TLI4801
ASSIGNMENT 1 2025
DUE 31 AUGUST 2025
,TLI4801 ASSIGNMENT 1 2025
DUE DATE: 31 AUGUST 2025
UNIQUE CODE: 642661
Answer the following questions using proper references in footnotes. Your entire
assignment answer (questions 1 (a) – (d) and question 2 must not exceed 15 pages.
1. You are the legal representative of ADB Cables (Pty) Ltd, a supplier of high voltage
electricity cables. Brown Cables (Pty) Ltd is one of the customers of ADB Cables (Pty) Ltd
and the latter on 01 February 2025 supplied cables to Brown Cables (Pty) Ltd on terms
requiring payment to be made within 60 days of delivery. You are approached by ADB
Cables (Pty) Ltd with instructions to recover an amount of R1.5M which is owed to your
client by Brown Cables (Pty) Ltd. You proceed to serve Brown Cables (Pty) Ltd with a
demand. Upon receipt of the demand, Brown Cables (Pty) Ltd, through its sole director and
shareholder, Dennis Brown, informs you that Brown Cables (Pty) Ltd acknowledges its debt
to ADB Cables (Pty) Ltd and subsequently enters into an acknowledgement of debt (AOD).
Brown Cables subsequently fails to abide by the payment procedure agreed upon in the
AOD.
(a) Would you advise ADB Cables (Pty) Ltd to make use of the Provisional
Sentence Procedure to recover the amount owing? Provide reason(s) for your
answer.
In terms of Uniform rule 8(1), ADB Cables (Pty) Ltd may indeed make use of the
provisional‑sentence procedure to recover the R1 500 000 owed by Brown Cables (Pty) Ltd,
Existence of a “liquid document”
A prerequisite for provisional sentence is that the plaintiff’s cause of action be founded upon
a liquid document, that is, one which on its face reflects an unequivocal acknowledgment of
indebtedness for a fixed sum of money, and which enables the court to quantify the debt
without further enquiry.1 Here, Brown Cables not only received the supplier’s invoice for the
cables delivered on 1 February 2025 but went further and executed a formal
, Acknowledgement of Debt (AOD), in which it expressly admits liability for the full
R1 500 000 and undertakes to pay in accordance with specified terms.2 Both the underlying
invoice and the subsequent AOD therefore constitute liquid documents capable of
supporting a provisional‑sentence summons.
Prima facie proof of the debt
The essence of the provisional‑sentence remedy is that the court considers only prima facie
proof of the debt, on the assumption that the documents tendered are genuine, unless the
defendant can furnish satisfactory counter‑proof to the contrary.3 Brown Cables has not
disputed either the quantum or the validity of the debt; indeed, it reaffirmed its obligation in
the AOD and thereafter simply failed to perform. There is, accordingly, no real prospect that
Brown Cables could satisfy the court that the probabilities of success in the principal action
are not in ADB Cables’ favour.4
Commercial expediency and protection of the creditor
Provisional sentence is expressly designed to afford a commercial creditor a swift and
cost‑effective remedy where a liquid document exists, thus avoiding the delay and expense
of the ordinary (illiquid) summons procedure.5 Although the judgment rendered is
provisional and executable immediately, the procedure still safeguards the debtor by
requiring the creditor to furnish security de restituendo, which ensures that any amounts
recovered can be restored if the debtor ultimately succeeds in the principal action.6 Given
that ADB Cables’ primary concern is prompt recovery of funds to maintain its cash flow,
provisional sentence best accords with its commercial interests while preserving Brown
Cables’ procedural rights.
Availability of the main action
Should Brown Cables decide within two months of the grant of provisional sentence to
oppose the principal action, it must first pay the judgment debt and costs, and then deliver a
plea within ten days.7 This mechanism strikes a fair balance: ADB Cables obtains
immediate judgment and execution rights, while Brown Cables retains the opportunity to
defend on the merits, albeit at the risk of upfront payment.8
ASSIGNMENT 1 2025
DUE 31 AUGUST 2025
,TLI4801 ASSIGNMENT 1 2025
DUE DATE: 31 AUGUST 2025
UNIQUE CODE: 642661
Answer the following questions using proper references in footnotes. Your entire
assignment answer (questions 1 (a) – (d) and question 2 must not exceed 15 pages.
1. You are the legal representative of ADB Cables (Pty) Ltd, a supplier of high voltage
electricity cables. Brown Cables (Pty) Ltd is one of the customers of ADB Cables (Pty) Ltd
and the latter on 01 February 2025 supplied cables to Brown Cables (Pty) Ltd on terms
requiring payment to be made within 60 days of delivery. You are approached by ADB
Cables (Pty) Ltd with instructions to recover an amount of R1.5M which is owed to your
client by Brown Cables (Pty) Ltd. You proceed to serve Brown Cables (Pty) Ltd with a
demand. Upon receipt of the demand, Brown Cables (Pty) Ltd, through its sole director and
shareholder, Dennis Brown, informs you that Brown Cables (Pty) Ltd acknowledges its debt
to ADB Cables (Pty) Ltd and subsequently enters into an acknowledgement of debt (AOD).
Brown Cables subsequently fails to abide by the payment procedure agreed upon in the
AOD.
(a) Would you advise ADB Cables (Pty) Ltd to make use of the Provisional
Sentence Procedure to recover the amount owing? Provide reason(s) for your
answer.
In terms of Uniform rule 8(1), ADB Cables (Pty) Ltd may indeed make use of the
provisional‑sentence procedure to recover the R1 500 000 owed by Brown Cables (Pty) Ltd,
Existence of a “liquid document”
A prerequisite for provisional sentence is that the plaintiff’s cause of action be founded upon
a liquid document, that is, one which on its face reflects an unequivocal acknowledgment of
indebtedness for a fixed sum of money, and which enables the court to quantify the debt
without further enquiry.1 Here, Brown Cables not only received the supplier’s invoice for the
cables delivered on 1 February 2025 but went further and executed a formal
, Acknowledgement of Debt (AOD), in which it expressly admits liability for the full
R1 500 000 and undertakes to pay in accordance with specified terms.2 Both the underlying
invoice and the subsequent AOD therefore constitute liquid documents capable of
supporting a provisional‑sentence summons.
Prima facie proof of the debt
The essence of the provisional‑sentence remedy is that the court considers only prima facie
proof of the debt, on the assumption that the documents tendered are genuine, unless the
defendant can furnish satisfactory counter‑proof to the contrary.3 Brown Cables has not
disputed either the quantum or the validity of the debt; indeed, it reaffirmed its obligation in
the AOD and thereafter simply failed to perform. There is, accordingly, no real prospect that
Brown Cables could satisfy the court that the probabilities of success in the principal action
are not in ADB Cables’ favour.4
Commercial expediency and protection of the creditor
Provisional sentence is expressly designed to afford a commercial creditor a swift and
cost‑effective remedy where a liquid document exists, thus avoiding the delay and expense
of the ordinary (illiquid) summons procedure.5 Although the judgment rendered is
provisional and executable immediately, the procedure still safeguards the debtor by
requiring the creditor to furnish security de restituendo, which ensures that any amounts
recovered can be restored if the debtor ultimately succeeds in the principal action.6 Given
that ADB Cables’ primary concern is prompt recovery of funds to maintain its cash flow,
provisional sentence best accords with its commercial interests while preserving Brown
Cables’ procedural rights.
Availability of the main action
Should Brown Cables decide within two months of the grant of provisional sentence to
oppose the principal action, it must first pay the judgment debt and costs, and then deliver a
plea within ten days.7 This mechanism strikes a fair balance: ADB Cables obtains
immediate judgment and execution rights, while Brown Cables retains the opportunity to
defend on the merits, albeit at the risk of upfront payment.8
