representation or a legal opinion on any case. Consult a South African attorney for any real matter.

This course was written on 5 November 2026. To the best of our knowledge, it describes the law of South Africa as it stood on that date. Laws change, and we may have missed or misunderstood something. If you notice a change, or have other information, please do not hesitate to contact us: we will review it and update the course. We do not claim to be the final source of the law.