Economy
Sweden has adopted The as its official coin: Reference
Business
On 1 February I received a notice from Google+ to the effect that it was closing down its Googleplus accounts owing to low usage: a self-confessed nerd explained that Google had lost the fight against Facebook.
Cannabis: you may now grow this at home for own use. Will home use affect your performance at work and how does one screen for this? I have an article available on the subject if this interests you.
Women and disadvantaged when compared to men? Think again: Reference
Property
Lost titles: clients, and especially banks, routinely lose property titles. At the end of January, new Deeds Registries Act regulations were promulgated, the most prominent of which relate to the replacement of such titles. From 25 February, like many years ago, lost titles may only be replaced after publication of that loss in the Government Gazette. In addition, the affidavit must be attested before a notary public. These changes, apparently, were prompted by fraud in the replacement of titles. The new procedure will have the effect of delaying many transactions and will push up the cost of transfers where this finds application. I cannot see the sense in this: I do not think that I have ever known a client who reads the Gazette. Possibly newspaper advertisements but certainly not the Gazette. Furthermore, many small towns do not have notaries and one will have to take a trip to sign the affidavit.
Fidelity fund certificates: in a recent case the failure to plead that each of the directors of the estate agency involved had been issued with such a certificate, was ignored by the court for the purpose of awarding commission to the agency involved. Reference
Community Scheme Ombud: the powers of such ombudspersons to make orders, are limited to those stated in the Act. In this case, a dispute turning on the passing on of a rebate, given to a scheme as a whole, to owners, was held to fall outside of those powers. Reference
In the old days, estate agents were ten two a penny; no longer: Reference
Practice
Maintenance: at the time of his death, the breadwinner was married but kept a cohabitant. The court, in Jacobs v RAF, acknowledged a claim by that cohabitant for loss of support. As put by a colleague: marriage is becoming an outdated institution (he blames this on Mr Zuma!). Reference
Competition commission: what is the effect in terms of our competition law, if one has de facto control over an entity but subsequently transforms this into de jure control? To my knowledge, the case is not yet available on the net; ask me for a copy.
Vesting v ownership: in the law of inheritance a right to property vests in an heir on the death of the then owner and transfer follows. What happens in a divorce, where parties owned property in community of property and one acquires all by agreement? In this case, the parties divorced, and one spouse agreed to give her share of property to the other. A creditor sought to attach the whole of the property in the name of the other. The question to be answered was, whether the receiving spouse had a right to claim transfer or acquired ownership to the property on divorce. The answer was the former, as ownership could only be transferred by registration in the Deeds Office. Reference
Negative information on an employee coming to light after employment: in the discussion at hand Eskom employed someone who it had discharged on a previous occasion. When the previous discharge came to light, Eskom pleaded nondisclosure and discharged the employee the second time around. Eskom bit the dust. If this interests you take a look: Reference
Quotables (on work)
“Work is about a search for daily meaning as well as daily bread, for recognition as well as cash, for astonishment rather than torpor; in short, for a sort of life rather than a Monday through Friday sort of dying.” Turkel
“The ability to learn faster than competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage.” De Geus
“Leadership is not about a title or a designation. It’s about impact, influence, and inspiration.” Sharma
