LAW OF
DELICT
EXAM
NOTES
PVL3703
,CONDUCT .
1. Conduct may be defined as a voluntary human act or omission.
2. In order to constitute a delict, one person (the doer or actor) must have
caused damage or harm to another person (the person suffering the
loss) by means of an act or conduct.
Conduct’s characteristics:
Only an act of a human being (in contrast to that of an animal)
is accepted as “conduct”
Where a human uses an animal as an instrument in the
commission of a delict, a human act is still present.
Human action only constitutes conduct if it is performed
voluntarily, ie, if it is susceptible to control by the will of the
person involved. Voluntar.iness implies that the person in
question has sufficient mental ability to control his muscular
movements.
Conduct may be in the form of either a positive act (active
conduct – a (commissio) or an omission (omissio).
3. THE DEFENSE AUTOMATISM:
defendant may argue that the conduct complained of does not
satisfy the requirement of voluntariness , he relies on the defence
of automatism.
the following conditions may cause a person to act involuntarily in
that they render him incapable of controlling his bodily movements:
absolute compulsion (vis absoluta), sleep, unconsciousness ,a
fainting fit, an epileptic fit, serious intoxication, a blackout, reflex
movements, strong emotional pressure, mental disease, hypnosis,
a heart attack and certain other conditions.
The defence of automatism will not succeed if the defendant
intentionally created the situation in which he acts involuntarily in
order to harm another, This is known as an actio libera in causa
, The defendant will be held liable for his culpable conduct in
creating the state of automatism which resulted in damage to the
plaintiff.
the defendant may not successfully rely on the defence of
automatism where he was negligent with regard to his automatic
“conduct”. This will be the case where the reasonable man would
have foreseen the possibility of causing harm while in a state of
automatism( eg drinking alcohol while knowing or reasonably
foreseeing that one will later drive a motor vehicle, knowing that
harm may be caused during a spell of sleepwalking and failing to
take necessary precautions, knowing that one may suffer an
epileptic fit and nevertheless driving a motor vehicle and sleeping
next to a new-born baby where it is reason- ably foreseeable that
the mother may roll on to the child in the course of the night while
she is asleep and cause it to die of suffocation)
OMISSION AND COMMISSION .
Omission is a legal duty
4. a. The case of INVOLUTARY CONDUCT.
Conduct is defined as a voluntary human act or omission. “Voluntary”
means that the person must be able to control his muscular movements by
means of his will. The act of the wrongdoer must be voluntary to give rise to
delictual liability. By raising the defence of automatism, a defendant
attempts to show that, according to the law, he didn’t act. Defendant may
argue that the conduct complained of doesn’t satisfy the requirement of
voluntariness. He relies on the defence of automatism - that he acted
mechanically.
Conditions that may cause a person to act involuntarily as they
render him incapable of controlling his bodily movements: absolute
compulsion (vis absoluta), sleep, unconsciousness, fainting fit, epileptic fit,
serious intoxication, blackout, reflex movements, strong emotional
pressure, mental disease, hypnosis, and a heart attack.
According to Molefe v Mahaeng, the defendant does not bear the
onus to prove that he was in a state of so-called sane automatism. The
onus is on the plaintiff to prove that the defendant acted voluntarily. In the
DELICT
EXAM
NOTES
PVL3703
,CONDUCT .
1. Conduct may be defined as a voluntary human act or omission.
2. In order to constitute a delict, one person (the doer or actor) must have
caused damage or harm to another person (the person suffering the
loss) by means of an act or conduct.
Conduct’s characteristics:
Only an act of a human being (in contrast to that of an animal)
is accepted as “conduct”
Where a human uses an animal as an instrument in the
commission of a delict, a human act is still present.
Human action only constitutes conduct if it is performed
voluntarily, ie, if it is susceptible to control by the will of the
person involved. Voluntar.iness implies that the person in
question has sufficient mental ability to control his muscular
movements.
Conduct may be in the form of either a positive act (active
conduct – a (commissio) or an omission (omissio).
3. THE DEFENSE AUTOMATISM:
defendant may argue that the conduct complained of does not
satisfy the requirement of voluntariness , he relies on the defence
of automatism.
the following conditions may cause a person to act involuntarily in
that they render him incapable of controlling his bodily movements:
absolute compulsion (vis absoluta), sleep, unconsciousness ,a
fainting fit, an epileptic fit, serious intoxication, a blackout, reflex
movements, strong emotional pressure, mental disease, hypnosis,
a heart attack and certain other conditions.
The defence of automatism will not succeed if the defendant
intentionally created the situation in which he acts involuntarily in
order to harm another, This is known as an actio libera in causa
, The defendant will be held liable for his culpable conduct in
creating the state of automatism which resulted in damage to the
plaintiff.
the defendant may not successfully rely on the defence of
automatism where he was negligent with regard to his automatic
“conduct”. This will be the case where the reasonable man would
have foreseen the possibility of causing harm while in a state of
automatism( eg drinking alcohol while knowing or reasonably
foreseeing that one will later drive a motor vehicle, knowing that
harm may be caused during a spell of sleepwalking and failing to
take necessary precautions, knowing that one may suffer an
epileptic fit and nevertheless driving a motor vehicle and sleeping
next to a new-born baby where it is reason- ably foreseeable that
the mother may roll on to the child in the course of the night while
she is asleep and cause it to die of suffocation)
OMISSION AND COMMISSION .
Omission is a legal duty
4. a. The case of INVOLUTARY CONDUCT.
Conduct is defined as a voluntary human act or omission. “Voluntary”
means that the person must be able to control his muscular movements by
means of his will. The act of the wrongdoer must be voluntary to give rise to
delictual liability. By raising the defence of automatism, a defendant
attempts to show that, according to the law, he didn’t act. Defendant may
argue that the conduct complained of doesn’t satisfy the requirement of
voluntariness. He relies on the defence of automatism - that he acted
mechanically.
Conditions that may cause a person to act involuntarily as they
render him incapable of controlling his bodily movements: absolute
compulsion (vis absoluta), sleep, unconsciousness, fainting fit, epileptic fit,
serious intoxication, blackout, reflex movements, strong emotional
pressure, mental disease, hypnosis, and a heart attack.
According to Molefe v Mahaeng, the defendant does not bear the
onus to prove that he was in a state of so-called sane automatism. The
onus is on the plaintiff to prove that the defendant acted voluntarily. In the
