COLD COMFORT FOR PARTIES TO A MUSLIM MARRIAGE Hassan v Jacobs NO [2008] 4 All SA 350 (C)

Abstract

In Hassan v Jacobs NO ([2008] 4 All SA 350 (C)) the High Court of South Africa (Cape of Good Hope Provincial Division) was faced with the question of whether the applicant, a spouse to a de facto polygamous Muslim marriage, was entitled to the benefits as provided to a surviving spouse in terms of Intestate Succession Act (81 of 1987 (hereinafter “the ISA”)) as well as the Maintenance of Surviving Spouses Act (27 of 1990 (hereinafter “the MSSA”)). In other words, the court had to decide whether the decision in the case Daniels v Campbell NO (2004 5 SA 331 (CC), where it was held that the word “spouse” as utilised in the ISA and MSSA should be interpreted to
include a husband and wife married in terms of Islamic rites in a de facto monogamous marriage, could be extended to parties in a de facto polygamous Muslim marriage.