Kuschke, Birgit --- "South Africa: Insurance Law and Regulation in the Rainbow Nation" [2012] ELECD 184; in Burling, Julian; Lazarus, Kevin (eds), "Research Handbook on International Insurance Law and Regulation" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: Research Handbook on International Insurance Law and Regulation

Editor(s): Burling, Julian; Lazarus, Kevin

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849807883

Section: Chapter 30

Section Title: South Africa: Insurance Law and Regulation in the Rainbow Nation

Author(s): Kuschke, Birgit

Number of pages: 26

Extract:

30 South Africa: insurance law and regulation in the
Rainbow Nation
Birgit Kuschke



1. INTRODUCTION AND BRIEF HISTORY

This chapter provides a broad overview of the statutory regulation of the insurance
industry and of basic insurance contract law principles in South Africa. Specific issues
that are examined in detail include the effect of the modern Constitution on insurance
contract law, the effect of increased mandatory insurance schemes, and the increase in
insurance to the benefit of third parties in the country.
The South African nation has often been described as a `Rainbow Nation', and its law
also clearly reflects this state of affairs. The South African legal system is not a codified
system, and consists of common-law principles that are supplemented by statute and by
case law. Roman-Dutch insurance law was initially introduced as the common law in 1652.
During the British occupation in the early 1800s English precedents were followed and
English insurance law was even introduced by statute as the governing law in some of the
provinces in the country.1 These statutes were revoked in 1977 and the Roman-Dutch law
was restored as the governing insurance law.2 As the influence of English law and even the
application of legal principles from other countries when Roman-Dutch law was lacking
cannot be reversed, some foreign principles have been permanently assimilated into our
law of insurance.3 As the insurance law for most countries devolved from the original lex
mercatoria and legal principles in this ...