Legal Articles and Guides

The common-law defence of reasonable chastisement can no longer be used when spanking a child, the Constitutional Court ruled yesterday. TimesLIVE says the court's upholding of a ruling by the High Court to do away with the defence comes at a time when violence against women and children has been a burning issue.

A pre-packed lobola agreement document has caused a row since making its way on to supermarket shelves, last week, according to a Sunday Tribune report.

A husband who tried to find a loophole not to have to officially divorce his wife has denied that they were married in terms of customary law, says a Pretoria News report.

More than 50 000 South Africans don’t want the government to pass the Children’s Act Amendment Bill, which could spell the end of private adoptions, says a Times Select report.

Free State Education MEC Tate Makgoe will be in the Kempton Park Maintenance Court next month to explain why he refuses to support the twins he fathered with a former staffer in his department.

A Pretoria man could find himself behind bars if he continues to refuse to reinstate his estranged wife – whom he’s been in the process of divorcing since 2015 – on his medical aid. The Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) has given the man until next week to return the woman to his medical aid – failure to do so will result in him serving a 30-day jail term for contempt of court.

A 19-year-old Johannesburg student is suing his mother for tuition fees, pocket money and relaxation activities amounting to R14 655 a month, says a City Press report.

A prospective surrogate mother (26) told the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) that she really wanted to carry a baby for a gay couple as it gave her joy giving someone something they yearned for. ‘I have a daughter of my own and I know that nothing in the world can replace the love of your own child,’ she said.

The Equal Education Law Centre (EELC) has been admitted as amicus curiae in a legal dispute involving the Masiphumelele Love and Care Daycare Centre’s founders and trustees.

The Constitutional Court has made an order prescribing the payment of interim maintenance, child care, and contact orders, says a Cape Times report. Ruling on an application by a father who challenged that the non-appealability of interim orders was unconstitutional, the apex court held – in a unanimous judgment – that the non-appealability was indeed constitutional, as it meant children’s rights were not infringed.

A three-judge Bench of the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) has pronounced on the level of disclosure required by those appearing in a maintenance court, reports Tony Beamish for Moneyweb. Both parties must now make full financial disclosure: every detail, including trusts and offshore assets, as well an explanation if a spouse enjoys a particularly luxurious lifestyle.

Three weeks after a warrant of arrest was issued for Nelson Mandela’s grandson Mbuso Mandela, police say they have been unable to track him down, claiming he is ‘nowhere to be found’, says a Sunday Times report.

A multi-millionaire grandmother who controls her children through her fortunes got more than she bargained after she sought urgent help through the court to see her granddaughter (8), says a Pretoria News report. The elderly woman, identified as R in a Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) judgment, demanded that the court immediately listen to her case as it involved a child.

The Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) has heard that it was not the fault of the 33 children who were on the brink of being stateless that they did not have birth certificates. A Pretoria News report says the good news for the children is that Home Affairs has agreed to register the 33 SA children who were on the brink of not being considered as a national by any state.

Former President FW de Klerk is again set to be dragged into a long-running financial feud between his son Willem and Willem’s ex-wife, says a Sunday Times report. After struggling for years to get Willem to pay maintenance, Nicole Noordien is, for the second time, approaching his father, claiming that as her children’s grandfather he has a responsibility to step in if his son cannot afford maintenance.