Die inheemse strafreg van die Noord-Sotho

Inaugural lecture--Faculty of Law, Rand Afrikaans University, 27 September 1978@@A crime is an infringement of public interests, intentional or negligent, for which the law provides a penalty. Since the criminal and civil jurisdiction of chiefs' courts differ, it is essential to distinguish between crimes and delicts and to create a distinctive terminology. The unwritten indigenous criminal law does not embody definitions of particular crimes, but it gives short and clear descriptions of punishable acts while the other essential elements become clear after further investigation. Some of the grounds on which normal criminal conduct can become justified are unknown in Western legal systems, e.g. the killing with impunity of a sorcerer, one of twins, or a deformed child, which formerly were regarded as action in an emergency. Guilt is essential to criminal responsibility, and therefore infancy or lunacy excludes responsibility. The crimes recognized by the Northern Sotho may be classified according to the attacked objects, i.e. crimes against authority, against administration of justice, against human beings, against property, against public order and safety, against public peace, against public beliefs, and crimes which comprise contraventions of administrative laws. Breach of allegiance and sorcery as particular crimes are discussed in detail. A person who has been convicted of a breach of allegiance may be banished from the tribal territory. The exercising of this responsible power should be reviewed, because tribal authorities are no longer sovereign. It is recommended that Lebowa enact its own legislation to suppress sorcery and related problems more efficiently.