For whom the bell tolls—A solution in neighbour law

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Citation: (1998) 9 Stell LR 351
• Author: CG van der Merwe
• Published date: 27 May 2019
• Pages: 351-358
• Date: 27 May 2019

FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS-A SOLUTION

IN NEIGHBOUR LAW

CG van der Merwe

BA BCL LLD

Professor, University of Stellenbosch

Matthew Blumberg

Student, University of Stellenbosch

1 Introduction

Picture the setting. In the middle of a small picture-postcard town there

is a church surrounded by various residences and businesses. Like all

other churches, this one has bells. And like all other churches with bells,

this one rings them. Not only that, it rings them every fifteen minutes, 24

hours a day: the bells chime part of a tune every quarter of an hour and

the full tune on the hour, followed by the number of chimes of the hour

concerned. The church has continued to ring the bells in this manner

since its establishment almost a hundred years ago.

But all is not well. It appears that a few years ago a guest-house was

established just across the street from the church by an individual whom

we shall refer to as Mrs Belle. At the time of establishing the guest-house,

Mrs Belle had already resided in our little town for a few months and was

thus aware of the quarter-hourly chiming of the church bells.

Mrs Belle now contends that the ringing of the bells is disturbing the

sleep of her clients. She thus requests the church that the bells be switched

off every night between 22h00 and 05h00. None of the other residents in

the neighbourhood has ever made a similar request. The church responds

that in addition to the sentimental value which its large membership

attaches to the uninterrupted ringing of the bells, the ringing also serves

the purpose of acting as an alarm clock for a certain portion of the

community. Nonetheless, in an attempt to find an amicable solution, the

church declares that it is willing to switch the bells off between 21h00 and

07h00 on the following conditions: that Mrs Belle, at her own expense,

consults an expert to determine whether the bells can be switched off

electronically and, if so, that she purchases and installs the necessary

mechanism at her own expense; that Mrs Belle installs a safe spiral

staircase (to replace the wooden ladder that is currently in position) for

the person (normally the koster) who is to turn the clock mechanism on

and off; and that the electronic mechanism be maintained by Mrs Belle.

The purpose of these conditions is two-fold: first, to relieve the church

from any expense which may be incurred in the switching off of the bells

and, secondly, to protect the koster or whoever else is responsible for the

altered working of the church bells from bodily injury. (It appears that

the last time the koster, who is an elderly gentleman, attempted to ascend

351

(1998) 9 Stell LR 351

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