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The impact of public policy on the validity of a contract

Mini-dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2024.

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Other Authors: Cornelius, Steve J.
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2025
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access_status_str Open Access
author2 Cornelius, Steve J.
author_browse Cornelius, Steve J.
author_facet Cornelius, Steve J.
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2024 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Mini-dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2024.
format Thesis
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institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:39:54.561Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2025
publishDateRange 2025
publishDateSort 2025
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
record_format dspace
source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/103653 The impact of public policy on the validity of a contract Cornelius, Steve J. u23941112@tuks.co.za Kamineth, Ursula Eulene UCTD Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Law of contract Public policy Freedom of contract Ubuntu Constitution Mini-dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2024. Freedom of contract is understood as the freedom of parties to enter into contracts and choose the terms of their contract While public policy has always been the yardstick in the common law on whether a contractual term could be enforced or not, history has shown that the question of what constitutes public policy has not come without any difficulty especially in a developing country such as South Africa. The lack of established statutes, rules and policies on what constitutes public policy a has led to much uncertainty of when a contract will be enforced and the terms upheld in the light of public policy. Against this backdrop, this dissertation will investigate the impact of public policy on freedom of contract. This paper will confirm that freedom of contract is not absolute in South Africa and that our courts, due to absence of clear statutes and legislation, now bear the brunt to determine whether a contract is enforceable in the public interest. This dissertation will seek to find the principle of public policy as problematic due to its ever-changing content, unclear definition and lack of uniformity for determining what constitutes public interest in each particular case. The dissertation will further show how the courts have used the rights and values entrenched in our Constitution to protect the elusive doctrine of public policy. In summary, this thesis will find that our courts have found that a careful balancing exercise is required to determine whether enforcement of the contractual terms would be contrary to public policy. Private Law LLM Unrestricted Faculty of Laws SDG-08: Decent work and economic growth 2025-07-29T09:00:15Z 2025-07-29T09:00:15Z 2025-09 2024-12 Mini Dissertation * S2025 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/103653 Disclaimer Letter en © 2024 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle UCTD
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Law of contract
Public policy
Freedom of contract
Ubuntu
Constitution
The impact of public policy on the validity of a contract
title The impact of public policy on the validity of a contract
title_full The impact of public policy on the validity of a contract
title_fullStr The impact of public policy on the validity of a contract
title_full_unstemmed The impact of public policy on the validity of a contract
title_short The impact of public policy on the validity of a contract
title_sort impact of public policy on the validity of a contract
topic UCTD
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Law of contract
Public policy
Freedom of contract
Ubuntu
Constitution
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/103653