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Citation
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Judgment date
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| March 1979 |
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A court may vary child maintenance to preserve a child’s established schooling where changed circumstances and the child’s best interests justify increased payments.
Family law – Variation of maintenance – Change of circumstances – Child’s best interests paramount – Contribution to private school fees – Custodial parent’s conduct and disclosure not decisive where child’s welfare requires variation.
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6 March 1979 |
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Whether a possessor’s enquiries about the registered owner defeat acquisitive prescription and whether registration shows abandonment.
Prescription (acquisitive) – possessor’s enquiries about registered owner – enquiries construed as acknowledgement of another’s superior right, defeating prescription. Abandonment/derelictio – requires clear intention to abandon; registration and long non‑occupation insufficient. Registered title protects ownership against prescriptive claims by occupiers. Statutory issue (Disposition of State Land Act) raised but not decided.
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5 March 1979 |
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Convictions for rape and murder upheld; no reasonable basis to order a section 78(2) mental‑responsibility inquiry.
Criminal law – identification – corroboration by independent witnesses and absence of defence witnesses.* Criminal law – sexual offences – child victim, medical evidence, absence of semen not decisive where blood or interrupted intercourse possible.* Criminal law – murder – intent inferred from nature and degree of force used (strangulation and blunt head trauma).* Criminal procedure – mental condition inquiries (s78(2)) – court must direct inquiry if a reasonable possibility exists that accused lacked criminal responsibility; discretion not available once such possibility appears.* Sentencing – extenuating circumstances – no misdirection where trial court implicitly considered mitigation and found none.
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2 March 1979 |
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Whether a town-planning condition compelling land surrender without compensation was ultra vires and rendered the Administrator’s refusal reviewable.
Town-planning law – Amendment of town-planning scheme under s35 bis – Power to impose conditions – Whether Administrator may require surrender of land for road widening without compensation – Ultra vires. Administrative law – Review of discretion under s57(4) – Decision influenced by mistaken view of legality of imposed condition – reviewable. Property law – Acceptance, waiver, estoppel – whether conduct of owner or predecessors validated uncompensated transfer. Distinction between Chapter 2 township permissions and Chapter 4 scheme amendments (Ruyteplaats v Belinco).
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1 March 1979 |
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Appellate court found provocation and personal circumstances mitigated culpability, replacing death sentence with 12 years' imprisonment.
Criminal law — Murder — Sentencing — Mitigating circumstances: provocation, youth and personal circumstances — Trial court's speculative rejection of motives — Death sentence set aside and replaced by imprisonment.
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1 March 1979 |
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Appeal dismissed: reasonable driver could not foresee a child’s last‑moment jump from an upper roadway, so no negligence established.
Civil liability – Motor-vehicle collision involving a child – Credibility findings on how child accessed lower roadway – Appellate restraint on disturbing trial judge’s findings. Negligence – Duty of lookout and foreseeability – Reasonable driver (diligens paterfamilias) not required to foresee remote, last-moment act of a pedestrian jumping from upper to lower roadway when steps are provided. Causation – too-late-perception of danger absolves driver of liability where avoidance was not reasonably possible.
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1 March 1979 |
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The applicant failed to prove the driver negligent for not anticipating a child’s sudden jump from an upper roadway.
Negligence — foreseeability and duty of care — whether reasonable driver should have anticipated child jumping from upper to lower roadway; Credibility — appellate restraint in overturning trial judge’s findings on conflicting eyewitness testimony; Motor-vehicle collision — pedestrian access between different-level roadways and expectation of use of steps.
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1 March 1979 |
| February 1979 |
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Death sentence for rape upheld where young victim suffered severe injuries and trial judge properly exercised sentencing discretion.
Criminal law – Sentencing – Death penalty for rape – Reserved for cases with aggravating circumstances (serious bodily injury) – Trial judge's discretion – Relevance of prior convictions and escape history – Mercy consideration – Appellate interference only for misdirection or unreasonable exercise of discretion.
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27 February 1979 |
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State failed to prove appellant did not act under compulsion when supplying goods to armed persons; conviction set aside.
Criminal law — necessity/duress — whether assistance to armed persons was voluntary — burden on State to prove absence of compulsion — membership of lawful political organisation not proof of terrorist motive.
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22 February 1979 |
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A provincial ordinance making pre-approval township sales voidable to protect purchasers and expedite proclamation is intra vires.
Constitutional and statutory interpretation – provincial legislative competence – item empowering provincial Councils to legislate on "establishment and administration of townships" includes incidental powers to regulate pre-approval sales. Property law – townships – validity of provincial ordinance rendering pre-proclamation sales voidable and providing for repayment with interest. Administrative/municipal law – measures to protect purchasers and to induce developers to obtain proclamation are within provincial competence. Interaction of national and provincial law – general national requirements as to form of sale contracts do not preclude additional provincial regulation incidental to town planning/township establishment.
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22 February 1979 |
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Compulsory employment pension benefits are deferred remuneration and deductible from damages for loss of earning capacity.
Collateral benefits — statutory employment pensions and gratuities — constitute part of the contract of employment where participation and employer contributions are compulsory; such pension benefits are deferred remuneration and their present value is deductible in assessing damages for loss of earning capacity; valuation should reflect any real risk of non‑payment.
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22 February 1979 |
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Statutory employment pensions and related retirement benefits are deductible from damages as part of contractual earning capacity.
Delict – damages for loss of earning capacity – collateral benefits – deductibility of statutory employer pension and gratuity – pensions as deferred remuneration arising from employment contract – employer contributions not gratuitous – present value deduction permitted; valuation to reflect probability where pension security uncertain.
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22 February 1979 |
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A passenger conveyed for a superior’s convenience was not carried "in the course of the driver’s business" under s.11(1)(iii).
Motor‑vehicle insurance — s.11(1)(iii) proviso — Meaning of "in the course of the business" of driver — Nexus required between passenger’s presence and driver’s business — "Business" excludes mere isolated instruction or personal errands; requires enterprise or pursuit of sufficient importance.
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22 February 1979 |
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Appellant convicted of two counts of fraud for causing bank to be credited with cheques he knew would be dishonoured.
Criminal law – Fraud – Whether accused’s knowledge and participation in false representations to bank established – Whether bank official’s knowledge imputable to bank – Proof of intent where alleged promise of incoming funds is unproven.
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15 February 1979 |
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Appellant knew cheques deposited to cover overdrafts were invalid and was rightly convicted of fraud.
Criminal law – fraud – presentation of cheques – knowledge of dishonour; Bank transactions – overdraft facilities and temporary arrangements; Evidence – acceptance of bank official’s testimony and drawing of inferences; Agency/imputation – limits of attributing employee knowledge to the bank as defence.
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15 February 1979 |
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Exemption under Group Areas Act unavailable where employee acted as supervisor and required continuous white supervision was not proved.
Group Areas Act s.26(1) — Proclamation R5 of 1968 (para (2)(B)/(C)) exemption for bona fide employees — definitions of ‘manager’ and ‘supervisor’ — requirement of full‑time personal supervision and employer ‘ordinarily continuously present’ on premises — separate premises concept — burden on accused to prove exemption.
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15 February 1979 |
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The applicants convicted of armed robbery and unlicensed firearm/ammunition possession; threats suffice for robbery; leave to appeal and bail refused.
* Criminal law – Robbery with aggravating circumstances – Proof of violence – Threat of violence sufficient; actual physical injury not required. Evidence – Extra‑judicial confessions – Voluntariness and weight; corroboration by independent exhibits and linking evidence. Sentencing – Seriousness of armed robbery and concurrent/unordered custodial terms. Appeals – Leave to appeal and bail pending appeal may be refused where no reasonable prospect of success. |
13 February 1979 |
| January 1979 |
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Appeal allowed where sole eyewitness credibility and purported corroboration were fatally undermined, leaving reasonable doubt.
Criminal law – murder appeal – sole eyewitness evidence – assessment of credibility and corroboration; medical evidence on sequence of wounds as undermining eyewitness account; improper reliance on tenuous circumstantial corroboration (axe, vehicle) and misattribution of untruthfulness to accused.
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17 January 1979 |
