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ACTTo restrict and regulate the entry of certain aliens into the Union and their residence or temporary sojourn therein, and to restrict and regulate the right of any person to assume a surname.BE IT ENACTED by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate and the House of Assembly of the Union of South Africa, as follows:-1. Definitions
In this Act -“alien” means a person who is not a South African citizen;“board” means the Immigrants Selection Board mentioned in section 3;“domicile”, “immigration, officer” and “Minister” shall have the meanings ascribed respectively to those expressions in section 1 of the principal Act; have the meanings ascribed respectively to those expressions in section thirty of the principal Act;“principal Act” means the Admission of Persons to the territory Regulation Act, 1972 (Act 59 of 1972;***9. Change of name not permitted except under Governor-General’s authority
(1)If any person who at any time bore or was known by a particular surname, assumes or describes himself by or passes under any other surname which he had not assumed or by which he had not described himself or under which he had not passed before the first day of January 1937, he shall be guilty of an offence unless the Administrator-General or an officer in the Government Service authorized thereto by him, has authorized him to assume that other surname and such authority has been published in the Official Gazette: Provided that this sub-section shall not apply when -(a)a woman on her marriage, assumes the surname of her husband;(b)a married or divorced woman or a widow resumes a surname which she bore at any prior time;(c)a woman who lives or lived with a man as his putative wife, assumes the surname of that man, or after having assumed his surname, resumes a surname which she bore at any prior time;(cA)a woman who concluded a marriage according to the rites of the Islamitic or any Indian religion, or a woman who concluded a customary union as defined in section 17 of the Native Administration Proclamation, 1928 (Proclamation 15 of 1928), assumes the surname of the man with whom she concluded such marriage or union or after having assumed his surname, resumes a surname which she bore at any prior time;(d)a person who has been adopted in the Union in accordance with the provisions of any law relating to the adoption of children, assumes the surname of the person who adopted him;(e)a person born as an illegitimate child, after the marriage of his parents to one another, assumes the surname of his father;(f)a person assumes as a surname, a name attaching to a title to which he succeeded by inheritance or which was conferred upon him by the King;(2)No such notice as is mentioned in sub-section (1) shall be issued unless -(a)the person concerned has published in the manner hereinafter prescribed once in each of two consecutive weeks in the Official Gazette and in each of two daily newspapers which circulate in the district in which the said person resides and which have been designated for such publication by the magistrate of that district, a notice of his intention to assume another surname; and(b)the Administrator-General or an officer in the Government Service authorized thereto by him, has satisfied himself from a statement submitted by the said person and from reports furnished by the Commissioner of the South West African Police and by the said magistrate, that the said person is of good character and that there is a good sufficient reason for his assumption of another surname; and(c)the said person has paid such fees and has complied with such further requirements as may be prescribed by regulation.(3)The said notice shall set forth in full every christian name and the surname which the person in question bears or by which he is known, every other christian name or surname which he previously bore or by which he was previously known, the christian name or names and surname which he desires to assume, his residential address and his business address (if any), the reasons why he desires to assume another surname, and shall invite any person who objects to his assumption of any such christian name or surname, to lodge his objection in writing with the magistrate of the district in which the person in question resides.(4)If any person has lodged with the said magistrate any such objection, as aforesaid, the magistrate shall attach that objection to his report mentioned in paragraph (b) of subsection (2).(5)A conviction or an acquittal of a person on a charge under sub-section (1) of having assumed or described himself or passed under any particular surname, shall not be a bar to a further charge and conviction under that sub-section if the said person, after the first-mentioned conviction or acquittal, again assumes or describes himself or passes under that surname or any other surname.***14. Short title and date of commencement
This Act shall be called the Aliens Act, 1937, and shall come into operation on the first day of February, 1937.