Book Review: Jones & Buckle: The Civil Practice of the Magistrates' Courts in South Africa I: The Act and Jones & Buckle: The Civil Practice of the Magistrates' Courts in South Africa II: The Rules

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Author: Wouter le R de Vos
• Published date: 05 September 2019
• Pages: 408-413
• Citation: (2012) 23 Stell LR 408
• Date: 05 September 2019

408

BOOK REVIEWS / BOEKRESENSIES

Jones & Buckle: The Civil Practice of the Magistrates’ Courts in

South Africa I: The Act and Jones & Buckle: The Civil Practice of the

Magistrates’ Courts in South Africa II: The Rules 10 ed by DE van

Loggerenberg. Juta & Co Ltd 2011. 2000 pp. ISBN 9780702142413. R

1125.00 (Vol I) / R 1312.00 (Vol II) / R 2315.00 (Vol I & Vol II) (loose leaf)

1 Introduction

It gives me pleasure to write a rev iew of the tenth edition of Jones &

Buckle: The Civil Practice of the Magist rates’ Courts in South Af rica (“Jones

& Buck le”). Various editions of this work have been part a nd parcel of my

library ever since I commenced my legal career. I acquire d the sixth edition of

Jones & Buckle, published i n 1957 under the authorsh ip of J Herbstein, PWE

Baker & S Aaron, in 1978, when I commenced practi sing at the Johannesburg

Bar, for the pr incely sum of R30. This was shortly before the appearance

of the seventh edition in 1980. The sixth edition of Jones & Buckle was my

companion while I was in practice and lat er editions of the work se rved as a

valuable source of knowledge during my years as a u niversity teacher of civil

procedure.

Due to the mass of material that had accu mulated since the publication

of t he sixth edition, the seventh edition was arranged in two volumes and

because of the ever-changing face of litigation in the magistrates’ courts

the ninth edition was published in loose leaf format (see Preface to the

seventh edition Rules and Preface to the ninth edition Act respectively). The

tenth edition, wh ich continued with the loose leaf format in t wo volumes,

entails an exte nsive revision of the e ntire work. This task fell solely upon

the shoulders of Advocate DE van Loggerenberg SC, who had ta ken over

from his pre decessor, Professor (later judge) HJ Erasmus, and in my view he

must be commended on the completion of this mammoth work in record time.

The event that necessitated a complete overhaul of the work was the a doption

of t he Jurisdiction of Reg ional Courts Amendment Act 31 of 2008, wh ich

granted civil, including matrimonial, jurisdict ion to these courts, and the

replacement of the Magistrate s Courts’ Rules by a set of new rules applicable

to both dist rict and regional cour ts. The new rules are aimed at harmonising

High Court and magistrates courts’ practice and, therefore, embody numerous

changes to the old order. It will be apposite to deal separately with Volume I

and Volume II.

2 Volume I: The Act

The g ranting of civil jurisdiction to the regional cou rts necessitated

a number of amendments to the Magistrates’ Courts Act 32 of 1944 (“the

Act”). The purpose of these amendments was essentially to incorporat e the

regional cour ts within the civil litigation structure of the magistrates’ cour ts

(2012) 23 Stell LR 408

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