Jurisdiction refers to the competence of a court to hear and determine an issue between parties.
A court’s jurisdiction may be limited due to the subject matter, amount in dispute, territory and the parties.
In these notes, we take a deeper look!
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1. What do we mean by “jurisdiction?”
Jurisdiction refers to the competence of a court to hear and determine an issue
between parties. A court’s jurisdiction may be limited due to the subject matter,
amount in dispute, territory and the parties.
Firstly, the party instituting proceedings needs to determine whether the
Magistrate’s Court, High Court, Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) or Constitutional
Court (CC) has jurisdiction. Should the matter fall within the jurisdiction of either
the Magistrate’s Court or High Court, it then needs to be determined which district
or division of the respective Court has jurisdiction. The second enquiry is
essentially a geographical one, and as there is only one SCA and CC, the second
enquiry is not applicable to these Courts.
Jurisdiction is so important as a court must have jurisdiction for its judgment or
order to be valid, unless submission to jurisdiction is possible. If the court does
not have jurisdiction, its judgment or order is a nullity. A court is obliged to raise
the lack of jurisdiction mero motu, even on appeal.
Take note that we will not be discussing jurisdiction insofar as criminal and labour
matters are concerned nor will we be touching on the various specialised courts
and tribunals. Furthermore, the Small Claims Court is not relevant for our
discussion but take note that the monetary cap of said Court is currently
R20,000.00. It can also only hear claims instituted by natural persons against
natural or juristic persons; not the State.
2. First Enquiry – Magistrate’s Court, High Court, Supreme Court of Appeal or
Constitutional Court?
2.1. Introduction
As briefly mentioned, there are two jurisdictional enquiries that are to be
made when determining out of which court to institute proceedings
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(regardless of whether you intend to institute proceedings via application or
action).
The first enquiry is conducted to ascertain the TYPE of court out of which
one is to institute proceedings, for example, the MC, HC, SCA or CC,
whereas the second enquiry is conducted to determine the exact court of
the identified type, geographically speaking, to be used. If you find the
aforementioned confusing, the following example should help you
understand. Should we establish that the High Court has jurisdiction to
adjudicate the matter, we would then need to establish which particular
division of the High Court has said jurisdiction. In other words, we would
need to determine whether we are to proceed out of the Cape Town or
Pretoria High Court, for example. But more on the second enquiry later. For
now, let’s look at the first enquiry.
What determines the TYPE of Court out of which one is to institute
proceedings?
• The subject matter of the claim; and
• The amount in dispute.
2.2. Subject matter
Subject matter refers to the specific kind of claim a court may hear. This is
the first step in determining jurisdiction as some courts may only hear
certain types of matters. Let’s take a look at what matters each type of court
can and can’t hear.
2.2.1. Magistrates’ Courts:
Magistrates’ Courts consist of both District and Regional Courts. At
present, there are around 770 Magistrate’s Courts around SA.
District Courts have no jurisdiction in matters-
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