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The registration of land at the Cape originated in 1657 when grants of land were given to the first colonists along the Liesbeek River at Rondebosch. In 1686 it was found that many colonists possessed erven in property or on loan and could not produce sufficient certificates of their rights. On 1 July 1686 the Council of Policy resolved that deeds and leases were to be registered with the Secretary of the Council.

From the earliest years transfers and mortgages of immovable property took place before two Commissioners of the Council of Policy and the Secretary to the Council. Between the years 1716 and 1718, the Commissioners of the Council of Policy were replaced by Commissioners of the Court of Justice.

During the years 1806 – 1827 the registration of deeds was attached to the office of the Colonial Secretary. By Ordinance 39 of 1828 the method of certifying, enregistering and subscribing deeds before two members of the Court of Justice in the presence of the Colonial Secretary was abolished. All transfers, bonds and deeds were now required to be registered before an official designated Registrar of Deeds.

Lieutenant-Colonel GJ Rogers, who held the position of Registrar of Slaves and later Protector of Slaves, was appointed the first Registrar of Deeds. The duties of these three distinct offices eventually became too heavy for one official to bear and subsequently the deeds registry was transferred in 1837 to the Treasurer, WH Harvey.

By 1839 the business of the Deeds Registry Office had increased to such an extent that the Governor, Sir George Napier, recommended to the Secretary of State on 29 March 1839 that a separate Deeds Registry Office be created and that JG Brink be placed in charge of the office. The measures for implementing the institution of a separate Deeds Registry Office were sanctioned by the Secretary of State on 29 October 1839.

In terms of Ordinance 14 of 1844 the practice of drawing or preparing deeds exclusively in the Deeds Registry Office was discontinued. Deeds could now be prepared either by qualified conveyancers or in the Deeds Registry Office.

The functions of the various registrars of deeds in the four provinces of South Africa were set out in section 3 of Act 47 of 1937.

The Archives:

In terms of the aforementioned Act, deeds registry offices fall into the category of offices of record. One of the functions of a registrar of deeds, as stipulated by said Act, is to take charge of and preserve all records created in the particular registry office of which he is head. The Archives Act No 6 of 1962, as amended, especially provides that archives which according to any other law are required to be kept in the custody of a particular person, need not be transferred to a public archives repository. The archives described in the accompanying inventory are, consequently, not a complete reflection of the archives of the Registrar of Deeds, Cape Town. It would appear that archives having no further immediate use for, or which are duplicated in the Deeds Registry Office, Cape Town, were transferred to the Cape Archives Depot (now the Cape Town Archives Repository).

The archives created by the Secretary of the Council of Policy and by the Colonial Secretary pertaining to the registration of deeds, prior to the establishment of the office of the Registrar of Deeds, Cape Town in 1828, have been included with the latter official’s archives because of practical reasons.

The Supreme Court of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope was established on 1 January 1828 as the highest court of the Cape Colony. It was created by the First Charter of Justice, letters patent issued by George IV on 24 August 1827. Thereby a Court of Record was constituted originally consisting of a Chief Justice and two puisne judges with jurisdiction in all cases, civil, criminal or mixed. A Registrar was appointed to keep the records of the court, inter alia, recording judgments, file petitions, declarations, applications, admissions of advocates, attorneys, sworn translators, etc.

In September 1909 the South Africa Act created a Supreme Court for the whole of South Africa consisting of an Appellate Division, a Provincial Division for each of the four provinces and a number of local divisions. The Supreme Court of the Cape Colony was thereby transformed into the Cape of Good Hope Provincial Division of the new Supreme Court of South Africa. Originally the Cape Division had jurisdiction over the whole of the Cape Province, although concurrently with the Eastern Cape (Grahamstown) and Griqualand West (Kimberley) Local Divisions in their areas of jurisdiction. However, in 1957 the Eastern Cape division was elevated to the status of a provincial division, and in 1969 the Griqualand West division was similarly elevated, becoming the Northern Cape Division. Upon elevation these divisions became independent from the Cape Division.

When the final Constitution of South Africa came into force in 1997, the Cape of Good Hope Division of the Supreme Court became a High Court. In 2003, in terms of the Interim Rationalisation of Jurisdiction of High Courts Act, 2001, the area of jurisdiction of the Cape High Court was modified to coincide with the boundaries of the Western Cape province. The Renaming of High Courts Act, 2008 renamed it to the "Western Cape High Court, Cape Town". In 2013, in the restructuring brought about by the Superior Courts Act, it became the Western Cape Division of the High Court of South Africa.

As was the case in Batavia, the establishment of the Orphan Chamber at the Cape of Good Hope arose out of the need to provide for the collection and administration of the property of persons who died intestate and left heirs who were absent from the Colony or who were under age. The property of persons who died on the voyage to and from Europe and found on board, was also subject to the jurisdiction of the Orphan Chamber. However, the Government was advised in a letter dated 30th March, 1711 that the Chamber was not to be burdened with deceased estates of Company’s servants and burgers who had died on the voyage.

The main functions and duties of the Orphan Chamber were:

The administration of the estates of persons dying intestate in the Colony or on the voyage and leaving absent or minor heirs, as well as estates of those who had not specifically
excluded the Orphan Master in their will, or had specifically appointed them even where their heirs were majors and resident here;
The registration of wills of deceased persons;
The administration of minors’ property;
Receiving and paying to present and absent claimants the portions or legacies due to them;
Keeping a death register of persons who died at the Cape;
Recording the resolutions and transactions of the Board.

After the devastating effect of the smallpox epidemic of 1713, the Council of Policy empowered the Orphan Chamber to protect the transfer of property of all free individuals at the Cape. All wills and deaths at the Cape had to be registered with the Orphan Chamber but the Chamber only inventoried and acted as executor for the categories of estates listed below.

The Orphan Chamber was the executor of the estates of free persons:
who left heirs under 25 (and unmarried) or of unsound mind;
who left heirs who were either out of the country or not apparent;
who died ab intestato or ex testamento (without a will or testament);
if there was a specific request in the will or testament for the Chamber to act as executor;
if the will did not specifically exclude the Chamber from acting as executor.

The Orphan Chamber had to track down any possible heirs. Heirs residing outside of the country of death had to send a power of attorney proving their relationship to the deceased, and the Orphan Chamber would then pay out what was rightfully theirs. If an individual died without children or spouse, then the inheritance went to their next of kin, whether brothers, sisters, parents, or cousins (sometimes even to the 10th degree). If an inhabitant, or a stranger, died at the Cape without any acknowledged relatives, the property, after discharging the debts, was sold, and reserved for the unknown heirs, and every method was taken for their discovery. If no heir was found within 50 years from the date of death, the estate reverted to the Government.

In 1714 the Government issued to the Orphan Masters a set of rules and Regulations by which they were to be guided in the carrying out of their duties (Resolutions, Council of Policy, 26 June 1714). These instructions were taken from the Statutes of Batavia, together with a tariff of fees which were to be charged in administering an estate.

In 1793 renewed instructions were issued and compiled from the 1714 rules, from those of the Orphan Chamber at Batavia, from a sketch of instructions submitted to the Government by the Orphan Masters, and from a report relative to the improvement to the Chamber.

Provisional instructions were framed for the Orphan Chamber by Commissioner General Jacob de Mist but these show that they were evidently framed more with a view to confirm the existing rules than to introduce new regulations.

The following are two of the articles of the instructions laid down: Immovable property of orphans could only be sold by an order of Court, and such property had to be put up for public auction and sold to the highest bidder. A minor, absent from the country for sixteen years, could be publicly summonsed at his last-known place of residence. If it was ascertained what had happened to him, his heirs could receive his property upon giving security de restituendo. Persons had to obey a summons to appear before the Masters as if it had emanated from a Court, and upon a third default to appear they could be brought before the Court of Justice. From the resolutions sent from time to time by the Government to the Board and the instructions framed in 1793, it would appear that the Orphan Masters were given almost the same portion of authority and jurisdiction in testamentary matters as was exercised in earlier periods by the spiritual Courts in England.

According to the provisions of Ordinances 104 and 105 of 1833, the Orphan Chamber was abolished and its duties were transferred to the newly appointed office of Master of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court of the Cape of Good Hope was established in 1827. Subsequently a code for the administration and distribution of insolvent estates was enacted on behalf of minors and persons under curatorship.

The Master controls the administration of deceased and insolvent estates. In this connection he protects the property rights of creditors and heirs and especially of minors. The acts which mainly control his functions are the Administration of Estates Act, 1965 (Act 66 of 1965), the Insolvency Act, 1936 (Act 24 of 1936), the Companies Act, 1973 (Act 61 of 1973), the Close Corporations Act, 1984 (Act 69 of 1984) and the Trust Property Control Act, 1988 (Act 57 of 1988). He appoints executors and trustees in estates and liquidators of companies. He has in respect of minors to a limited extent the function of upper guardian, especially in regard to alienation of hypothecation of their immovable property. The interests of mentally affected persons and persons under curatorship are also protected by him. The most important task of the Master~s office is to check liquidation and distribution accounts. He has wide powers to enforce proper administration by executors, liquidators and trustees. There were six Master~s offices in South Africa prior to 1997, one in each of the provincial capitals and one at Kimberley and also Grahamstown.

The Municipality of Knysna was constituted on 12 October 1881 under provision of proclamation No 169 in terms of Ordinance No 9 of 1836.

In terms of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act, 1998 (Act 117 of 1998) the existing Municipality of Knysna, Sedgefield Transitional Local Council, Belvidere Estate Transitional Local Council, Brenton Transitional Local Council, Knoetzie Transitional Local Council, Outeniqua Transitional Representative Council and Rheenendal Transitional Local Council was disestablished and the Knysna Local Municipality established (Province of Western Cape Provincial Gazette Extraordinary No 5592, 22 September 2000, Provincial Notice No 504, 22 September 2000). The Knysna Local Municipality forms part of the larger Garden Route (formerly Eden) District Municipality.

The Court of Justice at the Cape was established in 1656. Prior to this date judicial matters were dealt with by the Council of Policy but by a resolution of 28 October 1656 the latter body decided that when it sat as a court of justice and as a military court it was to consist of the commander, five members and a secretary. In 1657 the free burghers obtained representation in the court in cases in which burghers were concerned. In 1685 provision was made for the court to consist of the governor, vice- governor and eight members, the secretary having no voice in the proceedings. Initially, two of the members were burgher councillors. Until 1734 the governor acted as president of the court. In 1786 the composition of the court was altered by having six company servants and six burgher councillors under the presidency of a member of the Council of Policy. In 1792 the secretaries of the Council of Policy and Court of Justice were respectively appointed notaries public, from which date notaries were regularly admitted by the government to practice before the court until 1858 when they were admitted by authority of the Supreme Court. In 1797 Lord McCartney decreed that the court should consist of a president, the fiscal and five ordinary members. The title of president was changed to chief justice in 1812.

Until 1795 the Court of Justice was an appeal court to the inferior courts and appeal from its sentences had to be made to the Court of Justice at Batavia. This ceased at the first British Occupation until 1797 when the governor was vested with an appellate jurisdiction in cases exceeding £200 in dispute. A further appeal lay to the King-in-council where the amount was over £500. In 1803 appeals had to be carried to the National Supreme Court at The Hague and after 1806 the same procedure was re-established as in 1797. From the members of the court, commissioners (Heeren Gecommitteerden) were appointed before whom all transfers of landed property, mortgage bonds, etc were passed. This body also acted in civil cases by taking evidence, making investigations and attempting to solve cases before bringing it before the full court.

When the court was remodeled in 1786 a board called the College of Commissioners of the Court of Justice (Commissarissen uit den Raad van Justisie) was established. This board replaced the Burgher Council and generally the commissioners’ duties were of a municipal nature. On 31 January 1796 the college was abolished, its duties being assigned to a new body, the Burgher Senate.

Until 1811, Cape Town was the only seat of the criminal court but in this year a Circuit Court was establishes to try cases in the country districts.

The Archives:
The records in civil and criminal cases are fairly complete, commencing prior to the establishment of the Court of Justice and containing the minutes of the court, papers presented to the members, petitions, affidavits and papers connected with each case. The series Notarial and other documents prepared before or received by the Court of Justice includes wills, inventories, powers of attorney, contracts, declarations, attestations, certificates and inspections of persons who died suddenly, who were wounded or drowned. The documents of the Court of Appeal, 1807 – 1827 originally described with the archives of the Court of Justice, have been transferred to the archives of the Governor, the new reference numbers being indicated in the inventory. The archives of the Fiscal, such as exist, are to be found described together with the archives of the Attorney-General of the Cape (inventory 1/19).