Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

The requirements and consequences of sections 17 (5) and 23 (5) of the Matrimonial Property Act 88 of 1984: a comparative scrutiny for the South African legal system

This thesis is a comparative scrutiny of sections 17 (5) and 23 (5) of the Matrimonial Property Act 88 of 1984. The comparison centres on the legal situation in South Africa, Germany and Switzerland. References, however, will also be made to other countries such as England, Scotland, France, Belgium...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Seidel, Thorsten
Other Authors: Nhlapo, Thandabantu
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Private Law 2023
Subjects:
law
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613188911005696
access_status_str Open Access
author Seidel, Thorsten
author2 Nhlapo, Thandabantu
author_browse Nhlapo, Thandabantu
Seidel, Thorsten
author_facet Nhlapo, Thandabantu
Seidel, Thorsten
author_sort Seidel, Thorsten
collection Thesis
description This thesis is a comparative scrutiny of sections 17 (5) and 23 (5) of the Matrimonial Property Act 88 of 1984. The comparison centres on the legal situation in South Africa, Germany and Switzerland. References, however, will also be made to other countries such as England, Scotland, France, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, Austria and Poland. Sections 17 (5) and 23 (5) of the Matrimonial Property Act 88 of 1984 provide that for legal transactions in respect of household necessaries both spouses are, respectively, jointly and severally liable [section 23 (5)] or may be sued jointly and severally [section 17 (5)]. As regards the question of liability for the debts arising from transactions in respect of household necessaries, the statutory provisions are relatively clear. However these statutory provisions give rise to many important questions other than the issue of liability such as the historical background, the ratio legis and the legal nature of sections 17 (5) and 23 (5) of the Matrimonial Property Act 88 of 1984, the requirements and the effects of sections 17 (5) and 23 (5) in respect of the contractual position of the spouses and the acquisition of ownership. Furthermore the question arises as to how the effects of sections 17 (5) and 23 (5) of the Matrimonial Property Act 88 of 1984 can be excluded. Unfortunately it would appear that the South African authorities have not yet grappled with many of these questions, in spite of the importance thereof. The author therefore attempts to submit his own answers. Furthermore the legal situation in Germany and Switzerland is presented. No attempt is made to answer questions which arise in these countries, since the primary object of the present thesis is the legal situation in South Africa. The author thus merely describes the legal situation in Germany and Switzerland and concentrates on the majority opinion in these countries. Only where, from the South African point of view it appears to be necessary, a short criticism is submitted. Finally the author compares the different legal systems, highlights weaknesses of the South African law and the advantages of the Swiss and German law in order to submit a proposal which could improve the current legal situation in South Africa.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/38740
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:32:11.035Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2023
publishDateRange 2023
publishDateSort 2023
publisher Department of Private Law
publisherStr Department of Private Law
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/38740 The requirements and consequences of sections 17 (5) and 23 (5) of the Matrimonial Property Act 88 of 1984: a comparative scrutiny for the South African legal system Seidel, Thorsten Nhlapo, Thandabantu van Heerden, Belinda law This thesis is a comparative scrutiny of sections 17 (5) and 23 (5) of the Matrimonial Property Act 88 of 1984. The comparison centres on the legal situation in South Africa, Germany and Switzerland. References, however, will also be made to other countries such as England, Scotland, France, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, Austria and Poland. Sections 17 (5) and 23 (5) of the Matrimonial Property Act 88 of 1984 provide that for legal transactions in respect of household necessaries both spouses are, respectively, jointly and severally liable [section 23 (5)] or may be sued jointly and severally [section 17 (5)]. As regards the question of liability for the debts arising from transactions in respect of household necessaries, the statutory provisions are relatively clear. However these statutory provisions give rise to many important questions other than the issue of liability such as the historical background, the ratio legis and the legal nature of sections 17 (5) and 23 (5) of the Matrimonial Property Act 88 of 1984, the requirements and the effects of sections 17 (5) and 23 (5) in respect of the contractual position of the spouses and the acquisition of ownership. Furthermore the question arises as to how the effects of sections 17 (5) and 23 (5) of the Matrimonial Property Act 88 of 1984 can be excluded. Unfortunately it would appear that the South African authorities have not yet grappled with many of these questions, in spite of the importance thereof. The author therefore attempts to submit his own answers. Furthermore the legal situation in Germany and Switzerland is presented. No attempt is made to answer questions which arise in these countries, since the primary object of the present thesis is the legal situation in South Africa. The author thus merely describes the legal situation in Germany and Switzerland and concentrates on the majority opinion in these countries. Only where, from the South African point of view it appears to be necessary, a short criticism is submitted. Finally the author compares the different legal systems, highlights weaknesses of the South African law and the advantages of the Swiss and German law in order to submit a proposal which could improve the current legal situation in South Africa. 2023-09-18T13:31:22Z 2023-09-18T13:31:22Z 1995 2023-09-18T13:31:04Z Master Thesis Masters LLM http://hdl.handle.net/11427/38740 eng application/pdf Department of Private Law Faculty of Law
spellingShingle law
Seidel, Thorsten
The requirements and consequences of sections 17 (5) and 23 (5) of the Matrimonial Property Act 88 of 1984: a comparative scrutiny for the South African legal system
thesis_degree_str Master's
title The requirements and consequences of sections 17 (5) and 23 (5) of the Matrimonial Property Act 88 of 1984: a comparative scrutiny for the South African legal system
title_full The requirements and consequences of sections 17 (5) and 23 (5) of the Matrimonial Property Act 88 of 1984: a comparative scrutiny for the South African legal system
title_fullStr The requirements and consequences of sections 17 (5) and 23 (5) of the Matrimonial Property Act 88 of 1984: a comparative scrutiny for the South African legal system
title_full_unstemmed The requirements and consequences of sections 17 (5) and 23 (5) of the Matrimonial Property Act 88 of 1984: a comparative scrutiny for the South African legal system
title_short The requirements and consequences of sections 17 (5) and 23 (5) of the Matrimonial Property Act 88 of 1984: a comparative scrutiny for the South African legal system
title_sort requirements and consequences of sections 17 5 and 23 5 of the matrimonial property act 88 of 1984 a comparative scrutiny for the south african legal system
topic law
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/38740
work_keys_str_mv AT seidelthorsten therequirementsandconsequencesofsections175and235ofthematrimonialpropertyact88of1984acomparativescrutinyforthesouthafricanlegalsystem
AT seidelthorsten requirementsandconsequencesofsections175and235ofthematrimonialpropertyact88of1984acomparativescrutinyforthesouthafricanlegalsystem