Abstract
The African family in South Africa’s customary societies was patriarchal and polygynous. Though the head had wide powers over the wives, children and dependants in his household, it cannot be said — as was said of early Roman law (Bodenheimer, 1940: 20) — that the law ‘stopped on the threshold of the home’. He administered any property they acquired, was held responsible for their civil wrongdoing and arranged the marriages of his children.
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© 1997 Ray Alexander Simon
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Simons, H.J. (1997). Patriarchal Rule. In: Struggles in Southern Africa for Survival and Equality. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230373044_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230373044_3
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