A recent UK decision made some interesting remarks regarding the interpretation of an insurance policy which should be no different in South Africa:
Property developers are not immune to the water restrictions being imposed by the City of Cape Town and, in terms of the recently published Level 6 water restrictions, have had to reduce their monthly consumption of municipal drinking water by 45% from 1 February 2018.
With day zero looming, contractors need to be aware
The definition of ‘business day’ in South African agreements often includes phrases like ‘any day on which banks are open for business in South Africa’. These words are confusing and it is sufficient to refer to a day other than a Saturday, Sunday or official public holiday.
The words have crept in from English law
In a UK case, the contract included a provision that “the parties will endeavour to first resolve the matter through Swiss arbitration. Should a resolution not be forthcoming the courts of England will have non-exclusive jurisdiction”. It was held that this is not an arbitration agreement.
The parties did not specifically agree to refer
A statute referred to termination of service “in accordance with any applicable regulations”.
It was held in Minister of Defence v SANDU that if there are no applicable regulations then there are simply no regulations that the functionary needs to follow. It does not mean that nothing can be done at all.
It would be
The Insurance Council of Australia has published a revised General Insurance Code of Practice.
It contains nothing unique or startling but it will give insurers some good ideas, written in plain language, about things you might want to incorporate in your own Treating Customers Fairly philosophy.
Clumsy laws must be constructively dealt with. Even where laws are clumsily and inelegantly drafted, the courts should be slow to alter the words actually used.
In Kalil v Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality the court said that it must guard against the temptation to substitute what the court regards as reasonable, sensible or businesslike for the
Acceptance must correspond with the offer in all material respects.
When parties are negotiating a contract, an offer made by one party lapses if it is rejected by the other party. If the offeree makes a counteroffer, that amounts to a rejection of the original offer.
A binding contract can only be brought about by
An innocent misrepresentation which results in the parties concluding an agreement they never intended to conclude means that the agreement fails even if there is a clause in the document that the property is sold as is (voetstoots) and that the purchaser has not been induced to enter into the agreement on the basis of
The court had to decide the meaning of the phrase “floor covering” to determine what customs tariff applied to Terratile pitch protection tiles which are placed on top of sports fields when other events such as concerts are held in the stadium. The customs tariff item is “floor coverings of plastics, whether or not self-adhesive,