Law of Persons Cheat Sheet (DRAFT) by Sumen

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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).

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.