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Cheatography

Law of Persons Cheat Sheet (DRAFT) by

Through the looking glass: defining words and concepts in law

This is a draft cheat sheet. It is a work in progress and is not finished yet.

WHAT IS A 'PERSON AND WHY DOES IT MATTER'?

Person
A person may be defined as being, entity or associ­ation which is capable of having legal rights and duties. This includes natural persons and juristic persons. Also known as a legal subject.
Legal Person­ality
All persons have legal person­ality. This phrase describes the quality of being a person. Also known as legal subjec­tivity.
The importance of being a 'person' is that in the eyes of the law. Only persons can have legal rights and duties.

WHAT ARE RIGHTS, DUTIES AND LEGAL OBJECTS?

Physical things
Where the object of the right is a physical thing, the right is a 'real right'.For example houses and cars.
Perfor­mances
Where the object of the right is a perfor­mance, the right is a 'personal right'. For example babysi­tting or taxi ride.
Aspects of your person­ality
Where the object of the right is an aspect of your person­ality, the right is a 'perso­nality right'. For example your reputation or your privacy.
All legal rights give rise to corres­ponding legal duties.

REAL RIGHTS

Where the object of a right is a physical thing, the right is a real right. Ownership of a physical thing is an example of a real right. Real rights operates against the whole world

PERSONAL RIGHTS

Where the object of the right is a perfor­mance, the right is a personal right. Personal rights operate primarily against a particular person the person who owes the perfor­mance. Good examples are the perfor­mances owing in terms of a contract.

PERSON­ALITY RIGHTS

Where the object of the right is one of these aspects of person­ality, the right is a person­ality right. Person­ality rights operate against the whole world. The law protects various aspects of a persons person­ality. Every person has the right to these aspects of person­ality and may claim damages if they are infringed. The person­ality interests protected in South African Law Include: physical integrity, bodily freedom, reputa­tion, dignity and privacy.

CONSTI­TUT­IONAL RIGHTS

Real rights, personal rights and person­ality rights are private law rights. Consti­tut­ional rights are public law rights. They are set out in the Bill of Rights in the South African Consti­tution, 1996.
 

WHAT IS CAPACITY?

Capacity refers to what a person is capable of doing in terms of the law. In other words what are the persons legal abilities and compet­encies. Including the following passive legal capacity, capacity to perform juristic acts, capacity to be held accoun­table for wrongdoing and capacity to litigate.

PASSIVE LEGAL CAPACITY

Passive legal capacity means the capacity merely to have legal rights and duties. All persons have passive legal capacity.

CAPACITY TO PERFORM JURISTIC ACTS

Juristic acts are voluntary human acts which have intended legal conseq­uences. The capacity to perform juristic acts refers to a persons capacity to actively change his or her legal position. The law only recognizes capacity to perform juristic acts if the person is capable of unders­tanding the legal nature and legal conseq­uences of his or her acts. Examples of the kinds of juristic acts include: entering into contracts, getting married, acquiring and alienating property, making a will, consenting to medical treatment and holding office.

CAPACITY TO BE HELD ACCOUN­TABLE FOR WRONGDOING

A person can only be found of a crime or liable for a delict if she or he acted with 'fault' (a blamew­orthy state of mind). Specif­ically the person must have acted with either intention or neglig­ence. A person will be accoun­table (that is, capable of having 'fault' in the form of intention or neglig­ence) if: A)the person has the mental ability to distin­guish between right and wrong and B)the person is able to act in accordance with this unders­tan­ding. In Latin if a person is accoun­table (that is, capable of fault in the form of negligence or intention) he or she is culpae capax.

CAPACITY TO LITIGATE

The capacity to litigate means the capacity to be party to a lawsuit, either as a plaintiff or a defendant. In Latin peoples capacity to litigate is referred to as their locus standi in judico.
 

WHAT IS 'STATUS'

In the legal context, the word status means your standing in the eyes of the law. Peoples legal status determines their ability or capacity to relate to the legal system. Specif­ically a person status determines which legal capacities a person has in the eyes of the law. A persons legal status is based on membership of a particular class or group. The law is primarily concerned with groups defined in terms of age and mental disabi­lity.

FORMS OF LIABILITY

Three Forms of Liability?
Contra­ctual Liabil­ity­+De­lictual Liabil­ity­+Li­ability for unjustfied enrichment

CONTRA­CTUAL LIABILITY

A contract is a juristic act through which the parties agree that one or both of them will incur legal obliga­tions to carry out certain perfor­mances. Most contracts are recipr­ocal. Suing someone 'ex contractu' is a very powerful claim. The court can order specific perfor­mance from the other contra­cting party. Where there has been breech of contract, the court can order the breaching party to pay damages

DELICTUAL LIABILITY

Delicts are civil wrongs. A good example of a delict is a car accident. To bring a delictual claim against a person, you must prove all the 'elements of delict'. Essent­ially you must prove: 1.Cond­uct:the person did something (or failed to do something she or he should have done); and 2.this act is deemed to be wrongful in the eyes of the law; and 3.The person acted with fault (intention or neglig­ence); and 4.her or his action caused... 5.some form of damage to you. You sue for patrim­onial damages when the defendants act caused you financial or monetary loss. Or non-pa­tri­monial damages (for non-mo­netary harm).

UNJUST­IFIED ENRICHMENT

An action on the grounds of unjust­ified enrichment arises where 'one persons estate is increased at the expense of another without legal cause'. The basic requir­ements for the remedy are: 1.The defendant has been factually enriched, and the plaintiff has been factually impove­rished. 2.There is a casual link between the defendants enrichment and the plaintiff impove­ris­hment. 3.There is no valid legal reason that justifies the enrichment of the defendant at the plaintiffs expense or that justifies the retention of the enrichment by the defendant.

USEFUL REMEDIES, DEFENCES AND DOCTRINES

rei vindicatio
The owner of a physical thing can use this remedy to recover his or her thing from anyone who is in possession of it without cause. The rei vindicatio is an action 'in rem' (a property based remedy).
condictio
Is used to recover money when one person has been unjustly enriched at the expense of another. There are several specific condic­tiones in our law.
exceptio non adimpleti contractus
Is a defence that can be used when parties owe reciprocal obliga­tions in terms of a contract.
Aquilian action
(called actio legis Aquiliae) is a delictual remedy. A plaintiff can use this remedy to claim damages for patrim­onial damages when her or his person­ality rights have been infringed. The actio iniuri­arum* requires fault in the form of intention; the plaintiff cannot use this remedy if the defendant has been merely negligent.
action for pain and suffering
Is a delictual remedy. A plaintiff can use this remedy to sue for non-pa­tri­monial damages arising from physical injury. The defendant must have acted with either intention or neglig­ence.
doctrine of estoppel
1.where A has lied, and 2.B has relied on A's lie to B's disadv­antage, then 3.A will be prevented ('esto­pped') from relying on the truth in her or his defence.
The contracts, delictual and enrichment remedies cannot be brought against just anyone- they can be brought only against a particular person. These are claims in personam.

SUCCESSION

Estate
The property of the person who dies is referred to as 'the estate'. Your estate means everything you own.
Intestate Succession
If you die without a valid will, you die 'intes­tate' and your estate will be divided up according to the rules of 'intestate succes­sion'. The basic rule of intestate succession is that the estate must be divided among the deceased's next of kin.
Testate Succession
Means succession in terms of a will. The basic rule is that the wishes expressed in the will must be carried out. If the will fails for some reason then the rules of intestate succession will apply.
Testator
The person who writes the will.
For all forms of succes­sion, the estate 'vests' on the day of the deceased's death.