Buying a used vehicle will never be an entirely risk-free business, but what happens when, after forking out good money for what turns out to be a total dud, you are fobbed off by the seller with a dismissive “sorry, it’s your problem and your loss”?

We’ll address your legal remedies under the Consumer Protection Act with reference to a number of recent decisions from the National Consumer Tribunal. Cases of breakdowns, tow-ins, incorrect tyres and undisclosed accident damage were all considered by the Tribunal, and the dealerships concerned all came off second best…

The recent Constitutional Court decision declaring a section of the Divorce Act unconstitutional has attracted a lot of media attention, but it hasn’t always been made clear who needs to know about it and who doesn’t. 

We’ll discuss who is affected and who isn’t after a quick reminder of the three choices of “marital regime” available in South Africa, with an emphasis on answering the questions “What is this ruling all about?” and “What does it mean in practice?” We end off with an important note for couples about to tie the knot.

“Roman-Dutch law”

If you’ve ever wondered why so many legal principles referred to by our courts are stated in Latin or Dutch, the answer lies in the history of our legal system. “Roman-Dutch” law was based on old Roman law as applied in the Netherlands during the 17^th and 18^th centuries and was imported to the Cape during the Dutch colonial period. Although substantially modified since then by importation of English legal principles and by modern legislation, our common (unwritten) law remains Roman-Dutch and our courts still on occasion refer back to original Roman and Dutch laws, often using the original Latin and Dutch phrases.