Freedom of testation : a memento of capitalist patriarchy

• Main Author: Smith, Sarah Rutherford
• Other Authors: Kroeze, Irma Johanna
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: Succession; Freedom of testation; Socialist feminism; Capitalism; Roman law; Renaissance; Enlightenment; Patriarchy; Feudalism; Industrial revolution; Ownership; Property; 346.52068; Freedom of testation > South Africa; Inheritance and succession > South Africa; Right of property > South Africa; Decedents' estates > South Africa; Socialist feminism > South Africa
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10500/3891

The South African concept of freedom of testation is one of the most absolute concepts of freedom of testation in westernised legal systems. It is suggested that the South African concept of freedom of testation is a memento of capitalist patriarchy. As the South African legal system practices a nearly absolute concept of freedom of testation, capitalist patriarchy has maintained masculine control of property in South Africa and perpetuated the systems of male dominance prevalent in South Africa. Freedom of testation allows for wealth to pass from one male to another. It also allows entrenched gender roles to continue by excluding women from inheriting. Thus the South African law of testate succession and its central concept of freedom of testation allows for discrimination on the ground of gender. === Jurisprudence === LL.M