LPL4802 – Law of Delict: Advanced Problems PRACTICE EXAM AND STUDYGUIDE
LATEST 2025 QUESTIONS AND CORRECT DETAILED ANSWERS
Delict - (answer)Wrongful conduct
The act of a person which in a wrongful and culpable way causes loss, damage to
another.
Requirements of Delict - (answer)Act. Wrongfulness. Fault. Causation. Damage
Delict versus Crime - (answer)Delict- protects public interest. The aggrieved party
institutes the action. Objective- claim damages as compensation. No attempted Delict
Crime - (answer)Protects public interest. State prosecutes. Punish the criminal. Can
have attempted crime.
Conduct - (answer)Voluntary human commission or omission
Wrongfulness - (answer)For a liability to follow an act prejudice must be caused in a
wrongful or unreasonable manner. Without wrongfulness defendant cannot be held
liable.
Liability for an omission - (answer)Liability follows when the omission was in fact
wrongful, where a legal duty rested on the defendant to act positively to prevent harm
from occurring and he failed to comply with that duty.
Fault - (answer)Legally blameworthy for having acted wrongfully or did not conform to
the standard of care required by law and thus caused damage through negligence.
Fault - intention and negligence
Causal connection - (answer)Between the act of the defendant and damage suffered by
the plaintiff. The act must have caused the damage or loss.
Damage - (answer)The plaintiff must have suffered damage. Damage can take two
forms. Patrimonial loss - Damnum iniuria datum, that is the reduction of financial power
or injury to personality - iniuria the infringement of an aspect of personality - good name.
Elements of Conduct - (answer)Human act - even if an animal is used
Human act is present. A juristic person can act through its agents and be held
delictually liable for its actions
Gijzen - (answer)Can occur without there being an act on the part of the defendant in
the case of land subsistence cases. Such an act must be wrongful. An act and its
consequences may be separated from each other, but there always has to be an act.
Voluntary Conduct - (answer)The act must be performed
Voluntarily, the wrongdoer must have had control over his muscular movements. It does
not have to be willed or desired State versus Russell.
, Commission & Omission - (answer)Conduct can be in the form of Omission or
Commission. Liability for an omission is in general more restricted than liability for a
positive act.
Defense of automatism - (answer)Someone acted mechanically- sleep, unconscious,
fainting, fit, absolute compulsion, if these are present a person is incapable of
controlling his bodily movement- purely mechanical action.
Sane Automatism - (answer)Onus is on the plaintiff to prove that the defendant has
acted voluntarily and therefor not mechanically
Antecedent liability - (answer)Reasonable man would have foreseen the possibility of
causing harm while in a state of automatism
Wrongfulness - (answer)It's a dual investigation: only delictually wrongful when it has as
its consequences the factual infringement of an individual interest. An act and its
Consequences are always separated by time and Space.
Pinchin Versus Santam Insurance - (answer)Pregnant woman involved in a car
accident, caused by the defendants negligence. Child suffered brain
Damage.
Compensation was
Claimed for the child, judge there was
No proof that the accident caused brain damage.
RAF versus Mtati - (answer)The nasciturus fiction
Does not always offer a solution
Bona mores test - (answer)The legal convictions of the
Community as the basic test for wrongfulness. Steenkamp
Basic question - (answer)Whether according to the legal convictions of the community
and light of all the circumstances of the case the defendant infringed the interests of the
plaintiff in a reasonable or unreasonable manner.
Determination of wronfulness - (answer)Was there an infringement of a legally protected
interest. Act must have a harmful consequence. If the interest was prejudiced legal
norms are used. To determine if it occurred in a legally reprehensible manner.
Real rights - (answer)Ownership over things
Personality rights - (answer)Good name
Personal rights - (answer)Payment
LATEST 2025 QUESTIONS AND CORRECT DETAILED ANSWERS
Delict - (answer)Wrongful conduct
The act of a person which in a wrongful and culpable way causes loss, damage to
another.
Requirements of Delict - (answer)Act. Wrongfulness. Fault. Causation. Damage
Delict versus Crime - (answer)Delict- protects public interest. The aggrieved party
institutes the action. Objective- claim damages as compensation. No attempted Delict
Crime - (answer)Protects public interest. State prosecutes. Punish the criminal. Can
have attempted crime.
Conduct - (answer)Voluntary human commission or omission
Wrongfulness - (answer)For a liability to follow an act prejudice must be caused in a
wrongful or unreasonable manner. Without wrongfulness defendant cannot be held
liable.
Liability for an omission - (answer)Liability follows when the omission was in fact
wrongful, where a legal duty rested on the defendant to act positively to prevent harm
from occurring and he failed to comply with that duty.
Fault - (answer)Legally blameworthy for having acted wrongfully or did not conform to
the standard of care required by law and thus caused damage through negligence.
Fault - intention and negligence
Causal connection - (answer)Between the act of the defendant and damage suffered by
the plaintiff. The act must have caused the damage or loss.
Damage - (answer)The plaintiff must have suffered damage. Damage can take two
forms. Patrimonial loss - Damnum iniuria datum, that is the reduction of financial power
or injury to personality - iniuria the infringement of an aspect of personality - good name.
Elements of Conduct - (answer)Human act - even if an animal is used
Human act is present. A juristic person can act through its agents and be held
delictually liable for its actions
Gijzen - (answer)Can occur without there being an act on the part of the defendant in
the case of land subsistence cases. Such an act must be wrongful. An act and its
consequences may be separated from each other, but there always has to be an act.
Voluntary Conduct - (answer)The act must be performed
Voluntarily, the wrongdoer must have had control over his muscular movements. It does
not have to be willed or desired State versus Russell.
, Commission & Omission - (answer)Conduct can be in the form of Omission or
Commission. Liability for an omission is in general more restricted than liability for a
positive act.
Defense of automatism - (answer)Someone acted mechanically- sleep, unconscious,
fainting, fit, absolute compulsion, if these are present a person is incapable of
controlling his bodily movement- purely mechanical action.
Sane Automatism - (answer)Onus is on the plaintiff to prove that the defendant has
acted voluntarily and therefor not mechanically
Antecedent liability - (answer)Reasonable man would have foreseen the possibility of
causing harm while in a state of automatism
Wrongfulness - (answer)It's a dual investigation: only delictually wrongful when it has as
its consequences the factual infringement of an individual interest. An act and its
Consequences are always separated by time and Space.
Pinchin Versus Santam Insurance - (answer)Pregnant woman involved in a car
accident, caused by the defendants negligence. Child suffered brain
Damage.
Compensation was
Claimed for the child, judge there was
No proof that the accident caused brain damage.
RAF versus Mtati - (answer)The nasciturus fiction
Does not always offer a solution
Bona mores test - (answer)The legal convictions of the
Community as the basic test for wrongfulness. Steenkamp
Basic question - (answer)Whether according to the legal convictions of the community
and light of all the circumstances of the case the defendant infringed the interests of the
plaintiff in a reasonable or unreasonable manner.
Determination of wronfulness - (answer)Was there an infringement of a legally protected
interest. Act must have a harmful consequence. If the interest was prejudiced legal
norms are used. To determine if it occurred in a legally reprehensible manner.
Real rights - (answer)Ownership over things
Personality rights - (answer)Good name
Personal rights - (answer)Payment
