R v Pickering [1911] ZATPD 159 (27 November 1911)

Native - Pass Laws - Duty of Employer to Obtain Registration of Native Servant - Government Notice 1373 of 1909, sections 3 and 22(c) - Statutes - Construction - General Rules

A regulation provided that it should be an offence for an employer not to register a native as required by another regulation. Under the latter regulation an employer could not register a native, but only could take certain steps to obain registration.

Held, that the former regulation should be construed ut res magis valeat quam pereat, so as to mean that it should be an offence for an employer not to take the steps to obtain registration provided by the latter regulation.