HFL1501

Feedback on Assessment 1
2023 Semester 1

Dear HFL1501 students

We hope that you are well and hard at work on the HFL1501 assessments. Please
take note of the following important information:
1. The Assessment 1 marking process has been completed and all marks will be
released within the next day or two. You will be able to view your results and
access your marked pdf file by visiting the Gradebook, or the assessment
submission portal. You can also click on the link to Assessment 1 (on the
module home page) and view your results from there.
2. Please take the time to compare your submission to the feedback below
to determine where you lost marks. This is also a valuable exercise to help
you prepare for future assessments and will ensure that you do not make the
same mistakes again. Even if you have received full marks for the assignment,
you will benefit from reading the feedback.
3. If you have compared your answers to the feedback and you believe that
a marking error has been made, please follow all these steps:
• Download your marked assessment and e-mail it to Ms Wildenboer.
• In the e-mail, indicate exactly which question you believe has been marked
incorrectly, and why. If you think more than one question was marked
incorrectly, please list these all in one e-mail. This means that you have to work
through your entire assessment, with the feedback, before contacting us. Do
not send multiple e-mails in this regard.
• Include your name, surname, and student number in your e-mail. Remember
that all communications to the University must be sent form your official myLife
account address.
Please note that we will only look at your assessment if you have followed all these
steps.

Kind regards
Your HFL1501 lecturers

Open Rubric
 General feedback on Assessment 1

Unfortunately, many students performed poorly in this assessment due to various

general mistakes listed below. Please take the time to read through this general
feedback to learn from your mistakes and to ensure that you perform better in future.
The most important general mistakes students made with Assessment 1:
1. Not sufficiently preparing BEFORE attempting the assessment. We cannot
overemphasise the importance of studying and familiarising yourself with the study
material before you try to answer the assessment questions. It is very clear to a marker
whether a student has studied at all. We have said this before: You cannot pass this
module without putting in the necessary effort, or by simply paging around in the Study
Guide while completing your assessments.
2. Not reading the questions carefully. A vast number of students lose marks
because they simply didn’t READ what was ASKED. Take the time to read the
questions carefully and to make sure that you understand what is being asked of you.
Don’t simply write anything remotely applicable because you don’t understand the
answer, or worse, copy and paste from previous assignments/examination
papers/online sites. Remember that we draft new file-upload assessments each
semester. Previous or similar questions/answers are probably not relevant or
applicable anyway.
3. Consulting other sources or googling the answer. A vast number of students
lost precious marks because they chose to make use of irrelevant outside sources.
Each semester we warn students to use ONLY the Study Guide and the module site
when completing assessments for this module. We do not state this to make your life
hard, but rather to help you. In Assessment 1, many students failed to heed this
warning and then lost marks for providing incorrect or totally irrelevant information in
their answers. Remember that law is country specific; what applies in another legal
system does not necessarily apply in South African law. That is why you CANNOT
simply google an answer and copy and paste the position in the legal system of
India/US/UK/Australia/Canada/Nigeria. You will receive zero for that answer. We
emphasise this again: All the answers are in your study guide or on the HFL1501
module site. There is no need to frantically search for the answers elsewhere. If you
have studied and prepared, you will know where to find the answers in your Study
Guide. (See again point 1 above.)
4. Plagiarism. Please, please, please don’t copy word-for-word from the Study Guide
or any other source. That constitutes plagiarism in terms of the Unisa plagiarism policy
and may have grave consequences for you during your studies or in your future law
career. We do penalise plagiarism and awarded zero for each answer that was
plagiarised. Always write your answer in your own words AND include a reference.
5. Not working on your own. It is clear that many students worked together in study
groups or via social media groups and simply copied the answers provided there. We
marked thousands of papers and it is quite easy to see which students worked on their

2
own, and which students didn’t. Remember that just because a fellow student shared
an answer with you, does not mean that this answer is correct. In fact, it is most likely
incorrect. The only way to ensure that you submit correct answers is to work
through the study material yourself and submit your own work. Remember that
you are not helping your fellow students by sharing your work with them. Academic
integrity is important. Please make the most of your time as a student. This is the time
that you need to learn how and where to find the answers to legal questions. If you
cannot find the answer to an easy first-year assessment from your prescribed study
material, how will you be able to find answers to complex legal questions when you
are in practice one day? Use your time wisely and hone your writing skills.
6. Not making use of the additional study tools available on the HFL1501 module
site. It is clear to us that many students chose not to make use of the additional study
tools we make available on the module site. That is of course your own choice.
However, we make these tools available to you for a reason. Many students lost
precious marks because they clearly didn’t understand aspects of the work that have
been explained in the online lessons, in the prerecorded lectures, in the FAQs or in
the Discussions forum. Although you are not compelled to make use of these tools, it
is a pity if you lose marks for failing to understand concepts explained to you there in
detail. We make these tools available to you for a reason. Please make the most of
them. They can greatly assist you in passing this module, but only if you put in the
effort and hard work.
7. Submitting corrupt files/blank files or wrong documents. Unfortunately, we
have received a number of these files and had to award zero for each such
submission. Remember that we can only mark what we receive. It is the student’s
responsibility to check that a file is correct and that it is readable (legible) AFTER
uploading the file. We provide detailed instructions in the Assessment Pack on HOW
and WHERE to upload file-upload assessments, and on how to check that your file
was correctly uploaded. We also provide easy how-to guidelines under Additional
Resources on how to convert a document to PDF format.

If you missed the deadline for submission of Assessment 1 and/or Assessment 2,

please note that you only need to submit FOUR of the SIX assessments to pass this
module. Your result for Assessment 3 and your three other highest assessment marks
count towards your final mark in this module. This means that you can still pass this
module if you submit the other assessments before their respective due dates. If you
have not yet read the Assessment Pack and Announcement 29, please do so
TODAY. It contains all the information you need about your assessments for this
module. We also explain how your final mark is calculated and we provide examples
of that too. It really is concerning that many students still have not read the Assessment
Pack at all; we even receive queries regarding the examination. Remember that the
module HFL1501 is a continuous assessment module and that we no longer have
any examinations for this module. Your final mark is made up entirely of the marks
you obtained for your six assessments. The benefit of this is that you can keep track
of your results throughout the semester: If you do badly in one assessment, you have

3
the opportunity to improve your marks when you obtain better marks in the other
assessments.
We urge you to start working on your other assessments as soon as possible and to
submit it early. Please don’t wait until the last day or minute to submit. This module
allows you to study in your own time, and to decide which assessments you wish to
submit. It also allows you to improve your final marks by submitting ALL six
assessments. Remember that your final mark is calculated by taking into account only
your mark obtained for Assessment 3, and the three HIGHEST marks you obtained
for the other assessments.
Please take your studies seriously. You are the only one who can pass this module.
Nobody else can do it on your behalf. As with everything else in life, what you put in is
what you get out. If you choose to do the minimum, to not work hard and to guess the
answers, this will unfortunately reflect in your final mark. Please also remember that if
you fail this module, you will have to register for this module again in future. Please
make the most of this opportunity to pass this module the first time, and to not waste
your money and time.

DETAILED FEEDBACK ON ASSESSMENT 1

QUESTION 1.1 (2 marks)

The correct answer was:

• A civil-law legal system is based on Roman law / is Roman-law oriented.

• A common-law legal system is based on English law / is English-law oriented.

(Study Guide p 3)

Unfortunately, many students performed poorly in this question, mostly because they
relied on irrelevant sources instead of using the Study Guide. The difference between
common law and civil law is explained in the Study Guide and was also highlighted in
the relevant online lesson AND in the prerecorded lecture. Students who chose to
ignore their study material and simply googled the answers mostly got this answer
wrong.

4
QUESTION 1.2 (3 marks)

One mark each was awarded for the following three points:

• Those legal systems form part of the European ius commune.

• One of the elements of the European ius commune is Roman law. / Those
legal systems are all civil-law legal systems.
• In terms of the broad interpretation of Roman-Dutch law, the European ius
commune may be taken into account when looking at (the general principles,
ideas and doctrines of) Roman-Dutch law

(Study Guide pp 34 and 41–42)

You received no marks for simply saying there are similarities between the SA and
European legal systems. Since this question counted three marks, you were required
to explain WHY they are similar or WHAT these similarities are. Also, students who
copied word-for-word from the Study Guide were penalised and received zero for this
question.

QUESTION 2 (3 marks)
This question tested whether you had prepared for the assessments, and whether you
had made use of the additional study tools available on the module site. This recent
judgment forms part of your study material. A summary of the case is available on the
module site under Additional Resources, and was mentioned both in the relevant
online lesson and in the prerecorded lecture. Remember that law is not static, but that
it continuously evolves and develops to suit the needs of society. As a lawyer, you are
required to stay up to date with important changes to the law. You must therefore stay
abreast of new legislation and case law.
The correct answers were as follows, and are all provided in the summary of the case,
available on the module site (which also states that you are NOT required to read the
entire case):
2.1 Women’s Legal Centre Trust v President of the Republic of South Africa (and
others)
2.2 Marriages concluded (or terminated) in terms of Sharia (or Muslim) law are now
considered to be valid for all purposes.
2.3 It has no impact on the current status of Islamic law / Islamic law is still not
recognised as an official source of SA law.

5
QUESTION 3 (4 marks)
The correct answer was as follows:
• The praetor urbanus applied the ius civile / (later) the ius honorarium, while the
praetor peregrinus developed/applied the ius gentium.
• The praetor urbanus administered justice between Roman citizens, while the
praetor peregrinus administered justice between Roman citizens and foreigners
/ in matters involving foreigners.
(Study Guide pp 23–24)

This question asked you to name TWO differences. Many students lost marks here
because they either mentioned only one difference, or because they didn’t mention
the difference between the praetor urbanus and the praetor peregrinus. Always read
the question carefully and also take note of the marks allocated to it as an indication
of how much information you are required to provide in your answer.

QUESTION 4 (2 marks)
You received one mark each for any two of the following:
• South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Swaziland and Zimbabwe share a
common legal heritage. (You had to mention at least two countries to receive a
mark here.)
• Their legal systems are based on indigenous African law, as well as Roman-
Dutch law as influenced by English law. (You only received a mark here if you
mentioned all three elements.)
• In the Matumo (v News Company (Botswana)) case, the court said that South
Africa and Botswana share the same common law.
• In Nthethe (v Lesotho Electricity Corporation), the court referred to the common
legal heritage of Lesotho and South Africa.
(Study Guide p 35)

Unfortunately, many students lost marks here if they plagiarised directly from the Study
Guide. Always explain in your own words AND provide a reference. Please familiarise
yourself with Unisa’s plagiarism policy.

6
QUESTION 5 (3 marks)
The correct answers were:
5.1 Raad van Justitie
5.2 Privy Council
5.3 The Appellate Division (of the Supreme Court) / today known as the Supreme
Court of Appeal (1)
(Study Guide pp 42 and 45)

Most students got full marks for Question 5. However, if you lost marks, it is probably
because you didn’t mention the correct or full name of the courts.

QUESTION 6 (3 marks)
The correct answers were:
6.1 (Mahatma) Gandhi
6.2 The Sharpeville massacre
6.3 The Freedom Charter
(Study Guide pp 50, 51, 55)

Most students got full marks for Question 6.

7
QUESTION 7 (2 marks)
You received one mark each for any two of the following:

• Parliament was supreme / the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty applied.

• The principle of constitutionalism was partially recognised in terms of the 1961
AND/OR 1983 Constitutions of the Republic of South Africa.
• The courts only had formal testing capacity / The courts could not question the
content of legislation / The courts could only declare invalid legislation if it had
not been passed in accordance with the prescribed procedure.
• During the apartheid era, judges could only administer law, but not create it.
• Due to the application of legal positivism.
(Study Guide pp 49, 60 and 64)
Most students who lost marks here didn’t answer what was asked. The question asked
you to give the legal reasons why Parliament was able to promulgate unjust laws
during the apartheid era. Therefore, if you described the political situation at the time,
you didn’t receive any marks. Always read the question carefully and make sure that
you understand what is being asked of you.

QUESTION 8 (3 marks)
You received one mark each for any three of the following cases:
• Paulsen v Slip Knot Investments
• Le Roux v Dey
• Dikoko v Mokhatla
• Kidson v Jimspeed Enterprises CC
• Hendricks v Hendricks
• Linvestment CC v Hammersley

This question tested whether you had read through the entire Part 1 in your Study
Guide, and whether you had read the question carefully. Unfortunately, many students
performed poorly in this question for one or more of the following reasons:

(a) The question asked you to NAME three judgments (case law or court
decisions). You only had to provide the name of the judgment/court case.
(b) Some students didn’t read the question carefully and listed cases that didn’t
deal with the development of the common law.
(c) Some students didn’t read the question carefully and listed cases that were
heard BEFORE 1996.
(d) Some students didn’t read the question carefully and listed cases not
mentioned in Part 1 of the Study Guide.
(Study Guide pp 6, 21, 46, 64)