European law was introduced to Africans to keep them in line and under control. That’s according to the people who installed the European legal systems in Southern Africa.
In a debate with Orange Free State President F.W. Reitz, Theophilus Shepstone wrote:
“[Natives] are guided in every respect by the will of their legally-constituted superiors; and it is this feeling I so anxiously recommend the Government to take advantage of before it gives way to more dangerous views, from continued relaxation from control.”
Shepstone was concerned that if the natives were allowed to formulate their opinions on law and justice and continue to practice what he called “native law” outside British oversight, it would lead to “dangerous views” of violent resistance to British control.
There were disagreements amongst the British about what law would be implemented over natives. One side preferred Roman-Dutch law, while the other chose a hybrid of native and “civilised” law. Both sides agreed that law was needed, not for justice, but for native control.
To be clear, Shepstone opposed imposing blanket European law upon Africans without the safeguards of their native law. This was not because he cared for the natives’ well-being but because it would lead to “continued relaxation from control”.
Shepstone wrote: “When civilised government is called upon to undertake the control of an inferior race…for its internal control, and easily adaptable to our civilised methods it is optional with such government to take into its own hands that organisation.”
In the quest to undertake the control of an inferior race, Shepstone wanted the British to build a custom, tailor-made legal system that would fit the purpose and not just presume European law would work to keep the natives in line.
How natives were to be controlled using the law was outlined by Shepstone in the 1847 Natal Locations Commission report. Which asserted that prosperity depended on “management and efficient control of the large native population”.
According to the Europeans, their method of native control had to be based on the understanding that Africans had “grown up in habits of such servile compliance to the wills of their despotic rulers that they still show ready obedience to constituted authority”.
The British believed savage societies like Africans were “suited to despotic rule”. That “enlightened, decentralised despotism” was the best a civilised government could provide. To Shepstone, this would be done by combining native and “civilised” law for adequate control.
was designed to keep natives under control. Law and order are just its byproducts. Their literature is clear what they wanted—it had nothing to do with justice, especially not justice for Africans. Stop taking them to their courts!
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