Supreme Court of Appeal Rules amended

03 Jun 2019

Rules Regulating the Conduct of the Proceedings of the Supreme Court of Appeal have been amended.

The justice and constitutional development department published the amended rules in Government Gazette 42497.

The amendments were drawn up in terms of the Rules Board for Courts of Law Act.

Changes to definitions in Rule 1 include “’Act’ means the Superior Courts Act, 2013 (Act no 10 of 2013)”, “’Court’ means the Supreme Court of Appeal [ of South Africa] as referred to in section 5 of the act”, “’court day’ means [any day other than a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday] a business day as defined in the act” and “’President’ means the president of the court and, in [his or her] the absence of the president, includes the deputy president of the court”.

A new sub-rule on application and referral for reconsideration is added to Rule 6 stipulating that applications for reconsideration of a decision shall be conducted in accordance with directives issued by the president.

Rule 7 is amended by the addition of sub-rule 5 stipulating that an appeal in terms of section 18(4)(ii) of the act shall be conducted in accordance with directives issued by the president.

Rules Regulating the Conduct of the High Court have also been amended.

Amendments include a new Rule 30A on non-compliance with rules, substitution of Rule 32, a new Rule 36 on inspections, examinations and expert testimony, a new Rule 37 on pre-trial conference and the insertion of Rule 37A on judicial case management.

New tariffs are also added to Rule 68 item 5(c) on immovable property including R47 for making valuation report for purposes of sale per half hour or part thereof, R186 for upliftment of judicial attachment on immovable property occurs and R47 for written notice to the purchaser who has failed to comply with the conditions of sale.

The notice also contains detail on amendments to Rules Regulating the Conduct of Magistrates’ Courts.

Amendments include a new Rule 19 on exceptions and applications to strike out and a new Part II of Table C of Annexure 2 on sheriffs who are not officers of the public service.

All the amendments come into effect on 1 July 2019.

(This article is provided for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. For more information on the topic, please contact the author/s or the relevant provider.)