Race-based charitable bequests
The Supreme Court of Appeal recently handed down judgment in a matter concerning a deceased woman's wish to set up bursaries to be available to white students only (amongst other…
Decoding Legalese: Part 1 SEVERABILITY
Most written agreements end off with a number of “boilerplate” clauses, being the small print that is usually glossed over. These are standardised clauses which deal with general matters and…
Decoding legalese – part 2: “entire agreement” clauses
This series of updates seeks to decode the legalese in some of the most common "boilerplate" clauses commonly found at the end of contracts. Another very common clause is the…
Impossibility of Performance in the Workplace
Imagine that you own an optometry practice located in a busy shopping mall. A fellow tenant of the mall accuses your employee of theft, and the management of the mall…
Making sense of Contracts – Presumptions in the Interpretation of Contracts
Presumptions are aids for obtaining clarity when reading and applying the terms of written contracts. They originate from what is known to happen in the ordinary course, and generally promote…
What is “extinctive prescription” and why is it so important?
In legal proceedings, if a debtor successfully raises the defence of “extinctive prescription”, then the claim against him or her is made permanently unenforceable. This will be the case regardless…
Disputes with Pension Funds
What can a member or former member of a pension fund do to resolve a dispute with the fund, or with their employer about their participation in the fund? Four…
The Consumer Commission – off to a poor start
Since the passing into law of the Consumer Protection Act, many consumers, businesses and legal professionals have been waiting for the new Act to be tested in reported cases, to…
Dismissal for comments made on Facebook
“But one cannot be happy in a family business, especially when the kids join the company after you have been there for six years and they try everything in their…
The Role of the Sheriff of the Court
The image of the sheriff is familiar to everyone who grew up on a typical Western diet of American TV shows. In the United States, a sheriff is a law…