Is the duty of care doctrine foreign to the principles of Roman Dutch law? 

Neethling and Potgieter, referred to in this recent Supreme Court of Appeal judgment, say that the doctrine “is an unnecessary and round about way of establishing what may be established directly by means of the reasonable person test for negligence, i.e.

In a January 2025 judgment, the High Court dealt with a claim for damages by the claimant, who slipped and fell on a wet floor at a restaurant owned by the defendant. The central issue was whether the defendant was negligent in maintaining the premises and whether their negligence caused the claimant’s injuries. The court

This blog was co-authored by: Carly Lakin, Candidate Attorney

In this judgment the court considered whether the principal was liable for the negligence of an independent contractor.

An attorney at the Gqeberha Magistrates’ Court slipped on a wet floor and sustained injuries. He instituted action against the Minister of Public Works & Infrastructure as the

The owner of a dog that attacks a person who neither provoked the attack nor by their negligence directly caused their own injury is liable, as owner, to make good the resultant damages.

Based on Roman law, for nearly 200 years the law in South Africa has been accepted that owners of animals are strictly