4. Conclusion and evaluation 1. Introduction: South African law as a ' legal system Any contribution on South African private law should, at the outset, make it clear that South African law is a so-called ' mixed' legal system. This means that it is a legal system at the intersection of civil law and common law.2 From the time that the settlement at the cape was established as an outpost of the dutch East India Company (v.o.C. )in 1652, the law in this region was Roman-Dutch law(that is, a civilian system). This did not formally change with the two British occupations in 1795 and 1806. The reason is that the new rulers decided to retain the Roman-Dutch law as the law of the Cape and not to replace it with English law. 3 The British occupation nevertheless had a profound influence on the nature of South African law The broad pattern that emerged under British rule was a general movement towards English law and institutions. 4 This trend was particularly noticeable in the fields of the administration of justice, procedural law, the law of evidence and commercial law(for example, company law and the law of negotiable instruments. )However, private law was not insulated from this proces One therefore finds the influence of English law in many areas of private law, for example, the law of contract, the law of delict, the law of succession(especially in the context of formalities) and the law of agency. The reception of the English trust into South African law(though not in its English form) also provides an interesting example of the interaction between civil law and common law in the South african context 5 One of the areas of South African private law in which the principles of Roman-Dutch law have been preserved to a large extent is the law of property(or the law of things as it should preferably be called )6 Roman law, as received into and developed in the province of Holland dt urIng seventeen nth and eighteenth centuries therefore still forms the dogmatic basis of the modern South African law of property. 7 It should be borne in mind, however, that much of the dogmatic and systematic refinement of modern South African property law can in fact be traced to the work of the German Pandectists of the nineteenth century. The Roman-Dutch law of property, as transplanted to South Africa, has of course been further refined by the legislator and the courts. English law played a very minor role in this process of refinement and development 2R. Zimmermann and D Visser "South African Law asa Mixed Legal System'in R. Zimmermann andD. Visser (eds )Southern Cross: Civil Law and Common Law in South Africa Clarendon Press, Oxford(1996)1 at2 3H. R. Hahlo and E. Kahn The South African Legal System and Its Background Juta and Co., Cape Town(1973) 575ff 4Hahlo and Kahn(n 3)576 5See, in general, T Honore Trustin Zimmermann and Visser(eds )(n 2)849ff 6See, in general, C G. van der Merwe Sakereg(2nd ed. )Butterworths, Durban (1989)6 7C. G. van der Merwe and M.J. de Waal The Law of Things and Servitudes Butterworths, Durban (1993)sect. 64. Conclusion and evaluation 1. Introduction: South African law as a ‘mixed’ legal system Any contribution on South African private law should, at the outset, make it clear that South African law is a so-called ‘mixed’ legal system. This means that it is a legal system ‘at the intersection of civil law and common law’.2 From the time that the settlement at the Cape was established as an outpost of the Dutch East India Company (V.O.C.) in 1652, the law in this region was Roman-Dutch law (that is, a civilian system). This did not formally change with the two British occupations in 1795 and 1806. The reason is that the new rulers decided to retain the Roman-Dutch law as the law of the Cape and not to replace it with English law.3 The British occupation nevertheless had a profound influence on the nature of South African law. The broad pattern that emerged under British rule was a general movement towards English law and institutions.4 This trend was particularly noticeable in the fields of the administration of justice, procedural law, the law of evidence and commercial law (for example, company law and the law of negotiable instruments.) However, private law was not insulated from this process. One therefore finds the influence of English law in many areas of private law, for example, the law of contract, the law of delict, the law of succession (especially in the context of formalities) and the law of agency. The reception of the English trust into South African law (though not in its English form) also provides an interesting example of the interaction between civil law and common law in the South African context.5 One of the areas of South African private law in which the principles of Roman-Dutch law have been preserved to a large extent is the law of property (or the law of things as it should preferably be called).6 Roman law, as received into and developed in the province of Holland during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, therefore still forms the dogmatic basis of the modern South African law of property.7 It should be borne in mind, however, that much of the dogmatic and systematic refinement of modern South African property law can in fact be traced to the work of the German Pandectists of the nineteenth century. The Roman-Dutch law of property, as transplanted to South Africa, has of course been further refined by the legislator and the courts. English law played a very minor role in this process of refinement and development. 2R. Zimmermann and D. Visser ‘South African Law as a Mixed Legal System’ in R. Zimmermann and D. Visser (eds.) Southern Cross: Civil Law and Common Law in South Africa Clarendon Press, Oxford (1996) 1 at 2. 3H.R. Hahlo and E. Kahn The South African Legal System and Its Background Juta and Co., Cape Town (1973) 575ff. 4Hahlo and Kahn (n. 3) 576. 5See, in general, T. Honoré ‘Trust’ in Zimmermann and Visser (eds.) (n. 2) 849ff. 6See, in general, C.G. van der Merwe Sakereg (2nd ed.) Butterworths, Durban (1989) 6. 7C.G. van der Merwe and M.J. de Waal The Law of Things and Servitudes Butterworths, Durban (1993) sect. 6