Acta Juridica is the University of Cape Town’s Law Faculty’s law journal. It is published annually as a single issue under the editorship of an issue editor, or issue editors, and comprises commissioned articles on a theme for each year. The theme for Acta Juridica 2019 is Private Law in a Changing World.

The book honours the work of Professor Danie Visser and celebrates his return to research after almost a decade as Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town. It considers the ways in which the law of obligations has evolved in response to external forces in both the recent and remote past – or, to switch perspectives, the high degree of internal coherence and continuity which it has maintained over time despite the operation of such forces. Leading scholars of legal history and private law from six jurisdictions consider topics drawn from across the law of contract, delict/tort and unjust/unjustified enrichment. Their insights shed light on contemporary debates around the world regarding the value of doctrinal scholarship, and on the debates regarding the decolonisation of private law currently unfolding in South Africa.

Acta Juridica 2019 is also available in soft cover format as Private Law in a Changing World, and online as part of Jutastat Evolve: Journals Practice Collection.

About the Editors:

Helen Scott (Editor) is Tutorial Fellow at Lady Margaret Hall and Professor of Private Law in the Faculty of Law at the University of Oxford. She was previously Professor of Private Law in the Faculty of Law at the University of Cape Town. 
Anton Fagan (Editor) is WP Schreiner Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Cape Town.

Graham Bradfield (General Editor)

• Preface, Acknowledgements and Contributors (Helen Scott & Anton Fagan)
• Part I: Private Law
  • The challenges of private law: A research agenda for an autonomy-based private law (Hanoch Dagan)
  • The idea of a legal obligation (Nils Jansen)
• Part II: Contract
  • Remedies, repentance and the doctrine of election in South African contract law (Graham Glover)
  • From bona fides to ubuntu: The quest for fairness in the South African law of contract (Dale Hutchison)
  • Interpretation of suretyships and the Constitution (Jopie Pretorius)
  • Sale and the warranty of title (Kenneth Reid)
  • The textual layers of European contract law (Reinhard Zimmermann)
• Part III: Delict
  • Balancing ‘equality of respect’ with freedom of expression: The actio iniuriarum and hate speech (Jonathan Burchell)
  • Punishment, reparation and the evolution of private law: The actio iniuriarum in a changing world (François du Bois)
  • Why intention matters and how it does (Anton Fagan)
  • Aquilian liability for negligence and proximity considerations (Alistair Price)
• Part IV: Enrichment
  • What is unjust about theft? (Michael Bryan)
  • Long live the law of unjustified enrichment – A response to Jansen (Jacques du Plessis)
  • Unjustified enrichment’s evolution in mixed legal systems: Confronting McCarthy Retail Ltd (Robin Evans-Jones & Martin Fischer)
  • Cohabitants in the Scottish law of unjustified enrichment (Hector MacQueen)
  • Enrichment ‘at the expense of another’ and incidental benefits in German law (Sonja Meier)
  • Change and continuity in the law of unjust enrichment (Helen Scott)
  • Rights of relief, subrogation and unjustified enrichment in Scots law (Niall Whitty)

• Judiciary
• Academics
• Postgraduate law students
• Legal practitioners
• Law libraries