contents

Inventories of the Orphan Chamber
of the Cape of Good Hope


History of the Orphan Chamber at the Cape of Good Hope

Introduction

Orphan Chambers had existed in the different states of the Netherlands for some time and this Dutch Law was extended to the territories of the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC). Thus the Orphan Chamber of Batavia was established by resolution of the High Government of 1 October 1624. The instruction was issued on 16 June 1625 (N.I. Plak., I, p. 173). The Orphan Chamber in Batavia, as in other places, was responsible for the making of inventories, acting as the guardian of minors and administering the minors’ property until they came of age.

A notebook used by the Orphan Chamber at the Cape (MOOC3/1/1) contains an extract from the Ordinance of the policies in Holland of 1 April 1580 and one from the declarations by the states of Holland and West-Friesland regarding the Ordinances of Succession of 13 May 1594 translated as:

The Dutch Law of Succession
being
the Law whereby all allodial or
property deriving from Wills
or final wishes, not disposed of,
must succeed to the deceased’s relatives
and blood relations whether in South
or North Holland

This compiled from the Political Ordinance
at the Supreme Authority of State issued in the year 1580
which later declaration was issued
dated the 14th May 1594 as
well as the Proclamation germane
to the Succession ab
Intestato, dated
18 December
of the year 1599

 

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