Immorality and Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Amendment Act, 1985

The Immorality and Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Amendment Act, 1985 (Act No. 72 of 1985) is an act of the Parliament of South Africa that repealed the laws prohibiting marriage and sexual intercourse between white people and people of other races. It was one of the early legislative steps towards the end of apartheid.

Background

The act repealed section 16 of the Immorality Act, 1957, which prohibited extramarital sex between a white person and a non-white person. It also made other consequential amendments related to the repeal of section 16, and removed the higher penalties for brothel-keeping and procuring when the sex in question was interracial. It also amended certain sections of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1977, that referred to violations of section 16.

It also repealed the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, 1949, which prohibited a white person and a non-white person from contracting a marriage and invalidated any such marriage contracted outside South Africa by a South African citizen or resident. The repeal did not automatically validate such marriages previously invalidated, but allowed the spouses to apply to the Director-General of Home Affairs to have the marriage validated.

See also

• Immorality Act

References

External links

1. Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, 1949
2. Immorality Act
3. Sexual Offences Act, 1957
4. Immorality Act, 1927
5. Marriage Act
6. Prostitution in South Africa
7. Apartheid legislation
8. Marriage
9. Anti-miscegenation laws
10. Apartheid
11. National Key Points Act, 1980
12. Herstigte Nasionale Party
13. Timeline of women's legal rights (other than voting) in the 20th century
14. LGBT rights by country or territory
15. Miscegenation
16. List of acts of the Parliament of South Africa, 1980–1989
17. Timeline of women's legal rights in the United States (other than voting)
18. Women's rights
19. Sexual slavery
20. LGBT people and Islam