Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act

The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act (no. 55 of 1949) was one of the first pieces of apartheid legislation enacted after the National Party came to power in South Africa in 1948. The Act banned marriages between “Europeans and Non-Europeans,” which, in the language of the time, meant that White people could not marry people of other races. It also made it a criminal offense for a marriage officer to perform an interracial marriage ceremony.

The act was repealed in 1985 by the Immorality and Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Amendment Act that allowed inter-racial marriages and relationships.

See also the entry on Miscegenation and the Immorality Act

Sources

"The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act commences", South African History Online[1]

Angela Thompsell 2019. "The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act How the Apartheid Law Affected South Africa". Thought.Co[2]