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Law of Delict Questions with Detailed
Verified Answers
Question: Delict
Answer: Wrongful conduct
The act of a person which in a wrongful and culpable way causes loss, damage
to another.
Question:Requirements of Delict
Answer: Act. Wrongfulness. Fault. Causation. Damage
Question:Delict versus Crime
Answer: Delict- protects public interest. The aggrieved party institutes the
action. Objective- claim damages as compensation. No attempted Delict
Question:Crime
Answer: Protects public interest. State prosecutes. Punish the criminal. Can
have attempted crime.
Question:Conduct
Answer: Voluntary human commission or omission
Question:Wrongfulness
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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.
Question: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.
Question: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
Question:Causal connection
Answer: Between the act of the defendant and damage suffered by the
plaintiff. The act must have caused the damage or loss.
Question: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.
Question:Elements of Conduct
Answer: Human act - even if an animal is used
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Human act is present. A juristic person can act through its agents and be held
delictually liable for its actions
Question: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.
Question: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.
Question: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.
Question: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.
Question:Sane Automatism
Answer: Onus is on the plaintiff to prove that the defendant has acted
voluntarily and therefor not mechanically
Law of Delict Questions with Detailed
Verified Answers
Question: Delict
Answer: Wrongful conduct
The act of a person which in a wrongful and culpable way causes loss, damage
to another.
Question:Requirements of Delict
Answer: Act. Wrongfulness. Fault. Causation. Damage
Question:Delict versus Crime
Answer: Delict- protects public interest. The aggrieved party institutes the
action. Objective- claim damages as compensation. No attempted Delict
Question:Crime
Answer: Protects public interest. State prosecutes. Punish the criminal. Can
have attempted crime.
Question:Conduct
Answer: Voluntary human commission or omission
Question:Wrongfulness
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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.
Question: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.
Question: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
Question:Causal connection
Answer: Between the act of the defendant and damage suffered by the
plaintiff. The act must have caused the damage or loss.
Question: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.
Question:Elements of Conduct
Answer: Human act - even if an animal is used
, Page | 3
Human act is present. A juristic person can act through its agents and be held
delictually liable for its actions
Question: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.
Question: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.
Question: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.
Question: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.
Question:Sane Automatism
Answer: Onus is on the plaintiff to prove that the defendant has acted
voluntarily and therefor not mechanically
