South Africa Case Law

Davids and Others v Absa Bank beperk (A15/03)

Davids and Others v Absa Bank beperk (A15/03) [2004] ZAWCHC 17; [2005] 1 All SA 583 (C); 2005 (3) SA 361 (C) (19 April 2004)

Court

Western Cape High Court, Cape Town

Case number

A15/03

Judges

P.B. Fourie, L. Bozalek, J.V. Knoll

The court found that the appellants signed the suretyship agreements under a material mistake regarding their scope, believing their liability was limited to R50,000. The respondent's representative, Mr Geldenhuys, failed to explain the nature and content of the complex, unlimited suretyship documents to the appellants, who had no prior dealings with the bank and did not participate in the negotiations. Given the circumstances, a reasonable person in the position of the bank's representative would not have been misled into believing the appellants intended to bind themselves to unlimited liab…

Source excerpt

• Suretyship
• Contractual Mistake
• Dissensus
• Justus Error
• Banking Liability

Steyn v LSA Motors Ltd. (207/1992)

Steyn v LSA Motors Ltd. (207/1992) [1993] ZASCA 163; 1994 (1) SA 49 (AD); [1994] 1 All SA 483 (A) (30 September 1993)

Court

Supreme Court of Appeal

Case number

207/1992

Judges

Botha, Hefer, Vivier, Eksteen, Krieger

The court held that a golf-course sign for a hole-in-one prize was not an offer to amateur players, so no contract arose when the appellant scored.

• Contractual Offer And Acceptance
• Objective Intention
• Advertisement As Offer
• Dissensus
• Reasonable Person Test
• Contract-law