Book Review: Business Transactions Law

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Pages: 407-408
• Date: 25 May 2019
• Published date: 25 May 2019
• Author: Marylyn Christianson
• Citation: (1997) 9 SA Merc LJ 407

BOOK REVIEWS/BOEKRESENSIES



407

Business Transactions Law.

4th edition. By Robert Sharrock. Juta & Co

Ltd, Cape Town. 1996; xx & 524 pp. Price R140-00 (soft cover).

The fourth edition of Professor Sharrock's well-known introductory text

appears four years after the third edition and ten years after the first, an indication

of the many changes in our law relating to business transactions over the past

decade. Without an updated preface, one must assume, as stated in the original,

that the book is still for the student encountering business transactions for the

first time.

Business Transactions Law

covers those basic legal concepts which are essential

to commercial law, including the South African judicial system; the sources of the

law; the formation and effect of a contract; and miscellaneous contracts including

sale, lease, credit agreements, employment, service contracts, insurance, cheques

and partnership. Its final sections deal with non-performance of the contract and

excuses for such non-performance; remedies for breach of contract; arbitration;

security; and insolvency.

The main areas which have been updated in this new edition are the South

African judicial system, the contract of employment, and the law of insolvency.

Unfortunately some information is either already out of date or inadequately

updated. In the treatment of the judicial system, for example, there is no reference

to the Supreme Court of Appeal or to the High Courts, (see at 6-11) both of

which have been included in the final Constitution of the Republic of South

Africa of 1996. As the fourth edition lacks a new preface and a cut-off date, it is

difficult to know whether the apparent inadaequacies are the result of a superficial

treatment or of subsequent legislative enactments since the time of going to press.

As the author refers to the interim Constitution of the Republic of South Africa

of 1993 in the introductory chapter, one must assume the latter.

The chapter on the contract of employment has been updated with reference to

the new Occupational Health and Safety Act which came into force in 1993 and

the new labour dispensation created by the Labour Relations Act of 1995.

Revised sections on unfair dismissal, collective bargaining structures and

workplace forums update the law in these fields. With first-time students in

mind, Professor Sharrock has for the most part in this chapter merely stated the

law. However, in certain respects, such as the meaning of dismissal (see at 253-

255), he does try to interpret the new law, and these attempts are welcome. More

use could perhaps have been made of the more recent, but still relevant, cases in

labour law. The section on the rules of natural justice (see at 264-265) still has a

place in this chapter on employment. However, the fact that most State employees

and employees of local authorities and universities now come within the ambit of

the Labour Relations Act, should at least have been mentioned as this is an

important development in the law.

Chapter 31 on sequestration and its immediate consequences is now more

detailed. The law has been updated in terms of the changes brought about in

1993 to the Insolvency Act 24 of 1936, with particular reference to the

unlawful disposal of estate property by the insolvent, as dealt with in ss 25(3) and

25(4).

Some 50 new cases have been included.

Business Transactions Law

is known for

its extensive use of case law to illustrate legal principles. Although that approach

in previous editions has been criticised because case law is generally deemed to be

more suitable for law students than for commerce students, the judicious

(1997) 9 SA Merc LJ 407

© Juta and Company (Pty) Ltd