UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN
DEPARTMENT OF PRIVATE LAW
PVL1008S
LAW OF PERSONS AND FAMILY
FINAL EXAMINATION 2020
___________________________________________________________________________
TIME ALLOWED: TWO (2) hours plus 15 minutes for reading and planning plus 30
minutes to cater for the online environment. This adds up to a total time of two hours and
45 minutes.
MARKS: 200 marks
___________________________________________________________________________
INSTRUCTIONS:
READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS VERY CAREFULLY
Answer ALL of the questions.
Write thoughtful, well-organized answers to the questions posed. YOU MUST CITE
RELEVANT AUTHORITY (eg statutes, cases and the Constitution).
The instructions for online submission appear at the end of this document.
___________________________________________________________________________
QUESTION ONE: [100 marks]
Winona-the-wife and Harvey-the-husband married each other in 2015 in terms of the civil law.
At the time of the wedding, Winona and Harvey did not own any assets. After the couple
married, both Winona and Harvey worked as attorneys. Each of them earned an amount of
R250 000 per annum. They used most of this money on day-to-day expenses (electricity, rent
of their furnished apartment, transport, groceries), but have also been able to save up some
money for the house they hope to buy one day. For practical purposes they each opened a
separate bank account for the “house-one-day” money. By September 2020, Winona had R200
000 in her “house-one-day” account while Harvey also had R200 000 in his matching “house-
one-day” account. They have no other savings or assets (apart from things of little value such
as clothing and household utensils, which you can ignore for the purposes of this question).
Page 1 of 4
, PVL1008S Dec 2020
In 2018, Harvey was involved in an ugly wrangle on the public social media. A client (Mr X)
accused Harvey of incompetence, fraud, corruption and theft (among other things). Harvey
sued Mr X for defamation under the actio iniuriarum and received R300 000 as compensatory
damages when he won his case. Harvey saved this money in a new bank account. He called
this the “holiday account” because he was thinking that they might have an overseas holiday
one day at Mr X’s expense.
In October 2020 Winona and Harvey were involved in an accident. Harvey had borrowed his
father’s car so that he and Winona could go away for the weekend. They had won a weekend
away at a private nature reserve. Harvey was completely at fault when he drove the car off the
side of a cliff in the private reserve. Winona was very badly hurt in the accident and will be
permanently disabled. Unfortunately, Harvey and Winona were not covered by any kind of
insurance. The accident did not take place on a public road and there was no possibility of a
claim to the Road Accident Fund.
Winona now want to sue Harvey for the following:
• R400 000 for her medical bills and lost earnings while recovering in hospital
• R500 000 for pain and suffering.
Answer the following questions:
1. What kind of delictual suits can Winona bring against Harvey and what kinds of damages
can she claim?
2. If Winona and Harvey are married in community of property:
a) Where will the money for payment of the damages come from?
b) When Winona receives the damages, whose account will they go into?
c) If Winona and Harvey get divorced immediately after the damages have been paid,
how much money will Winona have? Explain in detail. You can base this on the
information provided in the first paragraph (their financial positions in September
2020), plus the information about the Winona-Harvey delictual suit in October
2020.
3. If Winona and Harvey are married out of community of property with the accrual
system:
a) Where will the money for payment of the damages come from?
b) When Winona receives the damages, whose account will they go into?
Page 2 of 4
DEPARTMENT OF PRIVATE LAW
PVL1008S
LAW OF PERSONS AND FAMILY
FINAL EXAMINATION 2020
___________________________________________________________________________
TIME ALLOWED: TWO (2) hours plus 15 minutes for reading and planning plus 30
minutes to cater for the online environment. This adds up to a total time of two hours and
45 minutes.
MARKS: 200 marks
___________________________________________________________________________
INSTRUCTIONS:
READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS VERY CAREFULLY
Answer ALL of the questions.
Write thoughtful, well-organized answers to the questions posed. YOU MUST CITE
RELEVANT AUTHORITY (eg statutes, cases and the Constitution).
The instructions for online submission appear at the end of this document.
___________________________________________________________________________
QUESTION ONE: [100 marks]
Winona-the-wife and Harvey-the-husband married each other in 2015 in terms of the civil law.
At the time of the wedding, Winona and Harvey did not own any assets. After the couple
married, both Winona and Harvey worked as attorneys. Each of them earned an amount of
R250 000 per annum. They used most of this money on day-to-day expenses (electricity, rent
of their furnished apartment, transport, groceries), but have also been able to save up some
money for the house they hope to buy one day. For practical purposes they each opened a
separate bank account for the “house-one-day” money. By September 2020, Winona had R200
000 in her “house-one-day” account while Harvey also had R200 000 in his matching “house-
one-day” account. They have no other savings or assets (apart from things of little value such
as clothing and household utensils, which you can ignore for the purposes of this question).
Page 1 of 4
, PVL1008S Dec 2020
In 2018, Harvey was involved in an ugly wrangle on the public social media. A client (Mr X)
accused Harvey of incompetence, fraud, corruption and theft (among other things). Harvey
sued Mr X for defamation under the actio iniuriarum and received R300 000 as compensatory
damages when he won his case. Harvey saved this money in a new bank account. He called
this the “holiday account” because he was thinking that they might have an overseas holiday
one day at Mr X’s expense.
In October 2020 Winona and Harvey were involved in an accident. Harvey had borrowed his
father’s car so that he and Winona could go away for the weekend. They had won a weekend
away at a private nature reserve. Harvey was completely at fault when he drove the car off the
side of a cliff in the private reserve. Winona was very badly hurt in the accident and will be
permanently disabled. Unfortunately, Harvey and Winona were not covered by any kind of
insurance. The accident did not take place on a public road and there was no possibility of a
claim to the Road Accident Fund.
Winona now want to sue Harvey for the following:
• R400 000 for her medical bills and lost earnings while recovering in hospital
• R500 000 for pain and suffering.
Answer the following questions:
1. What kind of delictual suits can Winona bring against Harvey and what kinds of damages
can she claim?
2. If Winona and Harvey are married in community of property:
a) Where will the money for payment of the damages come from?
b) When Winona receives the damages, whose account will they go into?
c) If Winona and Harvey get divorced immediately after the damages have been paid,
how much money will Winona have? Explain in detail. You can base this on the
information provided in the first paragraph (their financial positions in September
2020), plus the information about the Winona-Harvey delictual suit in October
2020.
3. If Winona and Harvey are married out of community of property with the accrual
system:
a) Where will the money for payment of the damages come from?
b) When Winona receives the damages, whose account will they go into?
Page 2 of 4
