Did you know that the University of Pretoria’s Department of Library Services has a dedicated Special Collections Unit which curates rare, valuable and specialist collections on level 5 of the Merensky 2 Library? This valuable collection is one of various special collections housed at our faculty and branch libraries and are of cultural and research importance not only to those within specific fields of study, but to the broader research community.

As the library partner of UP GLAM (Gardens, Libraries, Archives and Museums), the Department of Library Services works collaboratively within the GLAM initiative to highlight and promote the exceptional knowledge and heritage resources found within our collections. One such collection is at the OR Tambo Law Library. In 1921 the University Library received a donation 76 books from the Pretoria Law Society. This formed the foundation of what would become the Law Library. 

From the 1920s the law collection grew steadily, thanks to additional book collections donated by esteemed judges and other professionals within the legal community. Eventually, the Law and Africana collections were considered the best equipped sections of the UP Library. 

The law collection grew considerably from 1927 to 1960 with the inclusion of a collection of valuable books from the 17th and 18th centuries on Roman-Dutch law from Dr Carel Potgieter, and the collections of Judge Gey van Pittius and Chief Justice Jacob de Villiers. The law collection of old sources amounted to a veritable book treasure now housed at the Oliver R Tambo Law Library, which was opened in 2005.

OR Tambo Law Library, at the Faculty of Law

The antiquarian and rare volumes of Roman and Roman-Dutch Law form the unique collection known as the Old Authorities collection. This collection is primarily comprised of 17th and 18th century legal texts, but items range from books printed in the 16^th century, to 20^th century editions of 9^th century Byzantine law. Some of the oldest texts in the collection include a 1517 edition of the Sachsenspiegel code of law. These were compiled by medieval German administrator, Eike of Repgow in the 13^th century, and a 1526 edition of Consilia – or legal consultations – by Baldo degli Ubaldi, who was an Italian jurist and leading figure in Medieval Roman Law in the 14^th century.

A 1731 edition of Compendium juris juxta seriem Pandectarum by Johannes Voet, a Dutch jurist whose work remains an important source for South African law. Voet is one of the so-called "old authorities" of Roman-Dutch law.

The Old Authorities is a closed collection, kept in a dedicated area of the OR Tambo Law Library and may only be used at the library under supervision. Nevertheless, this is indeed a treasure trove of legal history, available for contemporary researchers and preserved for future generations of legal scholars.

The Old Authorities Collection at the OR Tambo Law Library.