CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. i PART I. ORDINANCES IN FORCE. No. 12, 1845.-(Signed) P. MAITLAND. Ordinance for establishing the Roman Dutch Law in and for the District of Natal (1). WHEREAS it has pleased Her Majesty the Queen, by certain Letters Patent, bearing date the 31st day of May, in the Seventh Year of Her Reign, to annex to this Settlement of the Cape of Good Hope, as a part or portion thereof, the district of Ñatal in South Africa: And whereas, by the said Letters Patent, it is amongst other things provided, that no law, custom, or usage in force within this Settlement should, by virtue merely of the said Letters Patent, extend to, or become in force, within the said District of Natal; but that it should be competent for the Legislature of this Settlement, subject to the limitations, conditions, and provisions in the said Letters Patent mentioned or referred to, to make, ordain, and establish all such Laws and Ordinances as to them should seem meet for the peace, order, and good government of the said District of Natal: And whereas His Excellency the Governor has declared, by a Proclamation dated 21st August, 1845, by him issued in virtue of certain authority in that behalf in him vested, the limits or boundaries of the said District of Natal, and has defined the Territory or Territories which constitute the said District: And whereas it is expedient, without awaiting the legislative establishment within the said District, of the Court or Courts for the administration of Justice, which is, or are, now about to be created, to make provision for the establishment of such laws as are immediately and indispensably required for the preservation, in the meantime, of peace and good order, and the repression of violence, injury, and injustice amongst all persons resident in the said District: Be it therefore enacted, by the Governor of the Cape of (1). Confirmed, vide Proclamation, 27th February, 1847. Preamble. |