简要地回顾了南非水权近300余年来的发展历史。早在1652年,荷兰公司的管理者宣布:水是公共商品,河流属国家所有,在该国强制推行罗马-荷兰法律。而英国则相反,水被私有化,并将其与土地占有制结合起来,从而确立了河岸权制至高无上的原则(supremacyoftheriparianprinciple);南非种族隔离政府试图再一次偏重于罗马-荷兰法律。但是,民主制度下的现代法已经将中央政府指定为水资源的托管人,其主要目的是为了公众利益促进水资源的有效、可持续以及有益的利用,并向全体人民提供公平用水。但是,它的职责比立法者赋予的多得多。 A brief review of the history of water rights in South Africa over the past 300 years has been made. As early as 1652, the manager of a Dutch company declared that water was a public good and that the river belonged to the state, where the Roman-Dutch law was enforced. In Britain, on the contrary, water was privatized and combined with land tenure to establish the supremacy of theriprinprinciple. The apartheid government in South Africa tried once again to favor Roman-Dutch law. However, the modern law under the democratic system has designated the Central Government as the custodian of water resources whose primary purpose is to promote the effective, sustainable and beneficial use of water resources in the public interest and to provide fair water use to all people. However, its duties are far greater than the legislators have given.