Land Survey Act, 1997

Constitutional law — Provincial legislative competence (s 104) — Financial management of provincial legislatures — Limits on provinces’ power absent express assignment by national law — Severance — Judicial law‑making — Suspension of declaration of invalidity to avoid lacuna and allow remedial legislation.

Encroachment — remedy: demolition versus compensation — discretion to award damages where removal disproportionate; Joinder — Body Corporate/municipality/CSOS not necessary where no direct and substantial interest; Lis alibi pendens — pending CSOS referrals did not bar court proceedings; Valuation — courts may prefer realistic market approach; Costs — partial costs awarded due to conduct and failure to pursue alternatives.

Town planning scheme interpretation — meaning of 'dwelling house' — informal/temporary dwellings may qualify; Residential 1 zoning — occupation for single‑family dwellings permissible; Conditions to township approval — not prerequisite to lawful use consistent with Scheme; Council for Geoscience/dolomite risk — compliance limited to identified high‑risk zones; Clause 32 — local authority may authorise departures for community benefit; Constitutional interpretation (s39(2)) applied.

Deeds Registries Act s 6 – registered deeds not cancellable except by court; Absolution from the instance – mid‑trial prima facie threshold (Claude Neon principle); Surveyor General – limitation of powers, statutory notice and consent requirements; Succession under Free State Development Corporation Act – need for administrative records; Prescription and delay in asserting title.

Municipal liability – delict – pure economic loss – wrongfulness distinct from negligence – "something more" required for administrative breaches; negligent misstatement and omissions; interplay between PAJA and Aquilian liability; exception for failure to disclose cause of action.

* Extension of Security of Tenure Act (ESTA) – s 2(1)(a) – land within a township but designated for agricultural purposes; * Zoning – 'rural' (RU) zoning under municipal development scheme constitutes designation for agricultural purposes; * Occupiers – long-term occupiers residing with owner’s knowledge and consent before 4 February 1997 qualify for ESTA protection; * Interpretation – purposive construction required to give effect to ESTA’s remedial constitutional purpose.

Eviction proceedings – meaningful engagement and TEA – municipality's duty to identify accommodation that permits livelihoods – contempt for non-compliance with court orders – courts’ remedial powers under s172(1)(b) – disclosure of municipal property registers held by municipal entity (JPC) subject to confidentiality safeguards.

* Servitudes – right of way – whether depiction and servitude note on Surveyor‑General sub‑division diagram (unregistered in Deeds Office) creates public servitude. * Servitudes – origin – distinction between servitude created for conditional/commercial development and a public servitude; lapse of development rights. * Property law – registration formalities – necessity of notarial deed/endorsement on title to create enforceable servitude against servient owner. * Prescription and caveats – where no entitlement established, prescription need not be decided; caveat/servitude note removable if no servitude exists.