Assignment 2 Semester 2 2025
2 2025
Unique Number:
Due date: 15 September 2025
QUESTION
2.1.
When a South African court applies the objective approach to determine the proper law of a
contract, it does not focus on what the parties may have intended. Instead, the court
identifies the legal system with the closest and most real connection to the contract. This
idea, developed by Westlake, moves away from the subjective method and is applied by
weighing connecting factors in a qualitative way rather than merely counting them. Each
factor is assessed for its importance to the contract as a whole, and sometimes a single
factor may outweigh several others together.1
The court starts by looking at the most important connecting factor, namely the place of
performance (locus solutionis). In international sales contracts, performance usually involves
both payment and delivery.
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QUESTION
2.1.
When a South African court applies the objective approach to determine the proper
law of a contract, it does not focus on what the parties may have intended. Instead,
the court identifies the legal system with the closest and most real connection to the
contract. This idea, developed by Westlake, moves away from the subjective method
and is applied by weighing connecting factors in a qualitative way rather than merely
counting them. Each factor is assessed for its importance to the contract as a whole,
and sometimes a single factor may outweigh several others together.1
The court starts by looking at the most important connecting factor, namely the place
of performance (locus solutionis). In international sales contracts, performance
usually involves both payment and delivery. Where there are two different places of
performance, courts have relied on two possible approaches. The scission principle
treats each performance separately, applying the law of the country where the
relevant obligation was to be carried out. The alternative is the unitary principle,
which seeks to identify one legal system that governs the entire contract, by
examining which place of performance is more important when weighed against
other connecting factors.2
In weighing the factors, the court considers issues such as the domicile or principal
place of business of the parties, the place where the contract was concluded, the
currency of payment, the place where goods are delivered, and the nature of the
obligation in dispute.3 For example, in cases like Laconian Maritime Enterprises Ltd v
Agromar Lineas the scission principle was applied, while in Improvair (Cape) (Pty)
Ltd v Establissements Neu the court endorsed the unitary principle. Later cases,
such as Maschinen Frommer GmbH & Co KG v Trisave Engineering & Machinery
Supplies (Pty) Ltd, explored further refinements when neither place of performance
appeared clearly dominant.4
1
M M Wethmar-Lemmer Private International Law: Only study guide for LJU4804 (University of South Africa
2019) 93.
2
Laconian Maritime Enterprises Ltd v Agromar Lineas 1986 (3) SA 509 (D).
3
Fredericks J “Determining the Proper Law of a Contract in South Africa” (2003) 15 SA Merc LJ 63 at 67.
4
Improvair (Cape) (Pty) Ltd v Establissements Neu 1983 (2) SA 138 (C); Maschinen Frommer GmbH & Co KG v
Trisave Engineering & Machinery Supplies (Pty) Ltd 2003 (6) SA 69 (K).