Wildlife law (South Africa)

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As Wildlife law (eg, law of wild fauna ') is an area of law in South Africa referred, which is concerned with protecting wildlife and preserving their habitats.

Legal history

Dutch Cape Colony

As early as April 14, 1654, shortly after Jan van Riebeeck's arrival in the Cape Colony , he issued the order to have two instead of three meals a day and only eat half a penguin per person per day in order to preserve the game population to ensure. Since under Roman-Dutch law, wild animals had the status of a res nullius , a placaat was issued in 1657 that severely restricted hunting and created the new criminal offense of poaching. In 1658 only the company was allowed to trade ivory . As early as 1661, however, the strict regulation was relaxed and the shooting and trapping of game were allowed as far as domestic requirements required and the hunt did not take place on private property.

More comprehensive legislation was passed in 1680 by Governor Simon van der Stel : He only allowed hunting for two months of the year and only after a license had been granted. Violation was punished with fines, confiscation of weapons and corporal punishment. Concern about the dwindling game population soon led to a significant tightening of the penalties. However, due to a lack of enforcement, the effects of these restrictions remained minor. The same applied to the ivory trade - in 1753 illegal trade was evidenced by exile from the colony.

British Cape Colony

Lord Charles Somerset issued the first proclamations in 1822 "to prevent the total destruction of the game population in the colony" ("to guard against the total destruction of game in this colony"). Essentially, the English regulations consisted of a repetition of the company's placaats, which were not very effective . In the same year the hippopotamus , the billy goat and the elephant became royal game , which could only be hunted with the permission of the governor. In 1828 an ordinance was issued that no longer rewarded the shooting of “harmful animals” with a bonus. In the middle of the 19th century a change in awareness set in: It was no longer just purely economic needs that legitimized legislative action, but also an awakening understanding of the value of the Cape Colony's biodiversity. An important legislative step was therefore the Act for the Better Perservation of Game 1886, which remained in force with a few changes (1891, 1899, 1908) until the Game Act 11 of 1909 was passed. Surprisingly , the changes in the law were particularly influenced by German law , which came into being through the London Convention on Wildlife Protection of 19 May 1900.

Governing Law

Until Game Theft Act 105 of 1991 , Wild's property law status remained res nullius. In contrast, Art. 2 of the 1991 Act stands in direct contrast to the classic doctrine of the Roman-Dutch Law: The ownership of game (a legal definition can be found in Art. 1 GTA 1991) remains unaffected if this is a vehicle, a fence or a Kraal escapes.

literature

Legal history

  • Ed Couzens: Only half a penguin a day: The early history of wildlife law in South Africa . In: SV Hoctor and PJ Schwikkard (eds.): The exemplary scholar. Essays in honor of John Milton . JUTA, Cape Town 2008, ISBN 978-0-7021-7897-9 , pp. 207-235 .
  • John A. Pringle: The Conservationists and the Killers: The Story of Game Protection and the Wildlife Society of Southern Africa . Bulpin, 1982, ISBN 0-949956-23-6 .

Governing Law

  • PD Glavovic: An Introduction to Wildlife Law . In: South African Law Journal . tape 105 , 1988, pp. 519 sqq .
  • Marinus André Rabie: South African environmental legislation . Institute of Foreign and Comparative Law, University of South Africa, Pretoria 1976, ISBN 0-86981-101-0 .
  • CG van der Merwe: Original Acquisition of Ownership, III. Occupation of Wild Animals . In: Reinhard Zimmermann , DP Visser (Ed.): Southern cross: Civil law and common law in South Africa . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1996, pp. 717-719 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Ed Couzens: Only half a penguin a day: The early history of wildlife law in South Africa . In: SV Hoctor, PJ Schwikkard (Ed.): The exemplary scholar. Essays in honor of John Milton . JUTA, Cape Town 2008, ISBN 978-0-7021-7897-9 , pp. 207-235 .
  2. ↑ See RH Grove: Scottish missionaries, evangelical discourses and the origins of conservation thinking in Southern Africa 1820–1900 . In: Journal of Southern African Studies . tape 15 , 1989.
  3. ↑ See also H. Jürgen Wächter: Nature Conservation in the German Colonies in Africa (1884-1918) . LIT, Münster 2008, ISBN 978-3-8258-1767-1 , pp. 36 sq .
  4. ↑ CG van der Merwe: Original Acquisition of Ownership, III. Occupation of Wild Animals . In: Reinhard Zimmermann , Daniel Visser (eds.): Southern cross: Civil law and common law in South Africa . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1996, pp. 717-719 .

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