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S V Van Aardt
The appellant in ''Van Aardt v S'', an important case in South African criminal law, had been convicted in the Grahamstown High Court of the murder of a fifteen-year-old youth, following a savage beating administered by the appellant, who suspected the deceased of theft. An appeal to the full bench of the Eastern Cape High Court was unsuccessful, so the matter came on further appeal before the Supreme Court of Appeal (South Africa), Supreme Court of Appeal. The appellant admitted common assault, but denied that such assault had caused the death of the deceased, or that he bore a legal duty to seek medical intervention for the deceased. __NOTOC__ Having examined the evidence, and having concluded that the appellant's acts caused the deceased's death, the court assessed whether or not the appellant had acted intentionally. In doing so, it had regard to the test for ''dolus eventualis'', as authoritatively formulated by Holmes JA in ''S v Sigwahla''. Subjective foresight is established ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South African Criminal Law
South African criminal law is the body of national law relating to crime in South Africa. In the definition of Van der Walt ''et al.'', a crime is "conduct which common or statute law prohibits and expressly or impliedly subjects to punishment remissible by the state alone and which the offender cannot avoid by his own act once he has been convicted." Crime involves the infliction of harm against society. The function or object of criminal law is to provide a social mechanism with which to coerce members of society to abstain from conduct that is harmful to the interests of society. In South Africa, as in most adversarial legal systems, the standard of evidence required to validate a criminal conviction is proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The sources of South African criminal law are to be found in the common law, in case law and in legislation. Criminal law (which is to be distinguished from its civil counterpart) forms part of the public law of South Africa, as well as of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
