CLA1501 Questions & Answers latest.

CLA1501 PART A QUESTION 1 Which ONE of the following is NOT an authoritative source of South African law? 1 Statute law 2 Customary law 3 The old authorities 4 Judgments of the superior courts 5 Foreign law Answer 5 5 is the CORRECT answer. Foreign Law is NOT an authoritative source of South African Law. It has persuasive authority only. QUESTION 2 Which ONE of the following is NOT a requirement for a customary rule to be recognised as a legal rule? 1 It must have existed for a long time and be reasonable. 2 It must be generally recognised and observed by the community. 3 The contents thereof must be certain and clear. 4 It must have been reduced to writing. Answer 4 4 is the CORRECT answer. It is NOT a requirement that a customary rule must have been reduced to writing for it to be recognised as a legal rule. 1, 2 and 3 are INCORRECT answers. They list the requirements that need to be met before a customary rule will be recognised as a legal rule, as was decided in Van Breda v Jacobs 1921 AD 330. QUESTION 3 Solomon works on a Welkom goldmine. Before leaving his home in Limpopo he asked his nephew, Bheki, to look after his cattle during his absence and gave him permission to use the cattle. Everyone in their village now considers the cattle to be Bheki’s as Solomon has been gone for so long. Bheki uses the dung of the cattle to fertilise his fields and he sells and consumes their milk. Which ONE of the following statements is CORRECT under the circumstances? 1 Bheki is the usufructuary of the cattle. 2 Bheki is the holder of a praedial servitude in the cattle. 3 Bheki is the pledgee of the cattle. 4 Bheki is the mortgagee of the cattle. 5 Bheki is the owner of the cattle through prescription. 1 Answer 1 1 is the CORRECT answer. Bheki has been granted the right to use the cattle in his personal capacity. The cattle are movable. Solomon remains the owner. QUESTION 4 Freddie gets involved in an argument with a man in a sports bar one Friday evening, on the merits of a certain rugby team. The argument gets heated; Freddie loses his temper and assaults the other man, to the extent that the man loses consciousness. Freddie decides to go home. On his arrival, he finds his two year old son seriously ill. Still upset from the incident at the pub, he rushes to take the child to the emergency ward of the local hospital. On his way there he is caught driving 140 km/h in a 80 km/h zone. He is summoned to appear in court on a charge of contravening the traffic regulations. On which ONE of the following grounds of justification can Freddie rely? 1 Necessity 2 Provocation 3 Self-defence 4 Consent Answer 1 1 is the CORRECT answer. Necessity exists when a person is through external forces placed in such a position that the person’s legitimate interests can only be protected through a reasonable infringement of the rights of another. Here, Freddie protected his interest (his sick child) by violating the law. QUESTION 5 Robert wants to rent a house belonging to Johnny. Johnny tells Robert about the terms of his offer. Robert is not sure whether he should accept the offer or not and he asks for more time to consider it. They agree that the offer will remain open for a period of one week. The following day Johnny is approached by Masedi who also wants to rent the house. Which ONE of the following statements is CORRECT? 1 Johnny may let the house to Masedi because there is no contract that forbids him from doing so. 2 Johnny may let the house to Masedi while his offer to Robert is still open. 3 Johnny must keep the offer open for a period of one week until Robert has rejected or accepted it. 4 Johnny may not let the house to Masedi even after the period of one week has lapsed, but must wait until Robert has given him an answer