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111 S. African L.J. 1 (1994)
Confusion Concerning the Defence of Ignorance of Law

handle is hein.journals/soaf111 and id is 21 raw text is: VOL 111 THE (Part 1) SOUTH AFRICAN February 1994 LAW JOURNAL RECENT CASES CONFUSION CONCERNING THE DEFENCE OF IGNORANCE OF LAW C R SNYMAN Professor of Criminal and Procedural Law, University of South Africa In South African criminal law ignorance or mistake of law is a defence on a charge of having committed an offence requiring culpability in the form of intention. Such ignorance or mistake serves to negative the requirement of intention. If an accused is charged with an offence requiring negligence, such ignorance or mistake may also be a defence, but only if the the accused failed to exercise the required care and circumspection in acquainting himself with the relevant legal provisions-in other words, if a reasonable person in the same circumstances would have been similarly ignorant. So much is clear from the decision of the Appellate Division in S v De Blom 1977 (3) SA 513 (A). In this case Rumpff CJ, who delivered the unanimous decision of the court, clearly made a distinction between offences requiring intention and those requiring negligence. The mere fact that the accused ought to have been aware of the relevant legal provisions (in other words, that he was negligent) did not justify a finding that he was in fact aware of them (in other words, that he had intention). The subjective test to determine intention must not be confused with the objective test to determine negligence. It is nevertheless noticeable that there is a growing number of reported judgments in which the courts, in the course of determining the effect of ignorance of the law, confuse the subjective test for intention with the objective test for negligence. The reason for the confusion is the following. In his judgment in De Blom supra at 531H-532B Rumpff CJ endorsed the view that if a person undertakes a specialized activity, he must take steps to acquaint himself with the law applicable to the specialized field involved. For example, a person opening a butchery has to acquaint himself with the health regula- tions applicable to the purchasing, storing and sale of meat. It is convenient to refer to this rule as the 'specialized-activity rule'.

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