Corpus, dignitas and fama

Subsequently a whole variety of personality rights were identified and they are more and more freauently seen today as forming a distinctive group of subjective rights.² The starting point is still Voet's²⁵⁸ well- known triad of legal interests protected by the delict of iniuria:

^2j4 For an overview, c(.

R v. Umfaan 1908 TS 62 at 66; Cf. also Whittaker v. Roos and Bateman; Morant v. Roos and Bateman 1912 AD 92 at 122.

²¹⁶ W.A Jouberl, Grondslae van die Persoanlikheidsreg (1953), pp. 115 sqq. and passim. Joubert's views have been inspired by Carl Gareis (cf. e.g. "Das juristische Wesen der Autorrechte" (1877) 35 Archiv fur Theorie und Praxis des Allgemeinen Deutschen Handels- und Wechsehechts 185 sqq.), Otto von Gierke (Deutsches Privatrecht, vol. 1 (1895), pp. 702 sqq.) and Josef Kohler (cf. e.g. "Das Autorrecht", (1880) \»JhJb 129 sqq., 329 sqq.). On their contributions to the idea of a general right of personality, see (apart from Joubert) Robert Scheyhing, "Zur Geschichie des Personlichkeitsrechts im 19. Jahrhundert", (1959-60) 158 Archil' fur die civilistische Praxis 521 sqq.; Diethelm Klippel, "Historische Wurzeln und Funktionen von Immaterialguter- und Personlichkeitsrechten im 19. Jahrhundert", 1982 ZNR 132 sqq., 144 sqq.; Eberhard Klingenberg, "Vom personlichen Recht zum Personlichkeitsrccht", (1979) 96 ZSS (GA) 203 sqq.; Dieter Lenze, Die Entwicklung des Personlichkeitsrechts im 19, Jahrhundert (1962), pp. 93 sqq., 103 sqq., Ill sqq.; Neethling, op. cit., note 113, pp. 5 sqq.; Helmut Coing, "Die Entwicklung der Pcrsonlichkcitsrechte im 19. Jahrhundert", in: Festschrift für Werner Maihofer (1988), pp. 78 sqq. On the protection of personality rights in 19th-century German legal practice, cf.

~'⁷ Cf, in particular, Neethling, op. cit., note 113, pp. 1 sqq. and passim; Universiteit van Pretoria v. Tontmie Meyer Films (Edms.) Bpk. 1977 (4) SA 376 (T) at 381D sqq. As far as crimen iniuriae is concerned, see De Wet en Swanepoel, Strajreg (4th ed., 1985), pp. 250 sqq.

²⁵⁸ Ultimately Ulpian's: D. 47, 10, 1, 2. corpus, dignitas and fama.²⁵⁴ Fama leads us straight into the law of defamation. As far as the right to corpus is concerned, South African courts and legal writers usually distinguish between infringement of a person's physical (or bodily) integrity and interference with his personal liberty.²[5659] [5660]'¹⁰ Determination of the meaning of the term "dignitas" has proved to be more difficult. Yet it is widely accepted today that it should not be strictly limited to dignity or honour, but should rather be seen as a general clause, or nomen collectivum, comprising all rights of personality not yet specifically identified and delimited in the sources of the (Roman-Dutch) common law: everything, that is, except the rights to corpus and fama.²⁶¹ It is within this broad framework that the protection of dignity and honour finds its place; so do the protection of a person's right to his feelings of piety or chastity, of his right of identity and, most importantly, his right to privacy.²⁶" Infringement of the right to privacy, in particular, has been recognized by South African courts on various occasions as a "dignitary wrong" in the broad sense of the word.²⁶³ As in all other cases of iniuria, the action lies for sentimental damages,²⁶⁴ but animus iniuriandi (as in most other cases of iniuria)⁶⁵ has remained the key requirement for liability.

VI.