# Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, 1949
The **Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, 1949** (Act No. 55 of 1949) was a South African statute of the early apartheid era that prohibited marriages between "Europeans" ([White people](https://www.edgepedia.org/white-people)) and "non-Europeans"[1](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Prohibition_of_Mixed_Marriages_Act%2C_1949). It was the first apartheid-era act introduced by the [National Party](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-party) government of [D. F. Malan](https://www.edgepedia.org/d-f-malan)[2](https://sahistory.org.za/article/apartheid-legislation-1850s-1970s), commenced on 8 July 1949[3](https://omalley.nelsonmandela.org/index.php/site/q/03lv02167/04lv02264/05lv02335/06lv02357/07lv02359/08lv02371.htm), and it remained in force until its repeal in 1985[4](https://www.gov.za/documents/immorality-and-prohibition-mixed-marriages-amendment-act-19-jun-1985-0000).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full title and number | Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, Act No. 55 of 1949[1](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Prohibition_of_Mixed_Marriages_Act%2C_1949) |
| Commencement | 8 July 1949[3](https://omalley.nelsonmandela.org/index.php/site/q/03lv02167/04lv02264/05lv02335/06lv02357/07lv02359/08lv02371.htm) |
| Core prohibition | No marriage may be solemnized between a European and a non-European; contravening marriages are void[5](https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/664706/files/A_2505_AND_A_2505_Add.1--A_2505_%26_A_2505_ADD.1%28SUPP%29-EN.pdf?version=1) |
| Scale at enactment | About 75 mixed marriages recorded in 1949, compared with 28,000 White marriages[2](https://sahistory.org.za/article/apartheid-legislation-1850s-1970s) |
| Related criminal law | The Immorality Amendment Act, 1950 made sexual relations across racial groups a criminal offense[6](https://sahistory.org.za/dated-event/existing-ban-marriages-between-white-and-black-people-prohibition-mixed-marriages-act) |
| Repeal | Section 7 of the Immorality and Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Amendment Act No 72 of 1985, commenced 19 June 1985[4](https://www.gov.za/documents/immorality-and-prohibition-mixed-marriages-amendment-act-19-jun-1985-0000) • [3](https://omalley.nelsonmandela.org/index.php/site/q/03lv02167/04lv02264/05lv02335/06lv02357/07lv02359/08lv02371.htm) |
## What the Act provided
Section 1(1) of the Act states that, with effect from the date of commencement, no marriage may be solemnized between a European and a non-European, and any such marriage solemnized in contravention is void and of no effect[5](https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/664706/files/A_2505_AND_A_2505_Add.1--A_2505_%26_A_2505_ADD.1%28SUPP%29-EN.pdf?version=1). The Act also provided a validation exception under section 1(1a): a prohibited marriage is deemed valid if it was solemnized in good faith by a marriage officer, no party (or person in collusion with either of them) made a false statement relating to the marriage, and any party professing to be a European or non-European is in appearance obviously what he or she professes to be, or, for a party professing to be non-European, is able to show habitual consorting with non-Europeans as a non-European[5](https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/664706/files/A_2505_AND_A_2505_Add.1--A_2505_%26_A_2505_ADD.1%28SUPP%29-EN.pdf?version=1).
False statements carried personal legal risk: any person who knowingly made a false statement to a marriage officer about whether a party to the intended marriage was a European or a non-European was guilty of an offense and liable to the penalties prescribed for perjury[1](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Prohibition_of_Mixed_Marriages_Act%2C_1949).
**Extraterritorial reach.** The law also nullified interracial marriages of South Africans that occurred outside the country[7](https://sahistory.org.za/dated-event/prohibition-mixed-marriages-act-commences). According to South African History Online, if South African citizens of mixed racial descent were married outside the country, the marriage would not be recognized in South Africa[6](https://sahistory.org.za/dated-event/existing-ban-marriages-between-white-and-black-people-prohibition-mixed-marriages-act). The 1968 Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Amendment Act (Act No. 21 of 1968) went further and amended the 1949 Act to invalidate inter-racial marriages entered into by South African men living outside South Africa[8](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Prohibition_of_Mixed_Marriages_Amendment_Act%2C_1968).
## Place in apartheid legislation
The Act was introduced by the National Party in its early quest to implement social apartheid[2](https://sahistory.org.za/article/apartheid-legislation-1850s-1970s). In the parliamentary debate the Nationalists expressed concern about "rising infiltration by the Coloureds into the White group"[2](https://sahistory.org.za/article/apartheid-legislation-1850s-1970s). The National Archives describes the aim as preserving racial "purity"[9](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/teaching-resources/apartheid-in-south-africa/).
Its practical scope was small in absolute numbers: when the law was enacted in 1949, there were about 75 mixed marriages recorded compared with 28,000 White marriages[2](https://sahistory.org.za/article/apartheid-legislation-1850s-1970s). A number of people were arrested and charged for breaking the Act's provisions[7](https://sahistory.org.za/dated-event/prohibition-mixed-marriages-act-commences), and partnerships that had contracted a marriage abroad could still be prosecuted under the Immorality Act if they returned to South Africa and lived together[10](https://sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/archive-files3/boo19710000.004.000.000.pdf).
The Act worked alongside a companion criminal statute. One year after the 1949 Act was adopted, the Immorality Amendment Act, No. 21 of 1950, extended the prohibition on interracial sexual relations, making sexual relations with a person of a different race a criminal offense[6](https://sahistory.org.za/dated-event/existing-ban-marriages-between-white-and-black-people-prohibition-mixed-marriages-act) • [11](https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/820408/files/HRI_CORE_ZAF_2014-EN.pdf). The Population Registration Act of 1950, which required every South African to register as a member of one of four racial groups (White, Coloured, Indian, and Black), supplied the classifications on which enforcement depended[7](https://sahistory.org.za/dated-event/prohibition-mixed-marriages-act-commences). [The Truth](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-truth) and Reconciliation Commission's chronology lists the 1949 Act and the 1950 Immorality Amendment Act among the foundational legislation of the new apartheid order[12](https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/reports/volume1/chapter2/subsection4.htm).
## Repeal in 1985
The repeal followed a government-appointed parliamentary committee. In April 1985, South Africa's white minority government agreed to repeal the laws forbidding sex and marriage between people of different races, after accepting a committee report that the 1949 Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act and section 16 of the 1957 Immorality Act were discriminatory[13](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1985/04/15/South-Africa-to-repeal-laws-on-mixed-race-sex-marriage/1227482389200/).
The Immorality and Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Amendment Act No 72 of 1985 repealed the 1949 Act in section 7 and commenced on 19 June 1985[4](https://www.gov.za/documents/immorality-and-prohibition-mixed-marriages-amendment-act-19-jun-1985-0000). It also gave couples a route out of the old invalidity: any party to a marriage that, but for the 1949 Act, would have been a valid marriage in the Republic could apply, with the other party's consent (or without it if the other party was deceased), to the Director-General: Home Affairs for a written direction that the marriage be deemed valid for all purposes with effect from the date it was contracted[4](https://www.gov.za/documents/immorality-and-prohibition-mixed-marriages-amendment-act-19-jun-1985-0000). The statutory ban itself, however, was dismantled into a social landscape still divided by apartheid law: contemporary Race Relations Institute commentary noted that the repeal was undermined by the fact that no group areas existed in which mixed couples were allowed to live together[14](https://sahistory.org.za/article/timeline-group-areas-act-and-selected-related-pieces-legislation).
## References
1. [Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, 1949, Wikisource (full text)](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Prohibition_of_Mixed_Marriages_Act%2C_1949)
2. [Apartheid Legislation 1850's–1970's, South African History Online](https://sahistory.org.za/article/apartheid-legislation-1850s-1970s)
3. [Chapter 13: Chronology of Apartheid Legislation, TRC Final Report Volume 1 (O'Malley Archives)](https://omalley.nelsonmandela.org/index.php/site/q/03lv02167/04lv02264/05lv02335/06lv02357/07lv02359/08lv02371.htm)
4. [Immorality and Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Amendment Act 72 of 1985, South African Government](https://www.gov.za/documents/immorality-and-prohibition-mixed-marriages-amendment-act-19-jun-1985-0000)
5. [UN Digital Library: A/2505 and Add.1–Add.1/Supp, report on South African legislation, section 1 of Act 55 of 1949](https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/664706/files/A_2505_AND_A_2505_Add.1--A_2505_%26_A_2505_ADD.1%28SUPP%29-EN.pdf?version=1)
6. [The existing ban on marriages between White and Black people is extended, South African History Online](https://sahistory.org.za/dated-event/existing-ban-marriages-between-white-and-black-people-prohibition-mixed-marriages-act)
7. [The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act commences, South African History Online](https://sahistory.org.za/dated-event/prohibition-mixed-marriages-act-commences)
8. [Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Amendment Act, 1968, Wikisource](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Prohibition_of_Mixed_Marriages_Amendment_Act%2C_1968)
9. [Apartheid in South Africa, The National Archives (UK)](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/teaching-resources/apartheid-in-south-africa/)
10. [SAIRR survey extract on Act 55 of 1949, South African History Online archive](https://sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/archive-files3/boo19710000.004.000.000.pdf)
11. [South Africa core document, UN Human Rights Committee (HRI/CORE/2014)](https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/820408/files/HRI_CORE_ZAF_2014-EN.pdf)
12. [TRC Final Report, Volume 1, Chapter 2](https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/reports/volume1/chapter2/subsection4.htm)
13. [South Africa to repeal laws on mixed-race sex, marriage, UPI (15 April 1985)](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1985/04/15/South-Africa-to-repeal-laws-on-mixed-race-sex-marriage/1227482389200/)
14. [Timeline of the Group Areas Act, South African History Online](https://sahistory.org.za/article/timeline-group-areas-act-and-selected-related-pieces-legislation)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Law and justice › Private and civil law › Family and domestic relations law › National family-law systems, statutes, and personal status › Family law in Canada, Australia, and other Commonwealth states › Family law in South Africa*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 20, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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