The pitfalls of standard contracts: Check your T’s & C’s
A contract can relate to anything from a lease to a simple retail account agreement. Many people view a contract as a document with unfamiliar...
How to change your marital regime
Couples sometimes rush into marriage and before they realise it, they are bound by South Africa’s default marital regime which is that of In Community...
Let’s get personal: The transferability of shareholder rights under a company’s constitutional documents
It’s a long-standing and well acknowledged principle in South African common law that parties to an agreement are generally free to cede and assign their contractual rights as they wish, except where there is a clause specifically prohibiting the transfer of …
Provided By Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr
“I will only move when you pay me my damages”
In what circumstances can a party in breach justify its failure to adhere to the contract based on the other party’s breach? This is one of the more interesting questions in contractual law. In Ritz Plaza Proprietary Limited v Ritz Hotel Management Company Proprietary…
Provided By Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr
Can your email disclaimer get you out of an unintended contract?
It is a reasonably well-known fact that most types of agreements may be entered into using electronic means; for example, by way of email, or...
Restraint of trade: What does it mean?
The majority of employment contracts contain a restraint of trade clause. Many people merely consider it a standard clause but it can have serious implications...
Can a consumer “contract out” of a right to receive a pre-termination notice?
Introduction
Our offices have taken note of an alarming increase in the number of SMS’s sent to clients by the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality (“COJ”)...
Close but no cigar – The importance of restraint of trade clauses
A useful reminder of the importance of restraint of trade clauses in employment agreements
Oh, so you think you can prevent your employees from joining a...
Pacta servanda sunt v Ubuntu
Section 39(2) of the Constitution requires that the spirit, purport and objects of the Bill of Rights must be promoted when interpreting legislation, and when...
Unschooled about music law? Don’t let the industry exploit you
When musicians Ray Phiri and Paul Simon collaborated on Graceland, it’s unclear whether there was a contract signed that allowed Phiri to earn royalties from...
Cancelling a contract? The do’s and dont’s to consider!
Every person, whether an individual or a juristic person, will find themselves in a situation where they will want to terminate a contract. The aim...
The “bastard conjunction” – “and/or”
“ … ‘and/or,’ that befuddling, nameless thing, that Janus-faced verbal monstrosity, neither word nor phrase, the child of a brain of someone too lazy or...
What is one month’s notice?
The interpretation of a “month’s notice” in a termination clause and whether a qualifier, such as a “calendar month’s notice”, bears any significance, has been...
When should a court interfere in a contractual relationship? Pacta sunt servanda & public policy
The principle of pacta sunt servanda translates literally as “agreements must be kept” and forms the basis of the common law of contracts. When two...
Keep a lid on it: The importance of non-disclosure agreements
A successful business is one which is able to exploit any opportunity available to it and, in doing so, maintain a competitive edge in its...
SARS vs Reunert: How a competently drafted contract saved millions
The recent matter of The Commissioner for SARS v Reunert Ltd highlights the importance of possessing an intimate understanding of contractual principles when drafting an...
Electronic communications and legal agreements
Living in the age of electronics may have far reaching consequences on legal agreements. In the past, the physical writing and signing of an agreement...
WhatsApp: A unique, convenient method of cancelling a contract?
The rapid rise in modern technology, the advent of smartphones as well as the increased popularity of social media and instant messaging services such as...
Contingency fee arrangements: Clarifying the common law position
The Contingency Fees Act 66 of 1997 (“the CFA”) legitimises and regulates the conclusion of contingency fee arrangements between legal practitioners and their clients. The...
The nature of cession in security
The cession of incorporeal rights is a legal principle on which significant amounts of money are transacted in the South African market.
Cession is a bilateral...