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Citation
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Judgment date
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| September 2007 |
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Urgent application for access to water and grazing land dismissed for self-created delay and failure to establish urgency.
Civil procedure – Urgent chamber application – Order 32 (rules 243, 244) – Certificate of urgency by legal practitioner is not determinative – Court’s discretion to call for representations – Self-created urgency – Interim interdict over access to water and grazing land – Eviction.
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26 September 2007 |
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Spoliation claim dismissed for failing to cite the police who lawfully or permissibly seized the vehicle.
Spoliation (mandament van spolie) – possession and unlawful deprivation; Police seizure powers – Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act ss.49, 58; Necessity to cite the person who actually deprived possession; Civil proceedings and parallel criminal process.
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19 September 2007 |
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Court refused to strike out defence for counsel’s defaults; matter postponed sine die and counsel ordered to pay wasted costs personally.
Civil procedure – pre-trial conference – failure to attend – sanction of striking out – attribution of counsel’s default to client – personal costs against legal practitioner – discretion of court.
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19 September 2007 |
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Convictions based on a price-reduction order were quashed where the order postdated the alleged offences; magistrates must verify legal basis before trial.
Criminal law — statutory offences — requirement that enabling order pre-exist alleged conduct — duty of magistrate to verify legal basis before trial — convictions quashed where order postdated offences.
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19 September 2007 |
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Failure to consider a pregnant offender’s status is a sentencing misdirection warranting substitution with fines and suspended imprisonment.
Criminal law – Theft (shoplifting) – Sentencing – Pregnant offender as mitigating factor – Misdirection by sentencing court – Review and substitution of sentence – Fine in default and suspended sentence.
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19 September 2007 |
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Plaintiff’s failure to file pre-trial papers and attend justified dismissal and allowed defendant to set counterclaim unopposed.
Civil procedure — pre-trial conference — failure to file pre-trial documents — dismissal for want of prosecution; Correspondent attorney without instructions — insufficient to cure default; Counterclaim — leave to set down on unopposed roll; Divorce proceedings — need for litigant diligence.
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12 September 2007 |
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Buyer's breach did not validate cancellation where statutory 30-day notice under the Contractual Penalties Act was not given.
Contractual Penalties Act (s.2, s.8, s.11) – instalment sale of land – statutory minimum 30-day notice to purchaser – invalid cancellation where notice period defective – purchaser's right to notice non-waivable – specific performance refused where purchaser has not fully performed.
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12 September 2007 |
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Acknowledgement of requests about sale of government houses did not create a legitimate expectation to purchase; provisional order discharged.
Administrative law – Legitimate expectation – Whether representations were clear, unambiguous and devoid of qualification – Reasonableness of reliance – Requests/acknowledgements not equivalent to promises to sell government housing.
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12 September 2007 |
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Court granted divorce, awarded respondent custody, maintenance, lump-sum and a specific division of matrimonial property.
Divorce – custody of minor children – child maintenance – award of lump-sum support – division of matrimonial property – allocation of immovable property, vehicles, cattle and movables – costs: each party to bear own costs.
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12 September 2007 |
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The respondent's failure to comply with pre-trial procedures and to attend justified striking out the defence and allowing unopposed set down.
Civil procedure – Pre-trial conference – Non-compliance with filing and attendance obligations – Striking out defence – Leave to set down on unopposed roll – Costs reserved.
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12 September 2007 |
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Urgent application dismissed because disputed directorship and a defective two-of-six directors' resolution deprived applicants of authority to sue.
Company law – corporate standing and authority to litigate – disputed directorship and pending related proceedings – defective company resolution signed by minority directors – point in limine – urgency inappropriate where material disputes of fact exist.
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5 September 2007 |