The canons of the law and default settings.

It was a little book with a red cover. It was an English translation published in India. I drove to the centre of town, into inner Johannesburg, to buy it. During break time at school and whenever I had time, I read it cover to cover. I studied it.

I had been considering going into law, and knew that this little book of rules was based on the same Roman Law from which we get our legal system. I was determined to learn it for its basic concepts, to improve my legal mind before varsity. I even joined discussion forums on that mini legal system, and discussed it and advised people online about it. I followed blogs on it and its application.

Everyone hears about systems like Sharia Law, not many know of the Code of Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church, which has a legal tradition spanning back further than Sharia law, and which has even, in parts, been incorporated into our own law.

The idea that one must have an evil mind to be guilty: intention or negligence, and so much else, is stolen from early canon law and the morality system surrounding it.

Legal concepts like common purpose or automatic operation of law were much easier to grasp in university law classes, because I had studied another offshoot of Roman law.

If you want to improve your understanding of South African law, studying Canon Law goes a long way. Studying law in miniature teaches you the concepts you need. It sets your mind to the right default settings.