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Citation
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Judgment date
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| May 1979 |
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Whether the collision hastened the deceased’s death and by how long; five‑year acceleration upheld.
Delict – causation and acceleration of death – medical expert evidence – assessment of life‑shortening due to aggravation of pre‑existing coronary disease – weight and credibility of experts – proof on balance of probabilities.
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30 May 1979 |
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Whether a municipal prohibition on conducting receiving-depot business "at a vehicle" is void for vagueness.
Municipal regulation – vehicles used as receiving depots – Power of local authority under Ordinance to prohibit, restrict and supervise. Statutory interpretation – meaning of "at a vehicle" to be derived from context; conducting business from a stationary vehicle used as a receiving depot. Vagueness doctrine – resolution not void for uncertainty where meaning is ascertainable in context. Criminal liability – requirement of continuity to "carry on a business"; isolated handovers insufficient.
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30 May 1979 |
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Agent who procures binding offer and effects sale is entitled to commission as the efficient cause.
Agency — Mandate to find purchaser — existence of oral mandate established on probabilities; Agency — Commission — when earned: agent who procures binding offer and whose acts are efficient cause of sale entitled to commission; Prior knowledge of prospective purchaser by principal — does not necessarily defeat agent’s claim where agent effects binding offer and precipitates sale; Evidence — credibility of witnesses and inferences of collusion to avoid commission; Quantum — commission at agreed 5% on purchase price, subject to plaintiff’s claim and Wet No. 55 of 1975.
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30 May 1979 |
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Appeal against a 12-month fraud sentence reduced to provide six months concurrent custody due to misdirection and mitigation.
Criminal law—Fraud—False statements to bank to obtain settling-in foreign-exchange allowance—Element of prejudice may be satisfied by some risk of harm, not necessarily probable or financial—Mitigation and misdirection on whether applicant asked bank not to process application material to sentence—Sentencing: partial concurrency substituted. |
30 May 1979 |
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Appellate court rejects drunkenness automatism, substitutes rape conviction and imposes seven‑year sentence.
Criminal law — sexual offences — abduction and sexual assault of a child; identification and circumstantial evidence — medical corroboration — drunkenness/automatism defence — appellate powers under s 322 to alter convictions and impose heavier sentences; sentencing for serious sexual offences involving children. |
29 May 1979 |
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Eyewitness and circumstantial evidence proved common‑purpose murder; no extenuating circumstances — appeals dismissed.
Criminal law – murder in prison cell – credibility of eyewitnesses – corroboration by circumstantial evidence (bloodstains, weapons) – medical evidence on intestinal injuries – common purpose – extenuating circumstances (prison gang culture) – mandatory death sentence. |
29 May 1979 |
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Collision in a dust cloud does not alone establish driver negligence; plaintiff failed to prove foreseeability and breach.
Motor-vehicle collisions – dust clouds – liability – whether collision in dust cloud creates prima facie negligence; onus of proof of negligence; reliability of post-accident tracks and glass in fixing point of impact; foreseeability of other driver's reckless conduct.
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29 May 1979 |
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Whether MVA claims require strict compliance with prescribed form and medical/post‑mortem reports and correct assessment of future loss of support.
Motor vehicle insurance — s.25(1) and prescribed Form MVA 13 — signature requirement directory; substantial compliance by authorised attorney’s cover letter — medical report provision directory; Reg.16(1)(b)(ii) where killed outright — post‑mortem and death certificate may suffice when read with supplementary documents — assessment of future loss of support based on earning capacity; exclusion of illegal income; judicial discretion on contingencies and remarriage allowances.
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29 May 1979 |
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Appellate court found driver negligent after trial court misweighed probabilities; plaintiff awarded agreed damages with costs.
Compulsory Motor Vehicle Insurance – motor collision – negligence – evaluation of conflicting witness accounts and probabilities – appellate review of credibility findings not based on demeanour – effect of uncalled or available witnesses.
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29 May 1979 |
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On the probabilities the insured vehicle’s driver was negligent in a rear-end collision with the cyclist; no contributory negligence.
Motor vehicle negligence – rear-end collision involving cyclist – assessment of conflicting versions and appraisal of probabilities. Credibility – appellate review where trial court did not rely on demeanour – inferences from findings of fact. Contributory negligence – no apportionment where plaintiff’s version accepted. Evidentiary significance of failure to call an available passenger and of corroborative eyewitness evidence.
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29 May 1979 |
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A court where the respondent resides may hear a s.31 appeal against the Board; relief is declaratory, not mandatory.
Civil procedure – Jurisdiction of provincial Divisions – Appeal under s.31 Estate Agents Act is remedial (declaratory/empowering) not mandamus; s.26(1) Supreme Court Act gives procedural reach but does not by itself confer substantive territorial jurisdiction; forum domicilii appropriate where relief is declaratory.
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28 May 1979 |
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Appellant's convictions set aside where they relied on an inadmissible police confession and unreliable pointing-out evidence.
* Criminal procedure – Confession – Section 244(1) Criminal Procedure Act 56/1955 second proviso – confession to peace officer not reduced to writing before magistrate inadmissible. Evidence – Answers elicited by defence (Rex v Bosch) – Bosch principle inapplicable where the answer is irrelevant or improperly elicited and thereby prejudicial. Evidence – Pointing-out by accused – reliability affected by investigator’s inconsistencies and failure to call corroborating police witnesses. Appeal – Conviction unsafe where it rests on inadmissible confession and unproved pointing-out; appellate court may set aside. |
28 May 1979 |
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Once an appeal is set down and sentence variation is in issue, the appellant cannot withdraw without leave; sentence increased to three years.
Criminal appeal procedure — withdrawal of appeal — inability to withdraw without leave once appeal is set down and court or Crown has intimated consideration of increasing sentence; Appellate powers — court may vary or increase sentence on appeal where justice requires; Sentencing — trial court misdirected in mitigation where conduct was premeditated, sustained and cruel; Age/ill‑health — mitigating but not decisive where offences and public interest demand heavier sentence. |
25 May 1979 |
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Whether a lease’s clause granting a right to buy at R10,000 with R3,000 deposit and balance by instalments constituted a valid, enforceable option.
Property/Contract — Lease containing right to purchase — Whether clauses creating right to buy at stated price with deposit and balance payable "op huurkoop af te betaal" over ten years are sufficiently certain to form a binding option and, if exercised, a binding sale — certainty of essential terms and role of implied/common-law rules supplying incidental matters.
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25 May 1979 |
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Appellate court found collision occurred on the Baracuda’s side, establishing Valiant driver’s negligence; appeal allowed with costs.
Motor‑vehicle collision — determination of point of impact by tyre/gouge marks, debris and photographs; weight of contemporaneous police observations versus late eyewitness reconstruction; role of expert reconstruction dependent on factual premises; credibility and appellate review where trial judge’s view held plainly wrong.
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25 May 1979 |
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The applicant's murder convictions were upheld but sentences reduced for disproportionality given mitigating circumstances.
* Criminal law – Murder – Claim of self‑defence and defensive firing – assessment of credibility and expert evidence on shotgun pellet spread. Evidence – Trial court's adverse credibility findings – when appellate court will not interfere. Sentencing – Appellate interference where trial sentence is disproportionately severe; mitigation for prolonged harassment by poachers; concurrent running of unsuspended terms. Ancillary orders – Compensation to dependants and firearms disqualification. |
22 May 1979 |
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Appeal allowed in part: four duplicative dealings convictions set aside; eleven convictions and aggregate 15-year cap upheld.
Criminal law — Dangerous Drugs Act 41/1971 s.2(a) — "handeldryf" widely defined — splitting of charges — multiplicity of convictions where counts relate to same shipment/stock — setting aside duplicative convictions; sentence review. |
18 May 1979 |
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Appellant’s blind, lethal stab while escaping negated lawful self‑defence but amounted to culpable homicide; sentence reduced to four years.
Criminal law – self‑defence – whether force used was necessary and proportional when intruder opened door – murder v. culpable homicide – assessment of credibility and onus to negativate self‑defence – sentencing considerations where culpable homicide substituted for murder. |
18 May 1979 |
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A written exchange agreement requiring delivery of land is a "written contract" for prescription purposes; appeal dismissed.
Prescription — written versus oral contracts — whether obligation to deliver land embodied in writing or collateral oral agreement. Admissibility of extrinsic/oral evidence to identify land referred to in a written contract. Appealability — when dismissal of a special plea constituting a complete defence is appealable as a final order under s.20(1) of the Supreme Court Act. Exchange (barter) contracts distinguished from formal statutory sale-of-land requirements.
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17 May 1979 |
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A lone late in-court identification without a parade does not exclude reasonable doubt where credible alibi evidence exists.
* Criminal law – Identification evidence – Single in-court identification after long lapse and without identification parade – Reliability and need for careful scrutiny. Criminal law – Alibi – burden on State to negative alibi beyond reasonable doubt; assessment of reconstruction evidence and witness credibility. Evidence – Factors affecting identification: lapse of time, absence of contemporaneous description, absence of parade, possible alternative explanations for document alteration. |
15 May 1979 |
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Accused’s cumulative provocation and perceived denial of justice were extenuating, reducing death sentence to twelve years' imprisonment.
Criminal law – Sentence – Extenuating circumstances – Subjective factors and cumulative provocation; Chief’s conduct and denial of justice as mitigating factors; Death sentence substituted where moral blameworthiness reduced. |
15 May 1979 |
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The applicant’s claim of unloaded guns rejected; dolus eventualis found; appeal against conviction and death sentence dismissed.
Criminal law – Murder – dolus eventualis – foreseeability of fatal consequences in a joint enterprise; credibility findings and rejection of defence of being misled or acting under duress; sentencing – absence of mitigating circumstances; death sentence upheld. |
10 May 1979 |
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Lessee contractually obliged to comply with all fire-protection laws, including installations required by updated by‑laws.
Lease interpretation — clause obliging lessee to comply with "all laws and regulations" — obligation includes laws as amended; lessee liable to install fire-protection equipment under current by‑laws despite statutory installation duty nominally on owner; formal defect in order cured by declaratory variation.
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10 May 1979 |
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Unsolicited sale of farm portion held to be capital disposal, not taxable income.
Tax — Capital v income — sale of land — intention at acquisition and at sale; whether company embarked on profit-making scheme; unsolicited offer and continued farming activity; change of intention must be shown to have metamorphosed asset into stock-in-trade.
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8 May 1979 |
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Whether profit on sale of land was taxable income or a capital accrual: court finds capital, not part of a profit‑making scheme.
Income tax – profit on sale of land – capital receipt v. gross income – whether sale in pursuance of profit‑making scheme. Determination of intention – intention at acquisition and at sale; attribution of directors’/controllers’ intention to company. Change of intention – mere change not decisive; must show scheme or business in similar assets. Unsolicited offer, conduct, township application and rejection of other offers relevant to classification.
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8 May 1979 |
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Plaintiff must prove its contract’s terms and negative an alleged prior owner’s-risk clause; appeal dismissed.
• Carriage law — claimant must prove terms of contract; burden lies on plaintiff to negative alleged owner’s-risk clause.
• Owner’s-risk stipulation — party alleging prior agreement incorporating such clause must plead and prove it.
• Praetor’s Edict considered but not decided; same onus principles govern carrier liability and contractual variations.
• Credibility findings of trial court not lightly disturbed on appeal.
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8 May 1979 |
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2 May 1979 |
