Regspraak: Precarium to the rescue as deus ex machina in a hard case

Die Khumalo-saak handel oor ’n bejaarde man (K) se aansoek om ’n spoliasiebevel teen L (die eienaar van ’n plaas waaroor K jare lank vir hom ’n pad na sy woning toegeëien het) wat eensklaps sy grond toegespan het en geweier het om die heksleutels aan K – ’n okkupeerder ingevolge artikel 1 van die Wet op die Uitbreiding van Sekerheid van Verblyfreg 62 van 1997, woonagtig op ’n buurplaas – te oorhandig ten einde hom in staat te stel om steeds die pad te gebruik. Ofskoon daar ’n ander pad na K se woning was, was dit uiters swak en slegs geskik vir gebruik deur 4×4 voertuie. Aangesien K net ’n ou bakkie besit het, het hy geweldig ongerief verduur as gevolg van L se optrede. L het aangevoer dat hy goeie redes gehad het vir sy optrede, onder andere bodembewaring en om wilddiewe hok te slaan, asook dat K boonop nie ingevolge ’n serwituut van via toegang oor sy plaas gehad het nie. Die grondeisehof het op grond van ’n bedenklike toepassing van artikel 22(2)(c) van die Wet op Herstel van Grondregte 22 van 1994 vir hom jurisdiksie toegeëien. Verder het die hof, strydig met die robuuste en spoedeisende aard van die mandament van spolie, die beswaar dat die applikant sy aansoek eers na twee jaar en agt maande geloods het, summier verwerp en daarnaas, ook strydig met bestaande beginsel en praktyk, in besonderhede op die meriete van K se saak ingegaan om tot die beslissing te geraak het dat daar ’n stilswyende precarium tussen K en L gesluit is, omdat L se werknemers wat sienderoë toegelaat het dat K die pad oor L se grond gebruik, as L se verteenwoordigers vir doeleindes van sluiting van die precarium-ooreenkoms bevind is. Ingevolge die normale reëls moes die prekaris, K, dus volgens die hof redelike kennis van die precarium dans, L, ontvang het voordat laasgenoemde sy plaas kon afsper. Die hof het in wese “geregtelik kennis geneem” van hierdie precarium en hom geensins gesteur aan die bestaande reëls van die kontraktereg en, in die besonder, die verteenwoordigingsreg nie. Veral oppervlakkig was die hof se behandeling van die vereiste van skending van quasi-besit vir die mandament van spolie in gevalle waar die applikant nie in daadwerklike beheer van ’n onroerende saak was nie. Die hof het hier in werklikheid deur middel van die toepassing van spoliasiebeginsels spesifieke nakoming van die precarium-kontrak gelas. Daar word betoog dat die hof uit sy pad gegaan het om K uit sy verknorsing te help, ofskoon daar in die lig van geldende regsreëls geen regverdiging vir sodanige regshulp was nie. Hoogstens het die feit dat L jarelank vir K toegelaat het om sy pad te gebruik op toestemming – ’n eensydige regshandeling wat te eniger tyd herroep kan word – neergekom en L was dus ten volle daarop geregtig om sy plaas af te sper. Daar kan verder geensins betoog word dat daar ’n grondwetlike verpligting op L gerus het om K se gebruik van die pad oor sy plaas te gedoog nie. Deur hierdie uitspraak het die hof ’n gevaarlike presedent geskep.

UDDEHOLM UHB 11

Uddeholm UHB 11 is a medium-carbon, non-alloy cold-work tool steel. It is primarily used in the non-heat-treated condition. For special applications it is used in the quenched and tempered condition. Owing to its low hardenability, Uddeholm UHB 11 develops a fully hardened zone that is relatively thin, even when quenched drastically. Thicker sections have a hard case over a tough core. This datasheet provides information on composition, physical properties, hardness, elasticity, and tensile properties. It also includes information on forming, heat treating, and joining. Filing Code: TS-814. Producer or source: Uddeholms AB.

Knightian uncertainty in non-market institutional settings: the case of democracy and nonprofit civil society

The implications of Knightian uncertainty are frequently discussed in the context of market-based institutional settings. Given money prices, entrepreneurs can engage in calculative action, in conjunction with ‘judgment’, to guide decision-making and bring about a coordination of production plans with consumer preferences. However, if the existence of Knightian uncertainty is ubiquitous and applies to all human action, then what are its implications in non-market institutional settings? This paper explores questions related to the implications of Knightian uncertainty for two important non-market institutional settings: democratic government and the nonprofit or philanthropic sector, where there is an explicit lack of monetary calculation, yet nonprofit and political entrepreneurs still must use ‘judgment’ to deal with Knightian uncertainty. For instance, what are the implications of private property and privatized cost in the case of nonprofits versus the absence of private property and socialized cost in the case of democracy, in the presence of Knightian uncertainty? Which group of ‘consumers’ is likely to have their preferences satisfied when it comes to nonprofits (benefactors or beneficiaries) and democratic government (voters or lobbyists)? The paper, thus, points to the importance of further research on the implications of Knightian uncertainty in the hard case of non-market institutional settings.

Science, metaphysics and Calvinism: the God of James Croll

ABSTRACT Science, for James Croll, began and ended in metaphysics. Metaphysics, in turn, provided proof of a First and Final Cause of all things. This proof rested on two metaphysical principles: that every event must have a cause, and that the determination of a cause is distinct from its production. This argument emerged from his deeply held religious commitments. As a 17-year-old, he converted to a Calvinist and evangelical form of Christianity. After a period of questioning the Calvinist system, he embraced it again through reading the famous treatise on the will by the New England theologian, Jonathan Edwards. This determinedly metaphysical work, which engaged as much with Enlightenment thought as with Calvinism, defended the view that the will was not a self-determining cause of human action. This ‘hard case’ provided the basis for a larger claim that every act whatever has a cause, and that the production of an act was different from its determination. In part through reading Edwards, Croll remained a devout and convinced ‘moderate’ Calvinist for the rest of his life. He also developed a deep love of metaphysics and became convinced that without it, everything, including science, remained confused and in darkness. For Croll, even the most basic science could not be properly conducted without prior metaphysical principles. But this was more than just an argument about the philosophical foundations of scientific inquiry. It was also based on Croll's conviction that the cosmos, earth history and life (including his own) was fully determined by a supreme and perfect intellect. This conviction entered into the marrow of Croll's scientific theories and shaped his interpretation of the twists and turns of his own life. In short, to take seriously Croll's own self-understanding, we need to allow him to ‘do God’.

Influence of indentation size and spacing on statistical phase analysis via high-speed nanoindentation mapping of metal alloys

The development of high-speed nanoindentation has enabled the acquisition of mechanical property maps over square millimeters of area with micron-scale resolution in reasonable amounts of time. This provides rich datasets which contain morphological and statistical data on the variation of mechanical properties in a microstructure. However, the influences of the indentation size and the deconvolution method employed on the extracted phase properties remain unclear. In this work, a range of depth/spacing increments was explored on two different materials systems, an Al-Cu eutectic alloy and a duplex stainless steel, representing an ‘easy’ and a ‘hard’ case for statistical deconvolution, respectively. A total of ~ 500,000 indentations were performed. A variety of statistical analyses were then employed and compared: the 1D analysis of Ulm et al. using 2 and 3 phases, a 2D rotated Gaussian fit, K-means clustering, and a visual comparison to 2D histograms. This revealed several different sensitivities of the deconvolution methods to various types of error in phase identification. Graphic abstract

Quantum ontology without speculation

Existing proposals concerning the ontology of quantum mechanics (QM) either involve speculation that goes beyond the scientific evidence or abandon realism about large parts of QM. This paper proposes a way out of this dilemma, by showing that QM as it is formulated in standard textbooks allows for a much more substantive ontological commitment than is usually acknowledged. For this purpose, I defend a non-fundamentalist approach to ontology, which is then applied to various aspects of QM. In particular, I will defend realism about spin, which has been viewed as a particularly hard case for the ontology of QM.

Sources of legal indeterminacy

Traditional analyses characterise or identify vagueness and ambiguity as the sole or primary sources of legal indeterminacy. In this article, I identify and characterise various other sources of legal indeterminacy. In addition to the semantic indeterminacy of vagueness and ambiguity, philosophers of language have identified conversational, pragmatic, and contextual indeterminacy, each of which is capable of generating a ‘hard case’ as applied to the legal sphere. Nor is all legal indeterminacy linguistic in nature. Following Henry Prakken, I identify non-monotonicity, or the fact that legal inferences are defeasible, as a final source of legal indeterminacy. Each source of legal indeterminacy thus identified includes case-law examples to aid in the discussion.