ABSTRACT
In general terms a delict in South African law involves the wrongful and blameworthy causing of harm and gives rise to an obligation to pay compensation for the harm so caused. In certain cases of strict liability there is no requirement of blameworthiness or fault and the delict involves only the wrongful causing of harm. The main forms of delictual liability recognised in South African law are the wrongful causing of patrimonial or pecuniary loss (based on the delict damnum iniuria datum and the actio legis aquiliae in Roman law) and the wrongful infringement of interests of personality (based on the delict iniuria and the actio iniuriarum in Roman law). The general principles underlying these main forms of delictual liability govern the whole field of delictual liability in South African law. There is an extensive literature on the South African law of delict.1
