Abstract:
The enactment of section 31 of the Black Laws Amendment Act 76 of 1963 has been hailed as an important milestone in law reform (see Dlamini "Claim by Widow of a Customary Union for Loss of Support" 1984 SALJ 346). The main aim behind the enactment was to grant the widow of a customary marriage the right to "claim damages for loss of support from any person who unlawfully causes the death of her husband or is legally liable in respect thereof; provided that, at the time of his death, neither of them was a party to a subsisting civil marriage and that the customary marriage was also subsisting at that time" (Bekker Seymour's Customary Law in Southern Africa 1989 379; and see also Pasela v Rondalia Versekeringskorporasie van SA Bpk 1967 1 SA 339 (W)).
