The basis and boundaries of employee fiduciary duties in South African common law
type: CreativeWork
description: The nature and potential application of the common-law fiduciary doctrine, and of the distinctive nature of the duties to which it gives rise, is seldom appreciated or analysed in South African law. This is particularly evident in the law of employment, where the courtsâ€™ references to the â€˜fiduciaryâ€™ nature of employment and the â€˜fiduciary dutiesâ€™ of employees have often been ambiguous, confused and unprincipled. In addition, there is almost no reference to employee fiduciary duties in the general literature on South African labour and employment law and, even where these duties are (briefly) mentioned, they are not acknowledged as being in any way separate or distinct from the employeeâ€™s other duties to the employer. This contrasts noticeably with other Commonwealth jurisdictions, where fiduciary duties form the basis of increasing numbers of cases, and are well-established and extensively debated aspects of the general jurisprudence, both generally and in relation to employees. This thesis critically explores and advances certain propositions about the general theoretical nature of the South African common- law fiduciary concept and the principles that govern the incidence, nature, purpose, scope and operation of fiduciary duties, with comparative reference to the positions in English and Canadian law. The first six chapters provide a critical analysis of those general propositions and principles. They also locate them and the debates that surround them within their broader legal and theoretical context. Chapter 7 considers their application to relationships of employment in order to determine the basis and boundaries of the fiduciary duties of employees (as â€˜ordinaryâ€™ employee and in certain other established â€˜fiduciaryâ€™ capacities commonly associated with employment) in terms of South African common law. In particular, the chapter considers when those duties will arise, their scope of application, what they require of the employee, and how th…
abstract: The nature and potential application of the common-law fiduciary doctrine, and of the distinctive nature of the duties to which it gives rise, is seldom appreciated or analysed in South African law. This is particularly evident in the law of employment, where the courtsâ€™ references to the â€˜fiduciaryâ€™ nature of employment and the â€˜fiduciary dutiesâ€™ of employees have often been ambiguous, confused and unprincipled. In addition, there is almost no reference to employee fiduciary duties in the general literature on South African labour and employment law and, even where these duties are (briefly) mentioned, they are not acknowledged as being in any way separate or distinct from the employeeâ€™s other duties to the employer. This contrasts noticeably with other Commonwealth jurisdictions, where fiduciary duties form the basis of increasing numbers of cases, and are well-established and extensively debated aspects of the general jurisprudence, both generally and in relation to employees. This thesis critically explores and advances certain propositions about the general theoretical nature of the South African common- law fiduciary concept and the principles that govern the incidence, nature, purpose, scope and operation of fiduciary duties, with comparative reference to the positions in English and Canadian law. The first six chapters provide a critical analysis of those general propositions and principles. They also locate them and the debates that surround them within their broader legal and theoretical context. Chapter 7 considers their application to relationships of employment in order to determine the basis and boundaries of the fiduciary duties of employees (as â€˜ordinaryâ€™ employee and in certain other established â€˜fiduciaryâ€™ capacities commonly associated with employment) in terms of South African common law. In particular, the chapter considers when those duties will arise, their scope of application, what they require of the employee, and how th…
author: Idensohn, Kathleen
language: eng
date published: 2015
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:23:05Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Department of Commercial Law

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15469