ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the notion of a family home exemption or protection, with reference to systems that provide for such protection and, further, in view of the impact of the South African Bill of Rights and relevant developments, in the individual debt collection and enforcement procedure. The recent developments in South Africa have thus been driven by constitutional notions and their impact on civil procedure – hence the emphasis on these aspects but without providing an in-depth discussion of these aspects as such. It remains an open question, however, whether such formal protection might or should develop in South African insolvency law – either by means of further judicial precedent or, eventually, by way of enactment of specific legislation. I. F. Fletcher remarks that it has been a standard feature throughout recorded history that legal systems make special provision for dealing with the phenomenon of insolvency in accordance with the prevailing social ethos towards economic and financial failure.
