The Index of Race Law is a record of the many South African laws – currently, only Acts of Parliament – that make (or made) the race, skin-colour, or ethnicity of legal subjects relevant at law; usually by creating racial disabilities and burdens. The Index covers the period from the creation of the Union of South Africa in May 1910 to the present day.

The Index is always under development and continuously changing, and therefore should at no point be regarded as comprehensive (see Updates below). In the same vein, the Index should not be used as a substitute for professional legal counsel or personal research.

The Index is an initiative of the South African Institute of Race Relations (IRR). Questions and queries should be directed to the Editor of Race Law, Martin van Staden.

(Scroll to the bottom to view the Index.)

Future, Updates, and Things to note when using the Index

Future of the Index

The Index will in future updates also cover national regulations, provincial legislation and regulations, and bylaws in South Africa’s metropolitan municipalities. Additionally, judgments of the superior (precedent-setting) courts that form part of South African race law will also be included.

Latest Index Update: 13 March 2025
(view all updates)

Things to note when using the Index

• Laws marked as ‘Deracialised’ are laws that are operative today or, by the time they were repealed, no longer contained racial disabilities like they once did. It will take some time for us to discover which, especially historical, laws ended their periods of operation racially or deracialised. Nine (9) of the 142 laws operative today have been deracialised since they were originally adopted as race laws.
• Laws marked as ‘Racialised’ are laws from a previous era that, to the best of our knowledge, did not contain racial disabilities but have, in the present era, been amended to do.
• Amendment Acts are, as a general rule, excluded from the Index, except where they are discovered to contain operative provisions themselves (i.e., not merely provisions intended to become part of the principal Acts they are amending). It is quite likely that many contemporary and historical Amendment Acts with their own operative (racial) provisions have been omitted from the Index. Please inform us of any such omissions.
• Laws marked as ‘Repealed’ are laws that were formally and explicitly repealed by later laws (indicated by their Act No./Year). Although it is understood in law that a new statute can by necessary implication repeal an older statute if there is total incongruence between the two, the practice has been for the process to be explicit, not implicit. Any law not formally and explicitly repealed is marked as ‘Operative.’ Some of these originally racial laws (to be distinguished from subsequently “racialised” laws) from before 1994, that remain formally operative today, are however not enforceable, given the intervention of the 1993 and 1996 constitutions.
• Laws marked as ‘Ancillary’ are laws that are not necessarily directly racial in their text but form a necessary part of race law. These laws are either downstream from other race laws, meaning those other race laws are necessary for these laws to operate effectively; or they are upstream from other race laws, meaning these laws are necessary for those other race laws to operate effectively. Laws whose racial nature are unclear are also marked as Ancillary.
• See Methodology for more.

Icon Label

Future of the Index

The Index will in future updates also cover national regulations, provincial legislation and regulations, and bylaws in South Africa’s metropolitan municipalities. Additionally, judgments of the superior (precedent-setting) courts that form part of South African race law will also be included.

Latest Index Update: 9 January 2025
(view all updates)

Things to note when using the Index

• Laws marked as ‘Deracialised’ are laws that are operative today or, by the time they were repealed, no longer contained racial disabilities like they once did. It will take some time for us to discover which, especially historical, laws ended their periods of operation racially or deracialised.
• Laws marked as ‘Racialised’ are laws from a previous era that, to the best of our knowledge, did not contain racial disabilities but have, in the present era, been amended to do.
• Amendment Acts are, as a general rule, excluded from the Index, except where they are discovered to contain operative provisions themselves (i.e., not merely provisions intended to become part of the principal Acts they are amending). It is quite likely that many contemporary and historical Amendment Acts with their own operative (racial) provisions have been omitted from the Index. Please inform us of any such omissions.
• Laws marked as ‘Repealed’ are laws that were formally and explicitly repealed by later laws (indicated by their Act No./Year). Although it is understood in law that a new statute can by necessarily implication repeal an older statute if there is total incongruence between the two, the practice has been for the process to be explicit, not implicit. Any law not formally and explicitly repealed is marked as ‘Operative.’
• Laws marked as ‘Ancillary’ are laws that are not necessarily directly racial in their text but form a necessary part of race law. These laws are either downstream from other race laws, meaning those other race laws are necessary for these laws to operate effectively; or they are upstream from other race laws, meaning these laws are necessary for those other race laws to operate effectively. Laws whose racial nature are unclear are also marked as Ancillary.
• See Methodology for more.

(The updated Index may be downloaded in an Excel spreadsheet format here if the below display is not functional.)