|
FUNDAMINA
Enquiries | History and background | Message
from Honorary Editor
Fundamina is published
annually as the mouthpiece of the Southern African Society of Legal
Historians and is distributed free of charge to members of the Society.
Membership of the Society is open to all who identify themselves with the
aims of the Society, as set out in its constitution. Annual membership
fees are R25-00
(Southern Africa), $15-00
(US) and R50-00
(elsewhere), $7-50
(US).
EDITORIAL
COMMITTEE:
|
Honorary Editor:
|
R Feenstra
(Leiden)
|
|
Editors:
|
H van Oosten
(Pretoria); Ph J Thomas (Pretoria); DG Kleyn (Pretoria); BC Stoop
(Pretoria)
|
|
Editorial Board:
|
P Birks
(Oxford); W Brauneder (Vienna); GR Dolezalek; A Gouron (Montpellier);
WJ Hosten (Pretoria); K Luig (Collogne); A Pérez Martín (Murcia); D van
der Merwe (Johannesburg); PL Néve (Nijmegen-Tilburg); P Stein
(Cambridge); DP Visser (Cape Town); A Wacke (Cologne); P Weimar
(Zurich); J Zlnsky (Budapest - Miskolc); DH van Zyl (Cape Town)
|
All contributions
to Fundamina should be addressed to:
|
THE EDITOR
Prof H van den Bergh
|
SA Society of
Legal Historians
c/o Faculty of Law
UNISA
PO Box 392
0001 PRETORIA
SOUTH AFRICA
|
tel: +27 12 429
8497
fax: +27 12 429 3442
e-mail: vdberh@unisa.ac.za
|
All
correspondence, including applications for membership, should be
addressed to:
|
SECRETARY
Prof W du Plessis
|
Faculty of Law
Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education
Private Bag X6001
POTCHEFSTROOM
2520, SOUTH AFRICA
|
tel:
fax:
e-mail: rmrwdp@puknet.puk.ac.za
|
EDITORIAL
COMMITTEE:
|
Honorary Editor:
|
R Feenstra
(Leiden)
|
|
Editors:
|
H van Oosten
(Pretoria); Ph J Thomas (Pretoria); DG Kleyn (Pretoria); BC Stoop
(Pretoria)
|
|
Editorial Board:
|
P Birks
(Oxford); W Brauneder (Vienna); GR Dolezalek; A Gouron (Montpellier);
WJ Hosten (Pretoria); K Luig (Collogne); A Pérez Martín (Murcia); D van
der Merwe (Johannesburg); PL Néve (Nijmegen-Tilburg); P Stein
(Cambridge); DP Visser (Cape Town); A Wacke (Cologne); P Weimar
(Zurich); J Zlnsky (Budapest - Miskolc); DH van Zyl (Cape Town)
|
HISTORY AND BACKGROUND OF FUNDAMINA
Preface to 1992
Fundamina
At the founding of the Southern African Society
of Legal Historians on the eleventh of January 1983 the aims of the
Society were defined as follows: to further teaching, study and research
concerning legal history; to regularly present congresses in order to
discuss legal history and intricacies in connection therewith; to publish
a legal history journal; to encourage contact and co-operation between
legal historians and legal historical societies overseas and other
interested organisations; and to perform aims.
As nearly ten years have passed since the
founding of the Society the time has arrived to realise the aim to
publish a legal history journal. Originally a Newsletter was published
annually. This publication, renamed Bulletin in
1986, did not seek the status of a legal periodical. With its new journal
Fundamina hoped
to extend its membership and in particular to encourage contact and
co-operation between legal historians. The heterogeneous character of
legal historians makes international contact and co-operation betweeen
legal historians a conditio sine qua non and the
publication of an international legal history journal provides a vehicle
to create and maintain these contacts.
The South African legal system is one of
the few contemporary legal systems in which Roman and Roman-Dutch law
still play an active part. Despite any changes the present system will
doubtlessly undergo to bring it in tune with the expectations of the
majority of the population, the Roman-Dutch roots of private law will
always offer an interesting field of research. On a macro level, as a
product of the melting pot that shaped the destiny of the greater part of
our world, it also provides a point of contact between nations. Indeed,
since the world has become a village, it is more appropriate to
accentuate what unifies the villagers rather than to concentrate on what
divides them, which makes research into the common roots of the various
legal systems an interesting challenge.
Finally, legal history is a wide paradigm.
This journal not only welcomes contributions relating to legal history,
the most recent history included, but is open for contributions regarding
the various factors interrelated with the legal system. It is to be hoped
that this wide definition will attract a wide variety of scholarship as
well as a wide audience.
The editorial committee of Fundamina therefore represents
the international aspirations of the Society and it is to be hoped that
the committee will truly be representative of the journal, so that
contributions from a wide range of countries will lead to the exchange of
ideas.
The Editors
Word from the honorary
editor in 1992 Fundamina:
Since the editors of Fundamina
have bestowed on me the privilege to serve as honorary editor of their
journal, I would like to add a few thoughts to the preface.
I speak on behalf of the European legal
historians and especially those from the country which was the cradle of
the Roman-Dutch Law, when I express our happiness that the Southern
African Society of Legal Historians has accomplished one of their main
objectives, namely the publication of a legal journal.
I wholeheartedly endorse the objectives
and aims of the editorial staff as stated in the preface. I say without
fear of contradiction that many legal historians - in Europe and in other
parts of the world - will support the new journal, not only through
subscription but also through scientific contributions for publication.
May Fundamina
have a bright future!
Leiden, March 1993
ROBERT FEENSTRA
|
