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Citation
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Judgment date
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| December 1949 |
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Detention pending deportation under section 21 is lawful; "pending removal" includes negotiations and transport arrangements.
Immigration law – Detention pending deportation – Meaning of "pending removal" in section 21 of Immigrants Regulation Act – Detention includes period of negotiations for reception and transport – Section 6 inapplicable to prospective deportees – Reasonableness of detention – Allegations of mala fides.
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12 December 1949 |
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Court upheld the appellant's murder conviction, finding eyewitness identification reliable and prior-stabbing evidence admissible to rebut alibi.
Criminal law — Identification evidence — Reliability and corroboration of eyewitnesses; Misconstruction/misdirection on fact — failure to see another witness not fatal where trial court considered discrepancy; Evidence of prior related assault — admissible to rebut alibi and identify distinctive weapon; Appeal against conviction — conviction upheld where identification, possession of bloody weapon, and false alibi constitute sufficient proof beyond reasonable doubt.
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12 December 1949 |
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Whether the Minister must assess alternative land availability for the whole approved housing scheme or for each parcel before approving expropriation.
Interpretation of Housing Act s.11(1) proviso – scope of Ministerial satisfaction regarding alternative land for approved housing schemes; application of audi alteram partem to ministerial approval of expropriation; differentiation between large schemes and single-parcel expropriations.
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12 December 1949 |
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Whether an acting church‑council chairman or the church council itself has locus standi to seek review of liquor‑licensing board proceedings.
Administrative law – review of liquor licensing board proceedings – locus standi – whether an objector in individual and/or official capacity (acting chairman of a church council) may seek review – whether a church council is a juristic person capable of lodging objections under s.36, Act No. 30 of 1928 – remittal for decision on merits.
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6 December 1949 |
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Conviction for attempting to administer D.D.T. as a noxious substance was upheld; medical evidence of injurious effects sufficed.
Criminal law – Attempt to administer poison or noxious substance – Proof required: (1) attempt to administer, (2) noxious character of substance, (3) intent to cause grievous bodily harm – D.D.T. held noxious where medical evidence showed injurious effects on ingestion.
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6 December 1949 |
| November 1949 |
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Applicant granted leave to make a special entry alleging the judge privately consulted witnesses before sentencing, despite delay.
Criminal procedure — Special entry (s.370(1) Act 31/1917) — Private consultations by judge before sentence — Evidence to be given in open court (s.220) — Court may receive evidence before sentence (s.337(2)) — Delay in applying for special entry — Peremptory nature of s.370. |
28 November 1949 |
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Appellant failed to prove an oral £2,000 limitation; trial findings of fact and credibility upheld and appeal dismissed.
Contract — Verbal agreement for mechanical clearing and ploughing — Alleged oral limitation of liability to £2,000 — Burden and proof of accord — Credibility and demeanour findings — Appellate review of factual findings (R v Dhlumayo).
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25 November 1949 |
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A driver must stop after a collision; knowledge of a collision making injury probable suffices for conviction under section 127.
Roads and Road Traffic Act s.127 – duty to stop and render assistance after collision – instantaneous death does not excuse requirement to stop – knowledge of collision sufficient where injury was probable; mens rea can be negatived by proof of accident/innocence. |
23 November 1949 |
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Prior acceptance of late rent does not bar forfeiture under a statutory tenancy where lessee was not induced to believe late payment would continue.
Landlord and tenant — statutory tenancy — effect of lessor’s prior acceptance of late rent — implied variation or estoppel — lessee’s state of mind essential — material change of circumstances may end prior indulgence — lateness exceeding previously condoned delay may justify forfeiture and ejectment.
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18 November 1949 |
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Matrimonial property is governed by the husband's domicile at marriage; mere intention to settle elsewhere does not change that rule.
Conflict of laws – matrimonial property regime – lex domicilii of husband governs absent antenuptial agreement – intended matrimonial home or mere intention to emigrate does not displace lex domicilii – place of marriage irrelevant – exception where husband acquires wife's domicile (facto et animo).
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16 November 1949 |
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Conviction for indecent assault overturned where lack of safe corroboration, misdirection and reasonable doubt existed.
Criminal law—Indecent assault—Conviction based on single complainant—Necessity for caution and independent corroboration—Role of general probability, delay and possible animus—Material misdirection vitiating conviction. |
15 November 1949 |
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Appellate court upheld conviction for selling goods above regulated prices, endorsing magistrate's credibility and probability findings.
Criminal law — Price Regulations — Sale above statutory maximum — Evaluation of conflicting testimony — Appellate deference to magistrate's findings of credibility and probability — Delay in prosecution — Sentence upheld, fine payable by instalments.
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3 November 1949 |
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Convictions for statutory public indecency upheld; sentences reduced for magistrates' misdirection by racial/Immorality considerations.
Criminal law – Public indecency – Statutory offence (s.2(2) of Act 38 of 1909) covering indecent exposure – Conviction upheld; Sentence – Misconception by magistrates by importing aggravating factors from Immorality legislation and racial/miscegenation considerations – appellate reduction of sentence from six to two months' imprisonment with hard labour.
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2 November 1949 |
| October 1949 |
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17 October 1949 |
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The appellant's post‑sequestration rents were estate assets; concealment without disproving intent to defraud upheld.
Insolvency law – Concealment of assets – Section 132(b) Act 24 of 1936 – Civil fruits – Rents collected post‑sequestration – Illegality of letting does not negate estate character of rents – Intention to defraud.
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17 October 1949 |
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The appellant’s appeal was dismissed with costs, the court adopting reasoning from a related union decision.
Appeal — identical legal issue to earlier labour matter — appeal dismissed with costs — reasoning adopted from Amalgamated Engineering Union decision.
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13 October 1949 |
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Whether a taxpayer can refuse a Stock Exchange Committee's lawful request for income tax documents under claimed privilege.
Administrative/disciplinary procedure – Stock Exchange rules – Rule 25 power to require members to produce documents – Disclosure of income tax assessments/returns/receipts – Privilege under Income Tax Act s.4 does not entitle taxpayer to refuse production to Exchange committee – Court may order production.
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12 October 1949 |
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Majority upheld a testamentary forfeiture clause restricting spouses to those born of Jewish parents and forbidding apostasy.
Testamentary conditions; negative potestative/fatal forfeiture clause; nude prohibition; uncertainty of testamentary conditions; interpretation of "born in the Jewish Faith" and "forsake the Jewish Faith"; Roman–Dutch approach to enforcing testator's intent.
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5 October 1949 |
| September 1949 |
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Whether profits apportioned and taxed under s.37 can be subjected to super tax again when later distributed as dividends.
Income tax — private company apportionment (s.37) — deeming provision — receipt for tax purposes — super tax — whether subsequently distributed dividends can be taxed again — statutory construction to avoid double taxation.
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27 September 1949 |
| July 1949 |
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Appellate court affirms murder conviction based on voluntary confessions and accomplice evidence despite inconclusive post‑mortem.
Criminal law – murder by poisoning – evidential weight of accomplice testimony and extra‑judicial confessions; voluntariness of confessions; inconclusive medical evidence can be supplemented by strong non‑medical proof; section 282(1)–(2) discharge formalities and completeness of trial record.
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21 July 1949 |
| June 1949 |
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Article accusing a foreign teacher of quackery partly true but over‑stated; dishonesty not proved and appeal dismissed.
Defamation — justification — scope of imputations; quackery v. scientific method; fair comment and requirement of truthful facts; liability for publication in official scientific journal; damages assessment and circulation to influential readers; Medical, Dental and Pharmacy Act — illegality defence not available to defeat reputational claim incurred abroad.
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3 June 1949 |
| May 1949 |
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Lease allocated risk of flock losses to the lessee; losses from endemic disease and lack of remedies were for the lessee, appeal dismissed.
Contract — Lease of flock of sheep — Contractual allocation of risk — Lessee obliged to replace losses by progeny and return same numbers — Losses from endemic disease and lack of remedies fall on lessee; res perit domino inapplicable except for vis major. Contract law — Implied term of fitness — fulfilled where animals reasonably fit for purpose on delivery. Evidence — "Without prejudice" correspondence privileged and inadmissible except to prove specific threats in narrow circumstances.
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17 May 1949 |
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Conviction for keeping a gambling house cannot rest on s.308(1) presumption absent evidence the game was unlawful.
Criminal law – gambling house – section 308(1) Criminal Code prima facie presumption – requirement of evidence that the game is an "unlawful game" under Law No. 6 of 1889 – cannot judicially notice nature of poker – prior factual findings not binding legal precedent.
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8 May 1949 |
| March 1949 |
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A cooperative that itself conducts substantial building works is an employer in the building industry; tanks are 'structures' and the farming exemption does not apply.
Labour law – industrial agreement applicability – definition of 'building industry' and 'structure' – degree-test for multiple industries – farming-operations exemption (s.2(2) of Act 36 of 1937) inapplicable to a cooperative company not itself a farmer.
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30 March 1949 |
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Refusal to postpone civil trial pending criminal proceedings upheld due to ambiguous undertaking and applicant’s delay.
Civil procedure — postponement — effect of related criminal proceedings on civil trial — interpretation of correspondence as undertaking — discretion to refuse postponement where party delayed discovery and failed to show inability to prepare.
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16 March 1949 |
