Magistrate, Aliwal North

• 1/ALN

In 1854 a committee which was elected from the members of the Cape House of Assemble to investigate the necessity of increasing the number of magistracies in the Colony, recommended inter alia the founding of a magistracy at Aliwal North, a village which at that time fell under the jurisdiction of the resident magistrate of Albert.

On 27 July 1855 the Cape of Good Hope Government Gazette reported that the magistracy in question had been constituted and established.

The boundaries of the new district were as follows: “From that point where the Stormberg Spruit joins the Orange River, along the said Spruit to the Brandkops Spruit, thence along the latter to the farm of B de Klerk thence in a South-Easterly direction past the farms Braamfontein, P H Hemmings; Damfontein, G Heuse; Tiger Hoek, G Strydoms; Patriotsklip, J Kleinhans; Zuutbron, J Olivier; Telemachus, J van Biljoens; Vogelfontein, L van der Waltz; Witkops, Jasper Venters; Du Plessiskraal, P Wagenaars; the farms of C Botha, N Els, B Buys, and L J Pretorius, to Joubertskop, in the Stormbergen the boundary of Albert; thence along the Colonial Boundary to the source of the Fees, and down that stream to the Orange River, the Boundary between Albert and the Free State. The whole of the places above named belonged to Aliwal North”.

Several factors influenced the jurisdiction of the Resident Magistrate and Civil Commissioner, later the Magistrate of Aliwal North. The most important of these are the following:

(1) Special Justice of the Peace and Periodical Court, Jamestown
The year 1876 marked the establishment of a court of Special Justice of the Peace at Jamestown in the district of Aliwal North. Henceforth certain types of criminal cases were to be dealt with by the newly appointed Special Justice of the Peace which meant, in effect, a diminution of the criminal jurisdiction of the Resident Magistrate of Aliwal North. Proclamation no. 3 of 11 January 1883 announced the establishment of an additional court to that of the Special Justice of the Peace, namely a Periodical Court to be held by the Resident Magistrate of Aliwal North at Jamestown. The two courts which operated at Jamestown were abolished on the upgrading of the post of Special Justice of the Peace to that of an Assistant Magistrate as from 1 September 1952.

(2) Periodical Court, Lady Grey
From 18 October 1877 to 20 May 1886 a Periodical Court was held by the Resident Magistrate of Aliwal North at Lady Grey. From 1917 to 1927 Lady Grey was a sub-district of Aliwal North. The sub-district was abolished on 27 May 1927 and the district of Lady Grey created.

(3) Magisterial Division, Herschel
The Herschel Magisterial Division came into being as from 1 April 1873 in the Wittebergen Native Reserve. The Wittebergen Native Reserve was founded in 1850 and originally fell under the jurisdiction of the Resident Magistrate of Albert. With the establishment of the magistracy at Aliwal North the supervision over the Reserve went over to the newly created magistracy, a situation which was completely altered with the creation of the Herschel Magisterial Division.

Functions of the Resident Magistrate and Civil Commissioner:
The Magistrate of Aliwal North followed the magisterial system of the Cape Colony which had been laid down in Act no. 20 of 1856. He possessed criminal and civil jurisdiction and performed miscellaneous quasi- and non-judicial functions. The magisterial jurisdiction was amended by various subsequent statutes, both of the Cape Colony and of Union.

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