Volks v Robinson
South African legal case / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Volks NO v Robinson and Others is an important decision in South African family law and law of succession. In a majority judgment written by Justice Thembile Skweyiya, the Constitutional Court of South Africa dismissed a challenge to the constitutionality of the Maintenance of Surviving Spouses Act, 1990. The court held that it is not discriminatory for the Act to exclude the survivors of permanent life partnerships from the protections it extends to the survivors of legal marriages. Married couples are entitled to claim maintenance from their deceased spouse's estate because the institution of marriage creates unique reciprocal duties of support which do not exist between permanent life partners.
Volks v Robinson | |
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Court | Constitutional Court of South Africa |
Full case name | Volks NO v Robinson and Others |
Decided | 21 February 2005 (2005-02-21) |
Docket nos. | CCT 12/04 |
Citation(s) | [2005] ZACC 2; 2005 (5) BCLR 446 (CC) |
Case history | |
Appealed from | High Court of South Africa, Cape Provincial Division – Robinson and Another v Volks NO and Others 2004 (6) SA 288 (C); 2004 (6) BCLR 671 (C) |
Court membership | |
Judges sitting | Chaskalson CJ, Langa DCJ, Mokgoro J, Moseneke J, Ngcobo J, O’Regan J, Sachs J, Skweyiya J, van der Westhuizen J and Yacoob J |
Case opinions | |
Decision by | Skweyiya J (Chaskalson, Langa, Moseneke, Ngcobo, van der Westhuizen and Yacoob concurring) |
Concurrence | Ngcobo J (Chaskalson, Langa, Moseneke, van der Westhuizen and Yacoob concurring) |
Dissent | Mokgoro and O'Regan JJ |
Dissent | Sachs J |
The holding in Volks is controversial and the Constitutional Court departed from it in 2020 when it decided Bwanya v Master of the High Court, a similar case in which it came to a contrary conclusion.