Page 35 - The Circle of Life

acceptable time and place. It will not postpone the trial date so it is of no use to

you to play around with dates. Attend; make note of what is said and leave. We
will deal with all above later on as well again. I realise it sounds a bit
complicated.

Let us carry on to more interesting things now (as far as law can be interesting

of course).

The Church and the Law

One of the major problems we have in law is the Church and people who want to

bring their religious beliefs into law. The two simply don't mix for there are many
different religions and it cannot be denied that a lot of Western Law is based

upon Christianity. Frequently this is not a problem but when it comes to family
law Muslims for instance have other ideas on marriage and the procedures how

to get married and with how many wives. I have a problem with mixing religion
with law and I explained it in my book Tricks of Trade - Memories of a Rogue

Lawyer as thus:

"You may not agree with me (join the club) but the Bible has no place in Law
unless you want to create a Christian Sharia Law which I am sure you don’t want

to do. If you follow that notion then women will still be in the background
unable to cause the havoc we love them for. Those times do not belong in

modern society and cannot be brought into the modern world without thorough
consideration of its effects as some preaches.

Why should old customs not be imported into modern law? An eye for an eye
sounds good. Let me explain three thought-provoking legal principles to you in

this regard:

Up to 1984 women were only in charge of the kitchen supplies in most
marriages in South Africa. The rest of the time she was subjected to her

husband in law. This meant once married she needed her husband’s signature
on all contracts except where she bought groceries for the kitchen. Does not

matter if she was a lawyer or medical doctor herself! Husband outranks her
because he is a man and only because he is a man. Thus she could act in her

own capacity in the kitchen only. A second class citizen then because she

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