Damages - wrongful arrest and detention - quantum of damages’ Minister of Safety and Security v Seymour 2006 6 SA 320 (SCA)

Abstract

The judgment by Nugent JA (with whom Navsa and Heher JJA concurred) not only restates and applies well-known principles regarding the quantification of damages for wrongful arrest and detention, but also deals with the role of the Constitution in this regard. The court correctly places emphasis on the principle that the facts of each case are decisive in arriving at the appropriate amount of damages and that a comparison of awards made in previous cases must take proper account of this approach (see generally Visser and Potgieter Law of damages (2003) 472–474; Neethling, Potgieter and Visser Neethling’s Law of personality (2005) 121–122).