Theme 1: Introduction............................................................................................................. 4
Remedies in the law of delict..............................................................................................6
Law of delict or law of delicts?............................................................................................9
Different forms of liability:....................................................................................................9
Further issues................................................................................................................... 10
The law of delict and the law of insurance:........................................................................10
Theme 2: Harm.................................................................................................................... 11
Introduction....................................................................................................................... 11
Protected interests?.......................................................................................................... 12
Terminology:..................................................................................................................... 12
Courts............................................................................................................................... 12
Institution: separate or simultaneously..............................................................................12
Factual or normative question?.........................................................................................12
Patrimonial harm and non-patrimonial harm.....................................................................13
Patrimonial harm........................................................................................................... 13
Non-patrimonial harm....................................................................................................14
How do we measure harm?..............................................................................................14
Can you claim for future loss?...........................................................................................15
Pain and suffering............................................................................................................. 15
Infringement of personality rights......................................................................................16
Stewart v Botha................................................................................................................. 19
H v Foetal Assessment Centre.........................................................................................20
Theme 3: Conduct................................................................................................................ 21
Introduction:...................................................................................................................... 21
Human conduct:................................................................................................................ 21
Voluntary conduct:............................................................................................................ 22
Defence of automatism:.................................................................................................22
Molefe v Maheng à textbook discussion = good............................................................23
Burden of proof: criminal law:............................................................................................23
Omission v commission:...................................................................................................24
Theme 4: Factual Causation.................................................................................................24
Introduction:...................................................................................................................... 24
Operation of the standard test for factual causation..........................................................25
Case law:.......................................................................................................................... 26
S v Van As.................................................................................................................... 26
Minister of police v Skosana:.........................................................................................26
MSS v Van Duivenboden..............................................................................................27
Minister of Safety and Security v Carmichele................................................................28
The shortcomings of the but for test..................................................................................28
, Alternatives to the conditio sine qua non test....................................................................29
What is the appropriate test for factual causation?...........................................................31
Lee v Minister for Correctional Services:...........................................................................31
Theme 5: Legal Causation....................................................................................................33
Introduction:...................................................................................................................... 33
The flexible approach:.......................................................................................................34
Subsidiary tests:................................................................................................................ 36
Direct cause:................................................................................................................. 36
Reasonable foreseeability test:......................................................................................36
Adequate cause............................................................................................................ 37
Intent:............................................................................................................................ 37
Novus actus interveniens..............................................................................................38
Talem qualem rule (thin skull rule)....................................................................................39
Theme 7: Fault..................................................................................................................... 40
Introduction:...................................................................................................................... 40
Accountability:................................................................................................................... 41
Special cases where accountability is problematic:.......................................................41
Intent................................................................................................................................. 43
Introduction:................................................................................................................... 43
Definitions of intention:..................................................................................................43
Intent: direction of will:...................................................................................................44
Intent: consciousness of wrongfulness..........................................................................45
Intention: exceptional cases..........................................................................................46
Motive v intention:......................................................................................................... 46
Defences:...................................................................................................................... 47
Negligence........................................................................................................................ 47
Introduction and concept...............................................................................................47
Characteristics of a reasonable person.........................................................................48
Negligence: the test.......................................................................................................49
Preventability................................................................................................................. 54
Circumstances and factors that indicate required standard of care...............................56
Theme 8: Wrongfulness....................................................................................................... 59
Prescribed work:............................................................................................................... 59
Introduction....................................................................................................................... 59
Historical Overview........................................................................................................... 60
Different approaches to wrongfulness:..............................................................................63
Current legal position:.......................................................................................................64
Role of wrongfulness:....................................................................................................... 65
Is wrongfulness an attribute of conduct or a legal question?.............................................65
, Policy considerations:.......................................................................................................66
Different concepts of ‘duty’................................................................................................69
Current position: reasonable foreseeability.......................................................................71
Content of a legal duty:.....................................................................................................72
Involvement of a strictly ex post facto perspective and exclusion of an ex ante or actor-
oriented perspective:.........................................................................................................72
Sequence:......................................................................................................................... 73
The nature of fault is in some cases relevant to wrongfulness..........................................73
Wrongfulness and negligence are sometimes based on similar factors............................74
THEME 9: Grounds of Justification.......................................................................................74
Introduction:...................................................................................................................... 74
Prior agreement not to claim (pactum de non petendo in anticipando).............................75
Necessity:......................................................................................................................... 76
Requirements for necessity:..........................................................................................77
Private defence/self-defence.............................................................................................79
Provocation....................................................................................................................... 81
Consent............................................................................................................................ 82
Consent by assumption of risk:......................................................................................83
THEME 10 Liability in contract excluding action in delict (concurrent liability)......................84
Introduction:...................................................................................................................... 85
Why does concurrence of actions in contract and delict matter?.......................................85
Exclusively delictual actions arising from a contractual relationship..................................86
1 Delictual claims arising from pre-contractual context..................................................86
2 Contractual duties giving rise to exclusively delictual actions.....................................86
3 delictual actions arising from contractual relationships...............................................87
When is there concurrence, and when does liability in contract exclude an action in delict?
.......................................................................................................................................... 87
Lillicrap, Wassenaar and Partners v Pilkington Brothers (SA) Pty Ltd 1985 (1) SA 475 (A)
.......................................................................................................................................... 88
Where our courts do recognise claim in delict for pure economic loss where there was a
breach of contractual term by professional person:...........................................................91
,Law of Delict
Theme 1: Introduction
What is a delict and what is the law of delict?
Fundamental goal: compensation for harm suffered as a result of a specific type of
conduct
a delict is a civil wrong
NB: it is not a crime, does not involve the state.
The law of delict is the branch of law which facilitates compensation arising from or
related to these civil wrongs
o Private law
o Not about regulating state power, but rather focuses on individual private parties
o Regulates relationships between individual parties
Example: defame friend, friend suffers civil wrong in form of injury of right to reputation,
looks toward delict for compensation and institute remedy against ME
o Wrongdoer: me
o Victim: my friend
o Friend institutes remedy against me, if friend successful- PERSONAL right to claim
compensation and I have OBLIGATION to pay
Forms part of law of obligations- duty/obligation to pay
Specific instances of delictual liability:
Assault: fractured cheekbone, person who assaulted you pays medical bill
o Bodily injury: financial loss AND pain and suffering/loss of enjoyment
Omission/failure to act
Defamation
Privacy infringement
Professional liability
Emotional shock
Financial and personal losses = damage/harm/loss which we can look to the law of delict for
solutions
Definitions of a delict:
Debated
Van der Merwe and Olivier: A delict is understood to be a wrongful and culpable act
that causes another harm or infringes another’s personality interest.
Van der Walt and Midgley: In general terms a delict can be defined as a civil wrong… A
more narrow definition considers a delict to be wrongful and blameworthy (culpability)
conduct which causes harm to another person
Boberg: fault/culpability is not a requirement for a delict à WRONG
Definition:
A delict refers to a situation where a person (the defendant), through his or her conduct
has wrongfully, culpably caused harm to another person (the plaintiff)
Settled in law today that the 5 requirements for delictual liability are:
Harm
o Harm/damage/loss = NB requirement as it is fundamentally about compensation
o No harm à no compensation
Conduct
Causation
Fault
Wrongfulness
, o Fault IS a requirement for delictual liability
If these five requirements can be proven on a balance of probabilities in civil court à will be
successful with delictual claim
NB: BALANCE OF PROBABILITIES
Anything more than 50%
In law of delict – accountability= part of fault. Include this when considering fault
What does this branch of the law do/What is the nature of the law of delict?
Essentially: this branch of the law comprises of a system of rules related/aimed at
compensation for harm suffered as a result of wrongful, culpable conduct of another person
1. Compensation
o Goal: achieve corrective justice
o Want an individual, through compensation, to correct the wrong that they have caused
o Allowing people to be placed in a position that they would have been in had the delict
not occurred
o Exception to the general idea: general idea- if something bad happens, it is your
problem.
You are responsible for your own physical pain
Where people suffer loss, bear it themselves
o When other people cause the harm, then we can ask for them to deal with it. THUS à
exception to the rule
2. Regulation
o Instrument that can be used to regulate and influence people’s behaviour
o If there is a branch of the law wherein people may not commit delicts against one
another without having to compensate for the damage – hidden message is that we
want to regulate behaviour
3. Morality
o Attempts to reflect certain moral values back to society
o Core moral principle: personal responsibility
o Where you have caused loss to another person, want them to take personal
responsibility for their actions
o BUT not that simple as it sometimes happens that the victim of harm will be allowed to
obtain compensation from somebody who was not responsible for the harm (vicarious
liability)
Allows individual to sue another person for harm done rather than the person who
caused the harm
E.g. an employer for the harm caused by the employee
In this case, basing liability on the principle of RISK
Functions of the law of delict
Compensation:
Fose v Minister of Safety and Security quote
Is this a successful system?
o There are alternatives to claiming for compensation individually e.g. insurance (which
runs parallel to the delictual system)
Private insurance run by company on the basis that they make profit
Social insurance: people do not opt in by paying monthly premium, imposed on
people- taxpayer money used in a way that they are allocated to funds/schemes and
if one suffers a particular type of loss this fund will compensate e.g. RAF
o Law of delict Is but one system of compensating people, must be critical about it
o Cumbersome process, expensive
, o Obtaining compensation is too expensive
Protect certain interests:
All interests?
o Initially only bodily and things
Development:
o Mental health
o Business interests
o Pure economic loss
Loss that does not relate to property or bodily harm
o Privacy and identity
Promote social order and cohesion
Prevents private vengeance
Educate and reinforce values
Normative character
Which values/norms are promoted?
o Ensure that we educate and reinforce constitutional norms and values as the
constitution is the foundational normative document
o Others as well
Provide socially acceptable compromises between conflicting moral views
Compromise
Balance different interests
E.g. defamation: allow people to write openly about public figures. This is defendable
under the constitution as it protects or promotes constitutional right to freedom of
expression
Law of delict attempts to strike a compromise so that sufficient protection is given to
reputation and freedom of expression
Deterrence
Successful?
o People do not care
Reallocating and spreading losses
Distributive justice:
Distributing justice more equally in society
Spreading loss according to criteria
Examples: RAF
o Levy on purchase of fuel, thus finance system of compensation through RAF
o In this way, spreading loss by giving contribution
o Do not expect person causing accident to compensate all money, pull from RAF which
is funded through fuel levies etc
****Possible question: explain critically what the functions of the law of delict are.
Be critical, essay question
Give own opinion
Remedies in the law of delict
Most important remedies:
Actio legis Aquiliae
Action iniuriarum
Action for pain and suffering
Remedies in the law of delict..............................................................................................6
Law of delict or law of delicts?............................................................................................9
Different forms of liability:....................................................................................................9
Further issues................................................................................................................... 10
The law of delict and the law of insurance:........................................................................10
Theme 2: Harm.................................................................................................................... 11
Introduction....................................................................................................................... 11
Protected interests?.......................................................................................................... 12
Terminology:..................................................................................................................... 12
Courts............................................................................................................................... 12
Institution: separate or simultaneously..............................................................................12
Factual or normative question?.........................................................................................12
Patrimonial harm and non-patrimonial harm.....................................................................13
Patrimonial harm........................................................................................................... 13
Non-patrimonial harm....................................................................................................14
How do we measure harm?..............................................................................................14
Can you claim for future loss?...........................................................................................15
Pain and suffering............................................................................................................. 15
Infringement of personality rights......................................................................................16
Stewart v Botha................................................................................................................. 19
H v Foetal Assessment Centre.........................................................................................20
Theme 3: Conduct................................................................................................................ 21
Introduction:...................................................................................................................... 21
Human conduct:................................................................................................................ 21
Voluntary conduct:............................................................................................................ 22
Defence of automatism:.................................................................................................22
Molefe v Maheng à textbook discussion = good............................................................23
Burden of proof: criminal law:............................................................................................23
Omission v commission:...................................................................................................24
Theme 4: Factual Causation.................................................................................................24
Introduction:...................................................................................................................... 24
Operation of the standard test for factual causation..........................................................25
Case law:.......................................................................................................................... 26
S v Van As.................................................................................................................... 26
Minister of police v Skosana:.........................................................................................26
MSS v Van Duivenboden..............................................................................................27
Minister of Safety and Security v Carmichele................................................................28
The shortcomings of the but for test..................................................................................28
, Alternatives to the conditio sine qua non test....................................................................29
What is the appropriate test for factual causation?...........................................................31
Lee v Minister for Correctional Services:...........................................................................31
Theme 5: Legal Causation....................................................................................................33
Introduction:...................................................................................................................... 33
The flexible approach:.......................................................................................................34
Subsidiary tests:................................................................................................................ 36
Direct cause:................................................................................................................. 36
Reasonable foreseeability test:......................................................................................36
Adequate cause............................................................................................................ 37
Intent:............................................................................................................................ 37
Novus actus interveniens..............................................................................................38
Talem qualem rule (thin skull rule)....................................................................................39
Theme 7: Fault..................................................................................................................... 40
Introduction:...................................................................................................................... 40
Accountability:................................................................................................................... 41
Special cases where accountability is problematic:.......................................................41
Intent................................................................................................................................. 43
Introduction:................................................................................................................... 43
Definitions of intention:..................................................................................................43
Intent: direction of will:...................................................................................................44
Intent: consciousness of wrongfulness..........................................................................45
Intention: exceptional cases..........................................................................................46
Motive v intention:......................................................................................................... 46
Defences:...................................................................................................................... 47
Negligence........................................................................................................................ 47
Introduction and concept...............................................................................................47
Characteristics of a reasonable person.........................................................................48
Negligence: the test.......................................................................................................49
Preventability................................................................................................................. 54
Circumstances and factors that indicate required standard of care...............................56
Theme 8: Wrongfulness....................................................................................................... 59
Prescribed work:............................................................................................................... 59
Introduction....................................................................................................................... 59
Historical Overview........................................................................................................... 60
Different approaches to wrongfulness:..............................................................................63
Current legal position:.......................................................................................................64
Role of wrongfulness:....................................................................................................... 65
Is wrongfulness an attribute of conduct or a legal question?.............................................65
, Policy considerations:.......................................................................................................66
Different concepts of ‘duty’................................................................................................69
Current position: reasonable foreseeability.......................................................................71
Content of a legal duty:.....................................................................................................72
Involvement of a strictly ex post facto perspective and exclusion of an ex ante or actor-
oriented perspective:.........................................................................................................72
Sequence:......................................................................................................................... 73
The nature of fault is in some cases relevant to wrongfulness..........................................73
Wrongfulness and negligence are sometimes based on similar factors............................74
THEME 9: Grounds of Justification.......................................................................................74
Introduction:...................................................................................................................... 74
Prior agreement not to claim (pactum de non petendo in anticipando).............................75
Necessity:......................................................................................................................... 76
Requirements for necessity:..........................................................................................77
Private defence/self-defence.............................................................................................79
Provocation....................................................................................................................... 81
Consent............................................................................................................................ 82
Consent by assumption of risk:......................................................................................83
THEME 10 Liability in contract excluding action in delict (concurrent liability)......................84
Introduction:...................................................................................................................... 85
Why does concurrence of actions in contract and delict matter?.......................................85
Exclusively delictual actions arising from a contractual relationship..................................86
1 Delictual claims arising from pre-contractual context..................................................86
2 Contractual duties giving rise to exclusively delictual actions.....................................86
3 delictual actions arising from contractual relationships...............................................87
When is there concurrence, and when does liability in contract exclude an action in delict?
.......................................................................................................................................... 87
Lillicrap, Wassenaar and Partners v Pilkington Brothers (SA) Pty Ltd 1985 (1) SA 475 (A)
.......................................................................................................................................... 88
Where our courts do recognise claim in delict for pure economic loss where there was a
breach of contractual term by professional person:...........................................................91
,Law of Delict
Theme 1: Introduction
What is a delict and what is the law of delict?
Fundamental goal: compensation for harm suffered as a result of a specific type of
conduct
a delict is a civil wrong
NB: it is not a crime, does not involve the state.
The law of delict is the branch of law which facilitates compensation arising from or
related to these civil wrongs
o Private law
o Not about regulating state power, but rather focuses on individual private parties
o Regulates relationships between individual parties
Example: defame friend, friend suffers civil wrong in form of injury of right to reputation,
looks toward delict for compensation and institute remedy against ME
o Wrongdoer: me
o Victim: my friend
o Friend institutes remedy against me, if friend successful- PERSONAL right to claim
compensation and I have OBLIGATION to pay
Forms part of law of obligations- duty/obligation to pay
Specific instances of delictual liability:
Assault: fractured cheekbone, person who assaulted you pays medical bill
o Bodily injury: financial loss AND pain and suffering/loss of enjoyment
Omission/failure to act
Defamation
Privacy infringement
Professional liability
Emotional shock
Financial and personal losses = damage/harm/loss which we can look to the law of delict for
solutions
Definitions of a delict:
Debated
Van der Merwe and Olivier: A delict is understood to be a wrongful and culpable act
that causes another harm or infringes another’s personality interest.
Van der Walt and Midgley: In general terms a delict can be defined as a civil wrong… A
more narrow definition considers a delict to be wrongful and blameworthy (culpability)
conduct which causes harm to another person
Boberg: fault/culpability is not a requirement for a delict à WRONG
Definition:
A delict refers to a situation where a person (the defendant), through his or her conduct
has wrongfully, culpably caused harm to another person (the plaintiff)
Settled in law today that the 5 requirements for delictual liability are:
Harm
o Harm/damage/loss = NB requirement as it is fundamentally about compensation
o No harm à no compensation
Conduct
Causation
Fault
Wrongfulness
, o Fault IS a requirement for delictual liability
If these five requirements can be proven on a balance of probabilities in civil court à will be
successful with delictual claim
NB: BALANCE OF PROBABILITIES
Anything more than 50%
In law of delict – accountability= part of fault. Include this when considering fault
What does this branch of the law do/What is the nature of the law of delict?
Essentially: this branch of the law comprises of a system of rules related/aimed at
compensation for harm suffered as a result of wrongful, culpable conduct of another person
1. Compensation
o Goal: achieve corrective justice
o Want an individual, through compensation, to correct the wrong that they have caused
o Allowing people to be placed in a position that they would have been in had the delict
not occurred
o Exception to the general idea: general idea- if something bad happens, it is your
problem.
You are responsible for your own physical pain
Where people suffer loss, bear it themselves
o When other people cause the harm, then we can ask for them to deal with it. THUS à
exception to the rule
2. Regulation
o Instrument that can be used to regulate and influence people’s behaviour
o If there is a branch of the law wherein people may not commit delicts against one
another without having to compensate for the damage – hidden message is that we
want to regulate behaviour
3. Morality
o Attempts to reflect certain moral values back to society
o Core moral principle: personal responsibility
o Where you have caused loss to another person, want them to take personal
responsibility for their actions
o BUT not that simple as it sometimes happens that the victim of harm will be allowed to
obtain compensation from somebody who was not responsible for the harm (vicarious
liability)
Allows individual to sue another person for harm done rather than the person who
caused the harm
E.g. an employer for the harm caused by the employee
In this case, basing liability on the principle of RISK
Functions of the law of delict
Compensation:
Fose v Minister of Safety and Security quote
Is this a successful system?
o There are alternatives to claiming for compensation individually e.g. insurance (which
runs parallel to the delictual system)
Private insurance run by company on the basis that they make profit
Social insurance: people do not opt in by paying monthly premium, imposed on
people- taxpayer money used in a way that they are allocated to funds/schemes and
if one suffers a particular type of loss this fund will compensate e.g. RAF
o Law of delict Is but one system of compensating people, must be critical about it
o Cumbersome process, expensive
, o Obtaining compensation is too expensive
Protect certain interests:
All interests?
o Initially only bodily and things
Development:
o Mental health
o Business interests
o Pure economic loss
Loss that does not relate to property or bodily harm
o Privacy and identity
Promote social order and cohesion
Prevents private vengeance
Educate and reinforce values
Normative character
Which values/norms are promoted?
o Ensure that we educate and reinforce constitutional norms and values as the
constitution is the foundational normative document
o Others as well
Provide socially acceptable compromises between conflicting moral views
Compromise
Balance different interests
E.g. defamation: allow people to write openly about public figures. This is defendable
under the constitution as it protects or promotes constitutional right to freedom of
expression
Law of delict attempts to strike a compromise so that sufficient protection is given to
reputation and freedom of expression
Deterrence
Successful?
o People do not care
Reallocating and spreading losses
Distributive justice:
Distributing justice more equally in society
Spreading loss according to criteria
Examples: RAF
o Levy on purchase of fuel, thus finance system of compensation through RAF
o In this way, spreading loss by giving contribution
o Do not expect person causing accident to compensate all money, pull from RAF which
is funded through fuel levies etc
****Possible question: explain critically what the functions of the law of delict are.
Be critical, essay question
Give own opinion
Remedies in the law of delict
Most important remedies:
Actio legis Aquiliae
Action iniuriarum
Action for pain and suffering
