, PVL3701 Assignment 1
Semester 2 2025
DUE August 2025
Use this document as a guide and for references to answer your assignment
Question 1
Would Mr Mboweni’s Evergreen Printing Company be able to vindicate the
printing machine and compressor from Mr Viljoen’s garage, and what must it
prove to succeed in court? In your answer, refer to the Study Guide and the USS
Graphics (Pty) Ltd case. (5)
1. The legal remedy involved
Mr Mboweni’s Evergreen Printing would rely on the rei vindicatio – the remedy
that protects ownership as a real right.
The rei vindicatio allows an owner to reclaim their property from whoever is
unlawfully in possession, without needing to prove fault or damage.
2. What Evergreen must prove
To succeed with the rei vindicatio, the owner must prove three things (Study Unit 6
and the USS Graphics case):
1. Ownership of the thing at the time of instituting the action.
2. The thing exists and is clearly identifiable.
3. The defendant is in possession of the thing without a legal right to keep
it.
3. Applying to the facts
Ownership: Evergreen Printing bought/owns the lithographic machine and
compressor (these are movable corporeal things), so they hold the most
complete real right – ownership.
Identifiability: The printing machine and compressor can be clearly
identified (specific equipment with likely serial numbers).
Semester 2 2025
DUE August 2025
Use this document as a guide and for references to answer your assignment
Question 1
Would Mr Mboweni’s Evergreen Printing Company be able to vindicate the
printing machine and compressor from Mr Viljoen’s garage, and what must it
prove to succeed in court? In your answer, refer to the Study Guide and the USS
Graphics (Pty) Ltd case. (5)
1. The legal remedy involved
Mr Mboweni’s Evergreen Printing would rely on the rei vindicatio – the remedy
that protects ownership as a real right.
The rei vindicatio allows an owner to reclaim their property from whoever is
unlawfully in possession, without needing to prove fault or damage.
2. What Evergreen must prove
To succeed with the rei vindicatio, the owner must prove three things (Study Unit 6
and the USS Graphics case):
1. Ownership of the thing at the time of instituting the action.
2. The thing exists and is clearly identifiable.
3. The defendant is in possession of the thing without a legal right to keep
it.
3. Applying to the facts
Ownership: Evergreen Printing bought/owns the lithographic machine and
compressor (these are movable corporeal things), so they hold the most
complete real right – ownership.
Identifiability: The printing machine and compressor can be clearly
identified (specific equipment with likely serial numbers).
