Landmark Judgments
Access the landmark judgments of South Africa immediately. On the page below are the judgments that we believe break new ground or contribute significantly to the development of the understanding and appreciation of the law. These are the landmark judgments in the topics that we monitor and are listed in chronological order. We use our years of knowledge and experience to pick out those judgments that we believe are landmark judgments. Every interested person should have at least read our understanding of these landmark judgments.
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Land occupation issues: ESTA and PIE distinguished
Frannero Property Investments 202 (Pty) Ltd v Selapa In deciding occupation of land issues when are occupants covered by the Extension of Security of Tenure Act 62 of 1997 (ESTA)? "[24] Consistent with the basic common law principle that ‘the party who alleges must...
Unlawful collective agreement: Unenforceable as invalid
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Good faith duty: Moonlighting employee
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Intervening impossibility absent: Obligatory contributions
Post Office Retirement Fund v SA Post Office Soc Ltd SCA rejected an argument concerning intervening impossibility of performance and upheld the appeal after deciding there were no tenable legal defences and the apparent purpose was to divert the court from applying...
Experts joint minutes: Agreeing facts and opinions
HAL obo MML v MEC for Health, Free State SCA confirmed the position regarding joint minutes of experts "In accordance with Bee, if they agree on issues of fact and the appropriate approach to technical analysis, the litigants are bound by those agreements, unless they...
Wrongfulness and legal duty: Prevention of harm
BE obo JE v MEC for Social Development, Western Cape Wrongfulness and legal duty considered and Constitutional Court held that it is trite that liability for negligence in delict in the first instance depends on the existence of a legal duty owed by the party sought...
Contractual interpretation considered: Concept of good faith
Capitec Bank Holdings Ltd v Coral Lagoon Investments 194 (Pty) Ltd Contractual interpretation considered and question is whether courts are permitted to impose agreements that parties did not make – whether in the cause of good faith or justice or any other abstract...
Quantifying back-pay: Material mistake
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Bringing constitutional challenge: Specificity and clarity
Minister of Cooperative Governance & Traditional Affairs v De Beer Bringing constitutional challenge considered by SCA and in allowing the appeal it was stated in para [116] 'The constitutional challenge made to the regulations was too diffuse and inadequately...
Criminal civil contempt: Unsuspended committal & costs
State Capture Judicial Commission v Zuma Criminal civil contempt proceedings and by a majority the constitutional court found that the Commission had not followed an improper or unconstitutional process and declared in para [118] 'In sum, it is trite that our law...