Chapter 4-Jurisdiction

• What is jurisdiction?

  The power or competence which a particular court has to hear and determine an issue between parties brought before it and to grant relief in respect of the matter.
• What is an incola?

  A person domiciled or resident within the jurisdictional area of a specific court.
• What is a local peregrinus?

  A person domiciled or resident outside the jurisdictional area of a specific court but within the Republic of South Africa.
• What is a foreign peregrinus?

  A person domiciled or resident outside the Republic of South Africa as a whole.
• How do we determine jurisdiction?

  1. What general type of court may hear the matter (value and nature of the claim).

  2. Which particular court (territorial jurisdiction)
• Why is jurisdiction important?

  This is because litigating in a court without jurisdiction will allow the opposing party to defeat the claim without entering into the merits or substance of the claim.

  • Action proceeding- defendant may raise a special plea of lack of jurisdiction
  • Application proceeding- court will not hear matter if applicant has not satisfactorily established Jurisdiction on the facts in the founding affidavit
• What is the principle of effectiveness ?


  According to this principle a court should ordinarily assume jurisdiction only in those cases where it is able to give effect to the order that it makes so as to make that order meaningfu.
• What is the principle of convenience?


  A court may be inclined in the circumstances of a particular matter to assume jurisdiction on the basis that it is most convenient to do so.
• What is the principle of consent (submission or prorogation)?


  A court that would not ordinarily be competent to adjudicate a matter brought against a defendant may exercise jurisdiction over that defendant if the defendant consents or submits to the court’s jurisdiction