One of the main themes of South African history is the modification of African tribal life and institutions by the impact of the white society. Both British officials and settlers played a part in this process, but with very different motives and effect. The British, anxious above all else to save defence expenditure, were not prepared to risk provoking a war and had very little incentive to invest large sums in the administration of tne tribes. Settlers, on the other hand, had a vested interest in manipulating tribal society for their own ends: not only did their personal security rely upon quiescent tribesmen, but so did the economic development of the colony, dependent as it was on trade and labour. in addition, the settlers lived, at least along the eastern border, in close contact with the tribes, and were therefore more conscious than officials of those aspects of tribal life which offended Victorian Christianity's ideas of decency and morality. Tribal society was regulated by tribal law under the control of the chiefs; in order to attack aspects of the society, alterations had to be enforced in tribal law. As a result, once the grant of Responsible Government in 1872 gave the settlers control of their own internal affairs, Cape policy on tribal law becomes of particular Interest as a study of how a colonial society attempted to impose often unwelcome changes on an indigenous people, and with what results for both societies. As the problem presented by the African tribes bulked so large in the settler view, there is very little documentation available on the position of the few Khoi and San still living in tribal units, and they have not been included in this study.