The Sodomy Cases PDF Download

This collection was compiled by Francis Loots on behalf of GALA, following a search for documents on cases of sodomy in the Cape Archives. The collection consists of the search results, indexes and summaries of Circuit Court, Supreme Court and Appeal Court sodomy cases, as well as photocopies, transcriptions and English translations of some of the original Afrikaans documents in the Cape Archives (1828-1961). A computer printout of search results (117 sodomy cases) forms the basis of the collection. Loots summarised each sodomy case individually, recording the name of the accused, occupation, place and date of assault as a heading to each case, followed by the Cape Archives file/volume reference number, the computer search result number, a description of the case, and a detailed description of documents in the Cape Archives for each case. Photocopies of original documents are attached to most of the summaries, as well as transcribed documents in some instances, and English translations where the original documents are in Afrikaans. Loots did not retain the order and numbering (no. 1-117) of the documents as listed in the search results, but allocated his own numbers (marked at the top right hand corner of each case summary), and sorted the records according to the following categories for which he compiled 3 indexes.: Criminal records, Cape Supreme Court, 1828-1957, Charge: Sodomy (Numbers 1-64). Criminal records, Circuit Court of the Cape Supreme Court, 1828-1961, Charge: Sodomy (Numbers 65-112). Criminal records, Cape Supreme Court, Criminal appeals, 1927-1940, Charge: Sodomy (Numbers 113-116). This order has been retained in the archival arrangement of the sodomy case materials in series B. Search result number 4 (of 117) has been annotated as a "mistake" on the computer printout and related documents have not been included in this collection. The dates in the inventory refer to the dates of sodomy cases, as reflected in the search results, recorded in the case summaries and in the original case documents from the Cape Archives. The case summaries would have been compiled in 1999, along with the transcribing and translation of some of the original case documents. A floppy disk contains the digital-born documents created by Loots: the indexes and the Circuit Court, Supreme Court and Appeal Court case summaries, a translation of witness testimony in the case of Rex Vs Bertwyn Cobhan Norton (B106), and a transcription of witness testimony and statement in the case of Rex Vs Albert Brentall Stone (B116). The collection further includes a PhD thesis by Tecla Aerts on sodomy on VOC ships in the 18th Century (in Dutch).