Case:
Harris and Others v Rees and Others 2011 (2) SA 294 (GSJ)

Area of law:
Practice: locus standi

Summary:
The First Respondent brought an Application for the discharge of an attachment order granted against him in 2009. At the time the attachment order was granted, serious allegations of fraud were levelled against the First Respondent, as a result of which the First Respondent took up residence in Switzerland and purchased a home there. He abandoned his legal practice in South Africa and resigned as director from various corporate entities in which he was involved. At the time of bringing the Application, the First Respondent had therefore effectively placed himself outside the jurisdiction of the court alternatively was a fugitive from justice.

In Mulligan v Mulligan 1925 WLD 164 it was held that a fugitive from justice, or a person who has deliberately placed himself beyond the jurisdiction of the court, had no locus standi to litigate. The Court held that while the ratio of Mulligan could not be faulted, when a court has to consider the right of a person to approach the court for relief in such circumstances, it will have to deal with each case on its own facts.

Importance/value:     
The court hearing an application of this nature, and having regard to all the relevant factors concerning the litigant’s flight or absence from the jurisdiction of the court, will be, in the exercise of its inherent jurisdiction, entitled to hear the litigant, notwithstanding his absence from the court’s jurisdiction.

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