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Summary Property Law Notes
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Comprehensive summary of full year (first and second semester) of lectures, case and textbook readings.
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PROPERTY LAW CONSOLIDATED NOTES:1. INTRODUCTION
Introductory Cases Studies:
Eastern Cape Parks Board v Le Roux Minister of Housing v City of Cape Town and Others
– Ancient rules of Roman law [wild animals as – Ancient rules of Roman law [rei vindicatio]
res nullius]
– Changing nature of living customary law [land
and family property rules]
– Influence of the Constitution [right to housing;
right to inherent human dignity
What is a Thing?
• Eg “res nullius”=“nobody’s thing” for wild animals
- RDL: Can become priv prop if captured and contained, regains freedom if escapes
- SA GAME LAW CONDITION: keeps priv prop status if you have adequate game
fence
Minister of Housing v City of Cape Town and Others
Lwandle mass evictions = illegal ‒ Sisulu
This case study illustrates:
• Land-owner would use rei vindicatio to reclaim land and evict from illegal
occupiers must now use procedures in PIE (Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and
Unlawful Occupation of Land Act)
• PIE is based in part on constitutional right to housing (s26(3)) Eviction did not
comply
• The violent forcible eviction infringed several constitutional rights including
housing (s26(3); human dignity (s10) and rights of the child (s28)
, • Property law rules used in informal settlements:
Property Law in the legal system
Sources of South African Property Law
1. RD Law
2. Apartheid Law
- Statutes repealed but long term effects still seen
3. African Customary Law
4. Legislation
5. Constitution
Roman-Dutch Law
1. The Romans
• Classification of “res” and Remedies like rei vindicatio [vindication of the
thing]
2. Influenced by Germanic customary law and Canon law
• Voet, Grotius and the other “old authorities”
3. Systematized by German Pandectism in the 19th century
• Strong emphasis on a powerful real right
Apartheid and colonial law
Government policy since 1994 reacts to this history of precarious and insecure access to land.
Land tenure in the apartheid “self-governing” territories
• All land owned by State and “held in trust” for the African communities
• Systems of land use within the apartheid territories was modelled on ACL not RDL
• Some areas had other forms of tenure (eg quit-rent, long term rental).
– Access to the land always insecure (almost never amounted to ownership)
Urban areas
• Group Areas Acts of 1950 and 1966: For Africans particularly: CANNOT OWN,
CAN MERELY ACCESS
, • Blacks (Urban Areas Consolidation Act 25 of 1945); Black Local Authorities Act
102 of 1982
– Created townships
– No real rights
– insecure & temporary resident rights: site, residential, lodgers’, and hostel
permits and certificates of occupation
• Policy now: provide people with real rights (that can be registered) because less
vulnerable and more secure
• clear preference for people to own their property.
Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act of 1951 [PISA]
“By far the most draconian of all apartheid land laws. The Act forced private landowners and
public authorities to demolish and remove all buildings and structures erected without consent of
the landowner or in contravention of planning provisions and building regulations.” Van der
Walt Introduction p 362
Changing the law post-apartheid
• Abolition of Racially Based Land Measures Act of 1991 abolished most apartheid
land laws
• Prevention of Illegal Squatting Act 1951 [repealed and replaced by]: Prevention of
Illegal Evictions Act 1998
• Group Areas Acts 1950 and 1966 [repealed and replaced by]
• Restitution of Land Rights Act 1994
• Housing Act 1997
• Interim Protection of Informal Lands Rights Act
• Lands Act [1913; 1936 and apartheid successors] [repealed and replaced by]
• Restitution of Land Rights Act 1994
• Land Reform (Labour Tenants) Act 1996 & 1997
• Interim Protection of Informal Lands Rights Act 1966
• Communal Land Rights Act [in progress]
African Customary Law
, • Constitution: customary law equal in status to common law
• Richtersveld case: status of ACL “must be seen as integral part of our law” not looked at
through common law lens.
“The courts are obliged by section 211(3) of the Constitution to apply customary law
when it is applicable”
Official customary law may be outdated and may always have been inaccurate and Must
apply the living customary law
ACL RDL
- Relationships at heart - Things at heart
- Access to and use of land = most NB - Ownership is king
- Nested systems: co-ordinate the - Right to a thing = real right
resources within the community
Customary law regarding land
• Applied in the former apartheid territories under Communal Land Rights Act
2004 (Act has now been found unconstitutional); Might apply in terms of additional
land acquired under Restitution of Land Rights Act 1994; possibly apply in the
context of the Land Reform (Labour Tenants) Act 1996
Land in urban areas
• Formal land and occupation rights acquired under common law. (real right)
• Informal practices (e.g. in informal settlements)
Other family property (excluding land in rural areas)
• Should preferably apply rules of living customary law (Bhe v Magistrate
Khayelitsha; Fosi v RAF)
• To the extent that rules of “official customary law” are unconstitutional, they must
be changed (Bhe v Magistrate Khayelitsha; Gumede v President)
Legislation
• Restitution of Land Rights Act 22 of 1994
• Deeds Registries Act 47 of 1937
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