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Former Magistrate’s Offices

Address: C/o Church & High Streets
Date: 1912
Walk: High Street
Photographs: 2

The magistrate’s offices and courthouse, seen down High Street

From the heritage walk's own records for this marker

This sandstone building dating from 1912 once housed the local Magistrate’s offices and courthouse. Many notorious cases were heard here and many a tale can be told. Our district is known for the numerous and costly "water cases" in which local farmers opposed each other in court. The famous Afrikaans author, C J Langenhoven, fought many a legal battle on behalf of his clients in these courtrooms.

Sadly, these walls, too, were silent witnesses to controversial Apartheid-era cases involving "transgressors" of draconian laws such as "The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act of 1949".

Today the South African Police Services occupy the building.

The marker for Former Magistrate’s Offices standing in High Street, Oudtshoorn — **The marker in the street**Photographed on 13 August 2026. This page follows the walk's own artwork, which corrects a few details still printed on the plaque.