Abstract:
This dissertation considers the impact of the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 (hereafter ‘CPA’) on contractual claims, and specifically whether the exceptio doli generalis is being reintroduced in the South African legal system. This dissertation illustrates that although the CPA improves the position of the consumer in many ways, the legislature should have drafted some provisions more carefully which could have resulted in clarifying some vital issues. Many terms and principles introduced by the CPA are foreign to the South African legal system. Although practice and precedent will eventually provide solutions to many of the practical difficulties currently experienced, it will take time and money to do so. It is therefore submitted that some areas should be reconsidered for amendment by the legislature in order to allow this significant piece of legislation to operate optimally Ultimately, two sets of conclusions can be drawn in this dissertation. Firstly, the general conclusions relating to whether the defence of the exceptio doli generalis has been reintroduced in the South African legal system by the CPA and, secondly, whether the exceptio doli generalis is in line with our constitutional values and in line with the current rules for the interpretation of contracts. Although the Courts have abolished the defence ofexceptio doli generalis, it seems as if the CPA has reintroduced this defence.
