Joubert v Enslin is an important case in South African contract law

South African contract law

South African contract law is "essentially a modernised version of the Roman-Dutch law of contract," which is itself rooted in Roman law. In the broadest definition, a contract is an agreement entered into by two or more parties with the serious intention of creating a legal obligation...

, heard in the Cape Town

Cape Town

Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...

 Appellate Division on July 8, 9 and 22, 1910

1910 in South Africa

-May:* 31 May - The formation of the Union of South Africa** Herbert John Gladstone, 1st Viscount Gladstone becomes the first Governor-General of the Union of South Africa** Louis Botha becomes the first Prime Minister of South Africa...

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Golden rule of interpretation

The case is famous primarily for its articulation of the fundamental precept of contractual interpretation in South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

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The golden rule applicable to the interpretation of all contracts is to ascertain and to follow the intention of the parties; and, if the contract itself, or any evidence admissible under the circumstances, affords a definite indication of the meaning of the contracting parties, then it seems to me that a Court should always give effect to that meaning.

Effect must be given, in other words, to the parties' common intention: "that is to say, to what both of them intended upon entering into the contract, and not to what the one or the other had in the back of his or her mind." This dictum suggests that the courts take a "factual or historical-psychological approach to interpretation, i.e. one which seeks to establish the intention of the parties as a fact existing at the time of contracting." This more or less accords with the subjective and consensual basis of the rest of the South African law of contract, but it gives rise to a paradox, since the subjective intentions of the parties must be established with reference to certain objective factors, most obviously the words printed on the contract.

Books

• Du Plessis, Jacques, et al. The Law of Contract in South Africa. Edited by Dale Hutchison, Chris-James Pretorius, Mark Townsend and Helena Janisch. Cape Town
  Cape Town
  Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
  
  , Western Cape
  Western Cape
  The Western Cape is a province in the south west of South Africa. The capital is Cape Town. Prior to 1994, the region that now forms the Western Cape was part of the much larger Cape Province...
  
  : Oxford University Press
  Oxford University Press
  Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
  
  , 2010
  2010 in literature
  The year 2010 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*February - The Wheeler Centre, Australia's "literary hub", officially opened.*April 3 - First release of the Apple iPad, electronic book reading device....
  
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• Lubbe, GF, and CM Murray. Farlam and Hathaway Contract: Cases, Materials and Commentary. 3rd Edition. Lubbe & Murray, 1988.

Cases

• Joubert v Enslin 1910 AD 6.
• Saambou-Nasionale Bouvereniging v Friedman 1979 (3) SA 978 (A).