PROPERTY LAW ASSIGNMENT 1
Q1
A legal relationship is a relationship to which the law attaches consequences. Where
the object of a legal relationship between legal subjects is a thing, we refer to a real
relationship. A real relationship is the particular legal relationship between one or
more legal subjects and a thing. This relationship has certain implications for the
legal order. Note, furthermore, that the concept ‘‘real relationship’’ is broader than
the concept ‘‘real right’’, since real relationships include both real rights and certain
unlawful real relationships.
Q2
The spoliation remedy is a summary remedy, usually issued upon urgent application
aimed at restoring control of a thing to the applicant from whom it was taken by
means of unlawful self-help, without investigating the merits of the original rights of
the parties to control the thing.
The requirements for a successful reliance on this remedy are the following:
(i) The applicant (spoliatus: the person whose control has been disturbed) must have
enjoyed peaceful and undisturbed control of the thing.
(ii) The respondent (spoliator: the person who disturbed the control of the spoliatus)
must have disturbed the applicant’s control in an unlawful manner.
The act of spoliation must be unlawful, and this is generally presumed by the courts
when a disturbance of control has taken place against the controller’s wishes or
without his/her knowledge (Nino Bonino v De Lange 1906 TS 120 122).
The nature and purpose of the spoliation remedy?
The purpose of the spoliation remedy is to protect the legal order in a unique way. It
is also aimed at preventing self-help, which may result in a breach of the peace by
summarily undoing the consequences of the self-help without determining the
lawfulness of the pre-existing control. The courts do not consider the merits of either
parties’ rights.
Relevant case law: Nino Bonino v De Lange or Yeko v Qana.
The City’s main defence is that the occupants had consented to the removal as a
first step in demolishing Block J. In addition, it contended that alternative
Q1
A legal relationship is a relationship to which the law attaches consequences. Where
the object of a legal relationship between legal subjects is a thing, we refer to a real
relationship. A real relationship is the particular legal relationship between one or
more legal subjects and a thing. This relationship has certain implications for the
legal order. Note, furthermore, that the concept ‘‘real relationship’’ is broader than
the concept ‘‘real right’’, since real relationships include both real rights and certain
unlawful real relationships.
Q2
The spoliation remedy is a summary remedy, usually issued upon urgent application
aimed at restoring control of a thing to the applicant from whom it was taken by
means of unlawful self-help, without investigating the merits of the original rights of
the parties to control the thing.
The requirements for a successful reliance on this remedy are the following:
(i) The applicant (spoliatus: the person whose control has been disturbed) must have
enjoyed peaceful and undisturbed control of the thing.
(ii) The respondent (spoliator: the person who disturbed the control of the spoliatus)
must have disturbed the applicant’s control in an unlawful manner.
The act of spoliation must be unlawful, and this is generally presumed by the courts
when a disturbance of control has taken place against the controller’s wishes or
without his/her knowledge (Nino Bonino v De Lange 1906 TS 120 122).
The nature and purpose of the spoliation remedy?
The purpose of the spoliation remedy is to protect the legal order in a unique way. It
is also aimed at preventing self-help, which may result in a breach of the peace by
summarily undoing the consequences of the self-help without determining the
lawfulness of the pre-existing control. The courts do not consider the merits of either
parties’ rights.
Relevant case law: Nino Bonino v De Lange or Yeko v Qana.
The City’s main defence is that the occupants had consented to the removal as a
first step in demolishing Block J. In addition, it contended that alternative
