South African common law has most frequently been characterised as Roman-Dutch law, and its essential nature has been portrayed in a history which gives it a particular narrative pedigree (see e.g. Hosten 1983; Hahlo and Kahn 1968). This narrative traces the sources of South African law from the Roman law from the earliest period, through the republic and empire to Justinian. It then moves on to the reception of Roman law in Europe in the twelfth century onwards (with a nod towards Germanic tribal law); and discusses the development of the Roman-Dutch law in the feudal Netherlands and the Dutch Republic. There are two important things about the pedigree. First, and this it has in common with the pedigree of the English common law, it is long and old. Secondly, it is presented as having its essential roots in Europe, and in two basic European traditions, Roman and German. In this conception the law was both established as a sort of organic heart in the body of the state, and also situated in the external, non-African, European heritage. A by-product of its being so situated was that it is obscure and difficult to master, requiring knowledge of texts and commentaries in Latin and old Dutch. This way of presenting the history of the law had two effects. One was instrumental, in that it was resurrected and developed to combat another narrative and pedigree, that of the English common law.