UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN

DEPARTMENT OF PRIVATE LAW

CLASS TEST: JUNE 2010
RDL 1004H / 1007H : COMPARATIVE LEGAL HISTORY
READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY

INSTRUCTIONS: Answer all questions.

TIME :

2 HOURS PLUS 15 MINUTES READING TIME

NOTE : THE READING TIME MAY BE USED ONLY TO
MAKE PLANNING NOTES IN THE MARGIN OR THE LEFTHAND PAGE IN YOUR ANSWER BOOK

MARKS :

100 (all questions are weighted equally)

NOTE

ANSWER ALL THREE QUESTIONS

QUESTION ONE
Helen buys a dozen apple trees from a Garden Centre and asks it to deliver them to
her farm 50 kilometres away. No one is at the farm to receive the trees, still in large
pots, when the Garden Centre delivers them. Helen later visits the farm, removes the
apples from the trees, and sells the apples at the market. She then plants the trees in
the ground, and the following year she returns to harvest more apples, which she
again sells at market. When she visits the following year, she finds cattle walking
among her apple trees, knocking apples off the trees on to the ground. Simon, the
cowherd, presents Helen with a document showing that Opal in fact owns the farm
and that Opal has given Simon a servitude entitling him to use the farm to feed his
cattle. Simon feeds the fallen apples to the cows.
Advise Helen.

QUESTION TWO
Paula meets Adam on her way to Pick n Pay. It transpires that they had concluded the
following transactions and they and Mohammed (see section iv below) ask for your
legal advice.
(i) A pocket pig called Ned for ZAR 10,000 that is to be a house pet for Paulas son.
The pig shows signs of unusually rapid growth and has to be kept in the garden with
Daisy;
(ii) a rare set of books that Adam agrees to buy if he can find suitable library space in
which to store them. After the agreement but before performance Adam pays a
deposit of 25% but the price of the rare books falls sharply due to the credit crunch.
Adam fails to take delivery and asks for his deposit back;
(iii) a Citi Golf car, lime green with desirable brown velour upholstery for ZAR
100,000. Paula pays a deposit of 25% of the price but the car is stolen before Adam
can deliver it;
(iv) 10 bottles of Paulas best wine if Adam will look after Paulas dog while she is on
holiday in the UK. Adam drinks the wine but takes an immediate dislike to the dog
and leaves it to fend for itself. Mohammed feeds it in the interim and he takes it to the
vet when it is injured in an accident. The vet, who also takes a dislike to the dog, puts
it to sleep and charges Mohammed ZAR 5,000 for the service;
(v) Paula owes Adam ZAR 100 but she pays ZAR 1,000 in error.
Advise the parties.
QUESTION THREE
David, a sculptor, carves a statue with two figures, a man and a woman. The figure of
the man is exaggerated and ridiculous. David is unaware that the male figure
resembles Alfred, a local politician. David places the statue on a cart drawn by a
horse, and drives the cart to the market. Hermann leaps on to the cart when it is in the
market place and, in front of the crowd, makes a face that the crowd recognises as that
of Alfred, who witnesses the event. Alfreds wife, who is with him in the market, is
upset because she recognises the figure of the woman as that of Alfreds beautiful
young mistress. She throws her handbag at the figure but misses and hits the horse.
The horse bolts and breaks free from the cart that rolls back and injures Felix and kills
Richard. David, it transpires, had been drinking Klipdrift Brandy at a nearby bar and
had left the cart unattended. When Alfreds wife is arrested the male policemen
instruct her to strip to her underwear at the Police Station.
Advise the parties.

[TOTAL: 100 MARKS]

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