The fundamental differences in the principles governing Property Law and Succession from a South African Law perspective

Abstract

South African law is un-codified, developed, Roman-Dutch law. As such it is founded on a strict adherence to well-defined principles and the logical application of these principles guarantees legal certainty. This strict adherence to principles also vouches for an aversion against a pragmatic, casuistic and utterly uncertain mercy of a judicial sense of presumed fairness and equity. Judges are supposed to know the difference between being seated on a bench under a palm tree, pronouncing according to the current sense of what may be equitable according to the flavour of the day and sitting on a bench in a court of law and finding the legal principles that govern the case at hand.