PVL3701 Revision Study Pack.
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STUDY UNIT 1
INTRODUCTION TO PROPERTY LAW
THINGS AS LEGAL OBJECTS
1. Define
(a) law of things (6)
The law of things can be defined as a branch of private law which consists of a number of legal rules that
determine the nature, content, vesting, protection, tra...
INTRODUCTION TO PROPERTY LAW
THINGS AS LEGAL OBJECTS
1. Define
(a) law of things (6)
The law of things can be defined as a branch of private law which consists of a number of legal rules that
determine the nature, content, vesting, protection, transfer and termination of various real relationships
between a legal subject and a thing, as well as the rights and duties ensuing from these relationships.
(b) law (5)
That body of rules and norms which regulates and harmonises society by demarcating the rights and duties of
legal subjects.
(c) right (5)
Rights deal with the lawful relationships between legal subjects and the relationship between legal subjects
and the objects of their rights.
(d) legal subject (5)
A legal subject can be defined as any person (whether a natural or a legal person) capable of acting as a
subject in legal relationships and of acquiring rights and incurring duties in the process. Human beings (natural
persons) are the most common and best-known legal subjects, but legal persons such as the State,
universities, companies, close corporations, and so on, are also legal subjects, since they can act as legal
subjects in legal relationships and can therefore acquire rights and duties.
(e) legal object (2)
A legal object can be defined as every object with which a legal subject has a legally recognized relationship.
These legal objects may be divided into things, performances, immaterial property and personality property.
(f) thing (5)
we define a thing as an independent part of the corporeal world, which is external to humans and subject to
human control, as well as useful and valuable to humans.
(g) real remedy (5)
A real remedy can be defined as a legal process with its own purpose, for which certain requirements are
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,set and which protects, maintains or restores a particular real relationship in a specific way. A real remedy,
therefore, finds application in lawful and unlawful real relationships.
(h) real right (5)
a real right can be defined as a lawful real relationship between a legal subject and a thing which confers direct
control over the thing on the legal subject, as well as the relationship between the legal subject and all other
legal subjects who must respect this relationship.
2 Distinguish between
(a) law of property and law of things (4)
In its broad sense property law can also be described as patrimonial law the law dealing with a person’s
patrimony (all his/her assets). Patrimonial law is divided into the law of things, the law of succession, the
law of obligations and intellectual property law.
Patrimonial law regulates all rights of which the objects are assets in a person’s estate. In this broad sense
everything that forms part of a person’s estate can be described as ‘‘property’’. Property therefore includes
a variety of assets, such as things (for example, land, a car, a computer and a mobile phone), personal
rights (creditor’s rights/claims) (for example, the right to one’s salary, the right to the proceeds of an
insurance policy or the right to claim the purchase price in terms of a contract of sale) and immaterial
property rights (for example, copyright and patent rights).
The law of things as a subdivision of patrimonial law falls under private law. The law of things deals with a
specific legal object, namely a thing.
(b) real right and entitlement (5)
a real right can be defined as a lawful real relationship between a legal subject and a thing which confers
direct control over the thing on the legal subject, as well as the relationship between the legal subject and
all other legal subjects who must respect this relationship.
A legal subject who acquires a real right from a lawful real relationship is usually entitled by the legal order
to perform certain acts in connection with the thing. The capacities conferred on the legal subject by virtue
of a right, in this case a real right, are called entitlements.
(c) legal object and thing (4)
A legal object can be defined as every object with which a legal subject has a legally recognised
relationship. These legal objects may be divided into things, performances, immaterial property
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, and personality property. Each of these legal objects has its own characteristics which distinguish it from
other legal objects.
Generally, a thing is a legal object characterised by its material (corporeal) nature. For a complete picture
of a thing in a legal sense, we define a thing as an independent part of the corporeal world, which is
external to humans and subject to human control, as well as useful and valuable to humans.
(d) real relationship and real right (4)
A real relationship is the particular legal relationship between one or more legal subjects and a thing. This
relationship has certain implications for the legal order. Note, furthermore, that the concept ‘‘real relationship’’
is broader than the concept ‘‘real right’’, since real relationships include both real rights and certain unlawful
real relationships.
There are usually two sides to a real relationship (and therefore, if it is a lawful real relationship, to a real right),
namely
(i) the subject-object relationship between the particular legal subject and the particular thing involved in the
relationship
(ii) the subject-subject relationship between the particular legal subject and all other legal subjects
A real right is therefore always a dual relationship: the subject-object (thing) relationship and the subject-
subject relationship.
In certain cases, real relationships may take on distinctive characteristics, with the result
that the rights and duties ensuing from these relationships may vary.
3 Briefly mention the functions of the law of things. (6)
1 It strives to harmonise or regulate various competing ownership rights, especially between neighbouring
owners.
2 It strives to harmonise or regulate an owner’s rights in regard to his/her thing with the rights of other limited
real right holders to the same thing
3 It controls the acquisition, protection and extinction of things and real rights.
4 Name the sources of the current law of things in order of priority. (5)
(i) the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996
(ii) statute law
(iii) case law
(iv) common law (Roman-Dutch law)/indigenous (customary) law
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