PVL2601EXAM QUESTIONSANDANSWERS.

PVL2601EXAM QUESTIONSANDANSWERS. ommorientes: People who are killed in the same incident case example - ANSWER-• RULE: For C to inherit from B, C must survive B. • If it cannot be determined who died first in an accident: > No presumption in SA law about order of death (there used to be rules in common law): court will find that they died simultaneouslv. > They cannot inherit from each other if they did not survive each other. • Ep Graham 1963 (4) SA 145 (D) WARNER J: ... It seems to me that the approach adopted in Negen v van Dyk is the proper one. There the Court examined the facts to see if there was any evidence to support a conclusion that the deaths were not simultaneous. In the present case, we are concerned with the crash of an aircraft and the evidence is that the aircraft crashed in a swamp and was extensively damaged with debris being strewn around over a large area. All the passengers and crew were killed and, in many instances, the identification of the bodies was impossible. It seems to me that in such circumstances the probabilities are overwhelming that the passengers did, in fact, die simultaneously and consequently any presumptions that there may be are excluded. In any event, there is no ground for believing that death would have overtaken them in the usual course of mortality. I consequently make an order that the testatrix and her son are presumed to have died simultaneously