Title and abstract:

‘PLEASE CALL ME’ AGENT. THE TAXONOMY OF AGENCY LAW IN SOUTH AFRICA 

Many South Africans are familiar with the story of Mr Nkosana Makate’s ongoing battle against the cell phone giant Vodacom for compensation for his ‘Please Call Me’ idea. Less well known is that his case has motivated some revisionist analysis of how we understand and explain representative agency from a legal perspective. This lecture proposes a modernised analytical framework for understanding agency law in South Africa’s legal context. It first investigates the juridical basis of agency law, finding that the modern consensus is to see agency as a complex phenomenon that synthesises both internal consent and external power/liability models. Secondly, the lecture proposes certain essential conceptual features of agency, briefly discusses these features, and argues how recognising these might facilitate a more complete understanding of agency as a legal phenomenon.  

by Professor Graham Glover

BA LLB PhD (Rhodes)

All are welcome to attend.

Please note: There will be an academic procession at this event.