Randfontein Estates Gold Mining Co Ltd v Custodian of Enemy Property
| Jurisdiction | South Africa |
| Judge | Innes CJ, Solomon JA, De Villiers JA, Kotzé JA and Wessels JA |
| Judgment Date | 13 August 1923 |
| Court | Appellate Division |
| Citation | 1923 AD 576 |
| Date | 13 August 1923 |
| Hearing Date | 09 April 1923 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 201 |
(Innes, C.J.; Solomon, De Villiers, Kotzé, Wessels, JJ.A.)
Treaties — Interpretation — Treaty of Versailles, Article 297 (b) —“Property, rights and interests within the Union” (of South Africa) — Whether Bearer Shares and Bearer Debentures of a Company Incorporated and Registered in the Transvaal Fall under this Description.
The Facts.—The appellant company had issued share warrants and debenture bonds to bearer. A number of these were claimed by the respondent, the Custodian of Enemy Property, as having vested in him by virtue of Article 297 (b) of the Treaty of Versailles, and local legislation giving effect to it. By this Article the Allied and Associated Powers reserved the right to retain and liquidate “all property, rights and interests” within their respective territories which at the date of the Treaty belonged to German nationals. The parties agreed that the sole question for the Court to decide was whether the shares and debentures in question were property within the Union in the terms of the Treaty.
Held (confirming the decision of the Transvaal Provincial Division): That bearer shares and bearer debentures of a gold-mining company incorporated and registered in the Transvaal were property within the Union within the meaning of the Treaty.
Per Solomon, J.A. (at p. 585): “It was admitted by the appellant company that the shares and debentures in question were the property of German or other ex-enemy nationals, and the substantial defence to the action was that they were not situated in the Union, or at any rate that it has not been proved that they are so situated.”
(At p. 587) “Section 10 [of the Annex to Articles 297–8] … makes it obligatory upon Germany to deliver to the Union of South Africa any bearer shares and debentures held by its nationals in Germany of...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
MV Snow Delta Serva Ship Ltd v Discount Tonnage Ltd
...Otto 1993 (1) SA 639 (A): dictum at 647F -649C approved but qualified Randfontein Estates Gold Mining Co Ltd v Custodian of Enemy Property 1923 AD 576: applied Reid and Another v Godart and Another 1938 AD 511: compared SAE Lines (Pty) Ltd v Cape Tex Engineering Works (Pty) Ltd 1968 (2) SA ......
-
Nahrungsmittel GmbH v Otto
...debtor had to be sued in order to obtain performance. The dictum in Randfontein Estates Gold Mining Co Ltd v Custodian of Enemy Property 1923 AD 576 at 581 Held, accordingly, since the debtor was a German company resident in I Germany, that the locality of the incorporeal evidenced by the T......
-
Commissioner for Inland Revenue v Lever Bros and Another
...and it is there where the debtor must be sued for performance (Randfontein Estates Gold Mining Co., Ltd. v Custodian of Enemy Property (1923 AD 576 at 581, 585); New York Life Insurance Co. v Public Trustee (supra, at 116, 119, 120); Union Government v Fisher's Executrix (1921 TPD 328 at 33......
-
Trust Bank of Africa Ltd v Standard Bank of South Africa Ltd
...Beide is eerder E die beliggaming van 'n reg as die konstituering daarvan. Randfontein Estate G.M. Co. Ltd v Custodian of Enemy Property, 1923 AD 576, p. 583. Daar is geen gemeenregtelike gesag vir die stelling dat sodanige pactum onafdwingbaaris nie. Sande en Voet verklaar weliswaar dat 'n......
-
MV Snow Delta Serva Ship Ltd v Discount Tonnage Ltd
...Otto 1993 (1) SA 639 (A): dictum at 647F -649C approved but qualified Randfontein Estates Gold Mining Co Ltd v Custodian of Enemy Property 1923 AD 576: applied Reid and Another v Godart and Another 1938 AD 511: compared SAE Lines (Pty) Ltd v Cape Tex Engineering Works (Pty) Ltd 1968 (2) SA ......
-
Nahrungsmittel GmbH v Otto
...debtor had to be sued in order to obtain performance. The dictum in Randfontein Estates Gold Mining Co Ltd v Custodian of Enemy Property 1923 AD 576 at 581 Held, accordingly, since the debtor was a German company resident in I Germany, that the locality of the incorporeal evidenced by the T......
-
Commissioner for Inland Revenue v Lever Bros and Another
...and it is there where the debtor must be sued for performance (Randfontein Estates Gold Mining Co., Ltd. v Custodian of Enemy Property (1923 AD 576 at 581, 585); New York Life Insurance Co. v Public Trustee (supra, at 116, 119, 120); Union Government v Fisher's Executrix (1921 TPD 328 at 33......
-
Trust Bank of Africa Ltd v Standard Bank of South Africa Ltd
...Beide is eerder E die beliggaming van 'n reg as die konstituering daarvan. Randfontein Estate G.M. Co. Ltd v Custodian of Enemy Property, 1923 AD 576, p. 583. Daar is geen gemeenregtelike gesag vir die stelling dat sodanige pactum onafdwingbaaris nie. Sande en Voet verklaar weliswaar dat 'n......
-
Die kapitaal van 'n beslote korporasie en die beskerming van skuldeisers
...to give an exhaustive definition of the word "debenture".' Vgl ook Randfontein Estates Gold Mining Co Ltd v Custodian of Enemy Property 1923 AD 576 op 580; Coetzee v Rand Sporting Club 1918 WLD 74 op 76; The British India Steam Navigation Company v The Commissioners of Inland Revenue (1881)......
-
Compensation for surrender of a right - the income tax and vat implications - a case note
...concurring). This judgment was approved and followed by this Court in Randfontein Estates Gold Mining Co Ltd v Custodian of Enemy Property 1923 AD 576. Innes CJ (at 581) pertinently held that the only attribute of locality that personal actions possess must relate to the locality where the ......