FACULTY OF LAW

LAW OF CONTRACT

LWCT311

TEST 2 –APRIL 2015

INTERNAL EXAMINER: Luthfia Kalla

TOTAL MARKS: 50
DURATION: 1 Hour

SECTION A: Short Questions 30 Marks

SECTION B: Discussion Questions 20 Marks

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES:
1. Read each question carefully.
2. You must answer ALL sections.
3. Answer all questions in the answer book provided.
4. All rough work should be done in the back of the answer book and indicated as
such.
5. This test paper should not be removed from the venue.

NB This test paper consists of 6 pages

This test contributes 20% towards the final mark.

TEST 2 April 2015 LWCT311 Page 1 of 6

 Section A

Short Questions 30 Marks

Answer the following questions in your answer book.

QUESTION 1
Calisa is an opera singer and has been declared mentally ill. She has a curator
bonis, Willem, appointed to handle her affairs. Calisa is on prescribed medication
and has long periods of time when she is completely clear and certain and appears
sane. Calisa meets Vuyo, a vibrant, young and dynamic singer at a practice session
for the National Opera and offers him a job as a song writer. She agrees that he
must start on 01 March at a monthly salary of R3000. When Vuyo arrives for work on
01 March, Willem informs him that he cannot employ him and that the contract does
not exist as Calisa is mentally ill.

1.1 What advice can you give Vuyo to uphold his contract with Calisa? (3)
1.2 Would your answer be different if Calisa was not declared mentally incompetent
but suffered from mental illness instead? (2)
[5]

QUESTION 2
Consider the scenarios depicted below and answer the questions that follow on
certainty.
2.1 Selwyn agrees to buy Rasha’s Samsung tablet for market value. Is this contact
valid and is this term certain? (2)
2.2 Derrick wants a good guard dog. Timothy tells him that he has many breeds of
dogs on his property and that he can sell to Derrick. Derrick agrees to “buy a
dog” from Timothy. Is this contract valid and is this term certain? (2)
2.3 Alfred agrees to buy 3 tons of granny smith apples from “Apples for Africa”.
What type of obligation is illustrated in this example? (1)
[5]

TEST 2 April 2015 LWCT311 Page 2 of 6

QUESTION 3
David buys a racehorse from Nicole to run in the Durban July race. Nicole tells him
that the racehorse is a 3 year old pure breed who comes from a long line of
successful racehorses. The racehorse turns out to be a 6 year old mixed breed
horse who has had one winner in his line of breeds. David would never have bought
the racehorse if he knew this fact.

Identify what type of misrepresentations are illustrated below using the set of facts
above.
3.1 Nicole knew that the racehorse was a 6 year old mixed breed. (1)
3.2 Nicole honestly believed that the horse was a 3 year old pure breed but a
reasonable person would have been aware that it was a 6 year old mixed
breed. (1)
3.3 Nicole honestly believed that the horse was a 3 year old pure breed and a
reasonable person would also have believed it. (1)
3.4 What is the definition for a misrepresentation? (3)
3.5 List the elements of a misrepresentation. (4)
[10]

QUESTION 4
Brian is an engineer. He works for “Muggers and Robbers” a building contractor
company. They are a big company, employing many people and handling massive
building projects. Brian is in charge of a department that handles the all the
Information Technology [IT] aspects of the newly-constructed buildings. A new
project that he is dealing with has very specific IT needs. The client that he reports to
is very difficult and wants the project completed as soon as possible. In light of these
developments Brian decides to employ an IT specialist who will be able to manage
this project for him so that he can still attend to his other projects. The advertisement
placed in the newspaper and on the job recruitment portals offers R800 000 for a 2
month contract for an IT specialist. It was supposed to offer R80 000 instead.

TEST 2 April 2015 LWCT311 Page 3 of 6

Brian does not see the advertisement. Dumisani reads the advertisement and
applies for the position on the basis of the attractive offer. He accepts the position
when Brian offers it to him. When the contract is drawn up Dumisani realizes that the
money is not what he expected. Brian tells him that the offer in the newspaper
contained a printing error.

4.1 Set out the general approach in the law relating to mistake that one would have
to take to classify this type of mistake. (6)
4.2 Advise Dumisani of his legal options by classifying this type of mistake and give
reasons for your answer. (4)
[10]

SUBTOTAL: [30]

TEST 2 April 2015 LWCT311 Page 4 of 6

 Section B

Discussion Questions 20 Marks

Answer the following questions in your answer book.

QUESTION 1
Mr Diggs owns many flats in the Johannesburg area. He rents them out and
manages them himself. He signs leases with all of his tenants and his monthly rental
is always due by the 7th of every month. In February, Josie, one of his tenants is late
with her rental payment and has not paid anything by the 15 th. One of the terms of
the lease is that should a tenant fail to pay the monthly rental timeously, the Landlord
may charge 20% interest as a penalty on the outstanding amount and elect to evict
the tenant. Josie is a final year graphic design student and is having financial trouble.
She is late with her third month of rental when Mr Diggs informs her that she will
have to pay the outstanding rental plus the 20% penalty interest within 7 days or face
eviction from the flat. Josie is very insulted by Mr Diggs’ attitude and tells him that
she wants to cancel her 2 year lease and will leave immediately. Clause 12 of the
lease agreement states that; “There shall be no variation or amendment of the terms
and conditions of this lease agreement unless same has been reduced to writing and
signed by both parties or their legal representatives.”

Consider the facts above and answer the following questions. You may ignore the
provisions of the Rental Housing Act for the purposes of this question.
1.1 What type of clause is illustrated above in clause 12 and how is it interpreted?(1)
1.2 Refer to your answer in 1.1 above. Briefly set out how the law relating to this
type of clause developed. (4)
1.3 How does oral cancellation fit in with a non-variation clause and can the
consequences be altered in any way to benefit the party trying to cancel the
agreement. (5)

TEST 2 April 2015 LWCT311 Page 5 of 6

1.4 Assume further that, on the facts above, the landlord had previously allowed
this type of behavior before and had permitted Josie to continue staying in the
premises. Can Josie rely on this to her defence by stating that the landlord
varied the terms of the agreement with her? Your answer must include a
discussion of established case law and any other such exceptions to non-
variation clauses. (10)
[20]

SUBTOTAL: [20]

TOTAL: [50]

TEST 2 April 2015 LWCT311 Page 6 of 6