A Handbook of Tswana Law and Custom Compiled for the Bechuanaland Protectorate Administration

by Schapera, Isaac

• ISBN13: 9783894736859
• ISBN10: 3894736852
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1994-09-08
• Publisher: Lit Verlag

Summary

When Professor Isaac Schapera was asked in 1934 by the Protectorate Administration to compile a record of the traditional and modern laws of the Tswana tribes he had already been working since 1929 on a comprehensive ethnographic study of the Kgatla, and his investigation was therefore based on a thorough previous knowledge of the social structure as a whole. Schapera gives a picture of what Tswana law was like in former times, and shows that, contrary to expectation, modern European contact and the administration of tribes by the then Protectorate Government ended the original uniformity of the system, and created considerable diversity. Schapera conscientiously kept within the original mandate of the Administration and produced an authoritative, straightforward compilation. Despite its modest title it has deservedly become a classic and far exceeds its primary object, which was to serve as a handbook for the information and guidance of government officials and administrators of the law. This is a reprint of the first edition published in 1938.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Preface
The Social Structure of the Tswana Tribes	p. 1
The Nature and Sources of Tswana Law	p. 35
The Tribal Constitution. I: The Central Government	p. 53
The Tribal Constitution. II: Local Administration	p. 89
The Tribal Constitution. III: The Regimental Organization	p. 104
The Tribal Constitution. IV: Citizenship	p. 118
Family Law. I: Marriage	p. 125
Family Law. II: Husband and Wife	p. 148
Family Law. III: Parents and Children	p. 169
Family Law. IV: Kinship Obligations	p. 185
Law of Property. I: Land Tenure	p. 195
Law of Property. II: Livestock and Other Property	p. 214
Law of Property. III: Inheritance	p. 230
Law of Contract	p. 239
Legal Wrongs	p. 257
Procedure	p. 279
Appendix I. Genealogical Tables of Tswana Royal Families	p. 301
Appendix II. Lists of Tswana Mephato (Age-Regiments)	p. 310
Index	p. 319
Sketch Map, showing Distribution of the Principal Tribes (at end)
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