In civil law jurisdictions, marital power (Latin: potestas maritalis, Dutch: maritale macht, Afrikaans: maritale mag) was a doctrine in terms of which a wife was legally an incapax under the usufructory tutorship (tutela usufructuaria) of her husband.
[4] Under the Germanic law as described by Johann Gottlieb Heineccius: The marital power and guardianship of the husband is the right of the husband to rule over and defend the person of his wife, and to administer her goods in such a way as to dispose of them at his own will, or at any rate to prevent his wife from dealing with them except with his knowledge and consent.
When Dutch colonists settled at the Cape in the 17th century, they brought along the Roman-Dutch law, which managed to survive the British conquest in 1805.
Of the Southern African countries that apply Roman-Dutch law, every one except Swaziland has abolished the marital power.
[7] In South Africa, the report of the Women's Legal Disabilities Commission in 1949 led to the enacting of the Matrimonial Affairs Act in 1953, which restricted but did not abolish the marital power.