LPL4802 – LAW OF DELICT PRACTICE
EXAM 2025 WITH QUESTIONS AND
CORRECT DETAILED ANSWERs
Delict Wrongful conduct
The act of a person which in a wrongful and culpable way causes loss, damage to
another.
Requirements of Delict Act. Wrongfulness. Fault. Causation. Damage
Delict versus Crime Delict- protects public interest. The aggrieved party institutes the
action. Objective- claim damages as compensation. No attempted Delict
Crime Protects public interest. State prosecutes. Punish the criminal. Can have
attempted crime.
Conduct Voluntary human commission or omission
Wrongfulness 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 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 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 Between the act of the defendant and damage suffered by the
plaintiff. The act must have caused the damage or loss.
Damage 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 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 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 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 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 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 Onus is on the plaintiff to prove that the defendant has acted
voluntarily and therefor not mechanically
Antecedent liability Reasonable man would have foreseen the possibility of causing
harm while in a state of automatism
Wrongfulness 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 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 The nasciturus fiction
Does not always offer a solution
Bona mores test The legal convictions of the
Community as the basic test for wrongfulness. Steenkamp
Basic question 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 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 Ownership over things
Personality rights Good name
EXAM 2025 WITH QUESTIONS AND
CORRECT DETAILED ANSWERs
Delict Wrongful conduct
The act of a person which in a wrongful and culpable way causes loss, damage to
another.
Requirements of Delict Act. Wrongfulness. Fault. Causation. Damage
Delict versus Crime Delict- protects public interest. The aggrieved party institutes the
action. Objective- claim damages as compensation. No attempted Delict
Crime Protects public interest. State prosecutes. Punish the criminal. Can have
attempted crime.
Conduct Voluntary human commission or omission
Wrongfulness 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 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 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 Between the act of the defendant and damage suffered by the
plaintiff. The act must have caused the damage or loss.
Damage 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 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 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 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 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 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 Onus is on the plaintiff to prove that the defendant has acted
voluntarily and therefor not mechanically
Antecedent liability Reasonable man would have foreseen the possibility of causing
harm while in a state of automatism
Wrongfulness 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 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 The nasciturus fiction
Does not always offer a solution
Bona mores test The legal convictions of the
Community as the basic test for wrongfulness. Steenkamp
Basic question 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 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 Ownership over things
Personality rights Good name
