Law and South African Education

The question here is whether the harm caused was unjustified in the circumstances. In the absence of wrongfulness (egg where there was no intention to harm) a defendant may not be held liable. 4 The act must be the result of fault in the form of intent (dolls) or negligence (culpa). Fault refers to the blameworthy attitude or conduct of someone who has acted wrongfully. (4) There is a causal link between the conduct of the perpetrator and the harm suffered by the victim. In general, it should be shown that the person’s injury did result from the actions of the person charged with negligence.

In other words, there must be a clear causal relationship between the act and the injury. A person cannot be liable if he or she has not caused any damage. (5) delicate is a wrongful and culpable act which has a harmful consequence. Damages (causing harm) in the form of patrimonial (material) loss or informational loss must be present. There must be a connection between the negligent conduct and the injury (physical or mental). To receive an award for damages, a plaintiff must have suffered an injury as a result of the defendant’s negligent conduct. The plaintiff must prove that some damage occurred.

Although the injury or damage does not need to be bestial for an award to be ordered, the injury must be real rather than imagined. The courts are generally reluctant to award damages where there is not some form of injury. Educators may be found guilty of negligence if they fail to provide proper supervision fail to aid the injured or ill permit learners to play unsafe games fail to provide adequate instructions take unreasonable risks fail to organize field trips properly All these elements must be taken into consideration when answering the question. Ask questions such as, who was wrong, who is liable and why?

Support your answer tit the requirements for dedicate liability as stated above. TOEHOLD/202 5 Question 2. 2 Comment on the possibility of “contributory fault” on the part of the learner. In this case negligence is one form of fault. A negligent educator might not be held liable if a learner contributed to the injury by his or her own negligence. In other words, if a learner fails to exercise the degree of care usually expected of a person of that age, knowledge and experience the court may decide that owing to the learner’s contributory negligence/fault, the educator is not solely liable for damages resulting from an injury by his or her act.

Contributory negligence could be important in situations involving older learners, especially if such learners understand the full implications of their actions. On the other hand, young children cannot be expected to fully comprehend the consequences of some of their actions and behavior. Comments: There have already been a number of cases involving sport in South African legal history. The principles of the law of delicate apply to sport as they would to any other scenario in society.

This would relate to 3 possible areas, namely, personal injury, violence and spectator injury The law of delicate is a section of private law. This branch of law deals with civil wrongs against another person that cause the injured party to go to court to seek compensation from the wrongdoer for damages. If an educator creates a potentially dangerous situation, and then fails to remove the danger, which then results in loss or damage being caused to another, he/she will be held liable for such loss or damage.

A legal duty rests on the educator to prevent the potential danger from becoming a real danger. A delicate has 5 key elements that must be present. These are: (a) An act; (b) Wrongfulness; (c) Fault; (d) Damage/Loss (e) Causation. Each of these elements must be present before a person can be held liable in delicate. 6 In participating voluntarily in a game, the victim therefore consents to the possibility of injury and limits the possibility of pursuing a dialectal claim. Thus, contributory negligence involves some form of fault (in the form of negligence) on the part of the injured person.

The injured person failed to exercise the required standard of care for his or her own safety. Contributory negligence comes into play when conduct on the part of the injured person contributes to his or her injuries. When the court has to determine the damages, it will reduce the damages apportioned to the plaintiff in proportion to his or her own fault (e. G. Contribution to his or her own injuries) In , the law does not expect educators to anticipate every accident, but I them to behave as reasonable people.

It is easy to anticipate the poss. of an accident involving educators and children if a group of children supervised, if a minibus that transports children is not maintained or equipment is not properly stored. Only in the case of a truly unexpected be possible to assert that it was not reasonable to foresee harm. To educator can reasonably be expected to foresee dangers and anticipate depend on the facts of the case and on the circumstances (e. G. The n school activity, the location of the school or the age of the learners).

In you will need to be able to: define and explain education and legal concepts and principles identify and explain the purpose of important legislation discuss and interpret the relevant sections of the South African Echo discuss and apply common law principles to practical situations (egg t natural Justice, memo dudes in USA cause and stare decides principle) illustrate your answers by referring to examples from education practice 2. 4 Reading and interpreting questions