Port Elizabeth Municipality v Various Occupiers
Port Elizabeth Municipality v Various Occupiers [2004] ZACC 7 decided by the
property rights
and constitutional supremacy.
Facts
The case concerned the fate of a small group of people who had been unlawfully occupying some vacant, unused and private land in the jurisdiction of the municipality of
Port Elizabeth
. At the instance of the landowners and a large number of concerned locals, the municipality applied for their eviction.
It fell to the court to decide whether the eviction could go ahead under the circumstances.
Judgment
The Constitutional Court found that the eviction could not go ahead.
Bill of Rights in particular is "nothing if not a structured, institutionalised and operational declaration in our evolving new society of the need for human interdependence, respect and concern."[3]
Significance
The court's reasoning "represents a profound commentary on the way in which property law is to be understood in light of the Constitution."[4]
See also
Notes
References
- H Mostert and A Pope (eds) The Principles of The Law of Property in South Africa 1 ed (2010).
- Port Elizabeth Municipality v Various Occupiers 2005 (1) SA 217 (CC), 2004 CCT 53/03 SAFLII
- Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act 19 of 1998.
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