commissioner’s court, noun phrase

Forms:
Also with initial capitals.
historical
Often in the phrases Bantu commissioner’s court, Native commissioner’s court. A special court dealing with civil, criminal, and administrative matters affecting Black people only.
Note:
Instituted by the Native Administration Act of 1927, these courts were abolished in April 1986.
1927 Act 38 in Stat. of Union 322The Governor-General may..constitute courts of native commissioners for the hearing of all civil causes and matters between Native and Native only: Provided that a native commissioner’s court shall have no jurisdiction in matters which (a) the status of a person in respect of mental capacity is sought to be affected.
1937 Star 4 Aug. 12A legal machinery that worked at such remorseless speed and achieved results by methods as summary as those that the exigencies of the Native Commissioner’s Court seem to demand.
1948 E. Hellmann Rooiyard 79Many Natives are handicapped by their ignorance of legal procedure and have no knowledge of the approach to the Native Commissioner’s Court where they could obtain redress for their wrongs.
1964 Black Sash Vol.8 Nos 1/2, 51They have made investigations into..the operation of the Native Commissioners’ Courts.
c1980 S. Afr. 1979: Off. Yrbk (Info. Service of S. Afr.) 305The presiding officer in the Commissioner’s Court is an official of the Department of Co-operation and Development. He must be in possession of the same minimum legal qualifications as a magistrate.
1980 Rand Daily Mail 29 Nov. 1Instead of blacks appearing in the commissioners’ courts and whites in the magistrates’ courts, everyone will go before the commissioners.
1984 Frontline Feb. 13The Commissioners’ Courts, intended to create a simple, inexpensive way of settling disputes between blacks, comprehensible to the litigants and run by experts in indigenous law and custom, hardly seem to have lived up to expectations.
1987 Race Rel. Survey 1986 (S.A.I.R.R.) I. 338The Special Courts for Blacks Abolition Bill..provided for the scrapping of special courts for Africans...Commissioners’ courts..were abolished.
Often in the phrases Bantu commissioner’s court, Native commissioner’s court.A special court dealing with civil, criminal, and administrative matters affecting Black people only.
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

19271987

Browse Related Words

By Category

Apartheid Law
Government and Administration

By Usage

historical
Commissioner-General, nounn.Committee of Ten, noun phrasen. phr.
Copyright © 2025 Dictionary Unit for South African English