President Ramkalawan assents to new Civil Code of Seychelles |24 November 2020

President Ramkalawan signing into law the new Civil Code of Seychelles (Photo: Louis Toussaint)

By Marie-Anne Lepathy

The new revised Civil Code of Seychelles has now been signed into law and will come into effect once it is published in the Official Gazette.

President Wavel Ramkalawan yesterday morning signed into law the new Civil Code in a short ceremony at State House in the presence of Vice-President Ahmed Afif, Speaker of the National Assembly Roger Mancienne, Chief Justice Rony Govinden, President of the Court of Appeal Justice Anthony Fernando, members of the judiciary, vice-chairperson of the Civil Code review committee lawyer Bernard Georges as well as other members of the committee which comprises lawyers and judges, among other guests. The chairperson of the committee Dr Mathilda Twomey was not present at the ceremony.

It was in 2011 that the Civil Code review committee was set up to revise the document comprising some 2,200 articles. And it was in March this year that the National Assembly completed its review of the revised code.

The Napoleonic code dating back to the 19th century was first revised and translated from French to English in 1976.

Talking about the revisions in the new code, lawyer Kieran Shah, a member of the Civil Code revision committee, said even though it took several years, the committee has produced a comprehensive code made in Seychelles, made by Seychelles jurists and made for Seychelles.

He highlighted that the code has introduced more fairness and justice on many aspects .These are among others, equal rights for all children whether legitimate, illegitimate or born out of wedlock, ensuring that no unmarried partner would lose out totally upon the termination of a relationship, more flexibility in distributing a deceased property taking into account the rights and needs of the surviving spouse and children ensuring they are not entirely deprived, the law on nuisance in the community has been expanded to promote good neighbourly relations and to sanction disturbances by noise, smell and pollution.

“A novelty of the Civil Code of Seychelles 2020 created one body of laws, setting out everything that a person can do and be responsible for from birth to death, namely, in a nutshell, the person’s right as a child and adult, marriage and divorce, purchase and sale of property rights and obligations, right to distribute property by testament and succession upon death,” added Mr Shah.

Following the signing of the important document for Seychelles, President Ramkalawan expressed his heartfelt honour and privilege to sign the Civil Code of Seychelles into law.

“It is the first piece of legislation that I assent to and I was one of the members of the National Assembly who deliberated on this very piece of legislation and proposed a number of changes among which one of the most important was when we agreed that there should be no child marriage in Seychelles anymore. Today we are proud that this is part of our Civil Code,” said President Ramkalawan.

He went on to commend the hard work by all those who accompanied them in the National Assembly and the long discussions and debates by fellow Assembly members who were on the review committee as well as the huge contribution and guidance of Professor Tony Angelo from the High Court of New Zealand, Pierre Rosario Domingue from the Law Reform Commission of Mauritius, but not to forget the enormous contributions of our own Attorney General Frank Ally ‒ which all put together helped in a better understanding what our Civil Code is all about.

President Ramkalawan thanked the team of jurists who guided the National Assembly, noting that they did a great job in helping to provide the biggest piece of legislation that the Sixth National Assembly ever passed.

He went on to point out that the whole exercise was also a learning process for them and among the things he learnt is that after the Constitution the Civil Code is the second most important piece of legislation in the country.

Furthermore, President Ramkalawan noted that for him personally it is important that in the year that we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the first settlement we are also assenting to a Civil Code which has been prepared by Seychellois and made in Seychelles, making it a Seychelles product now.

“This adds to the legacy to prove that our people have really come of age,” President Ramkalawan stated and thanked on behalf of the republic everyone who has been involved in the preparation of the code.

He has called on the people of Seychelles to know this new Civil Code as it is bringing some major changes and these include changes related to inheritance where it is important for children to bear in mind that they can no longer automatically inherit what their parents have.

“The message to all children is to love their parents and treat them as they deserve and it is only then that there is a possibility to inherit, but if you don’t there will be no court to run to after mistreating them, to think you can claim your right as it is no longer your right but your parents’ right to decide if through a will they will leave whatever for their children,” said President Ramkalawan.  

On the questions dealing with illegitimate and legitimate children, concubinage which is a major issue in Seychelles and as a result of which a lot of people have suffered, President Ramkalawan stated that it is a relief that now all these are important issues that have been revised in the code.

The President said the new code will better serve the nation as it will bring about civility and clarity and he has described the new piece of legislation as a new tool for the judiciary to work with, expressing the hope that civil cases will now take a new dimension and everyone will be happy with the outcome.

For his part, Mr Georges stated that the new code also takes into account a new ground for divorce and this is if a couple have lived apart for more than five years even if one party does not agree to the decision. He further stated that there was a need for the revision of the Civil Code to take into account the present social reality of our society, stating that all laws are bound to changes as they are not cast in stone.

He also noted that there is a liberalisation of many of the concepts in the new code.