IN THE SUPREME COURT OF SOUTH ApRICA

(APPELLATE DIVISION)

In the matter between:

NEDBANK LIMITED .. Appellant

and

...MAGRIETA VAN ZYL Respondent

CORAM: Corbett CJ, Hefer, Nestadt, FH Grosskopf JJA,

et Nicholas AJA

DATE OF HEARING: 1 November 1989

DATE OF JUDGMENT: 15 March 1990

J U D G M E N T

CORBETT CJ:

On 10 September 1980 the respondent signed a

written contract of guarantee ("garansie") in terms of which

she bound herself to the appellant, Nedbank Limited, as

surety and co-principal debtor (with renunciation of the

benefits of excussion and division) for the repayment on

 2

demand of all moneys owed by Petrus Gideon Van Zyl ("Van

Zyl") to the appellant on overdraf t then or f rom time to

time thereafter. At the time of the execution of this

contract, which is more correctly to be described as a

suretyship, the respondent was married to Van Zyl in

community of property. In entering into the contract she

was duly assisted by her husband. In February 1981

respondent and Van Zyl became estranged and they were

divorced on 25 May 1982. In terms of a consent paper

entered into by the parties and incorporated in the decree

of divorce the assets of the joint estate were divided

between the parties. It appears that during the subsistence

of the marriage respondent was not possessed of any assets

outside the joint estate.

During 1984 Van Zyl defaulted on his obligations

to appellant and the latter endeavoured to recover from him

the amount owing on overdraft. which as at 23 October 1984

 3

amounted to Rl5 213,61. He failed to pay and default

judgment was taken against him. He did not satisfy the

judgment and disappeared.

In March 1985 appellant instituted action against

respondent in the Transvaal Provincial Division claiming

payment of the aforesaid amount of R15 213,61, together with

interest and costs. Appellant sought to hold respondent

liable for this amount solely on the basis of the deed of

suretyship signed by her on 10 September 1980. The matter

came to trial before Roux J who held that the deed of

suretyship was a nullity and dismissed appellant's claim

with costs. With leave granted by the trial Judge,

appellant now appeals against the whole of the judgment and

order of the Court a quo.

One of the crucial issues which arises on appeal is

whether a wife married in community of property can validly

enter into a contract in terms of which she stands surety

 4

for a monetary obligation undertaken by her husband. There

are two conflicting decisions on this point. In Reichmans

(Pty) Ltd v Ramdass 1985 (2) SA 111 (D) Friedman J held that

such a deed of suretyship was valid; and in the unreported

case of Volkskas Bpk v Van Heerden, decided on 20.5.85 in

the Cape Provincial Division, Rose-Innes J held that it was

not. In the present case Roux J preferred to follow the

decision, and reasoning, in Volkskas Bpk v Van Heerden.

Fundamental to the decision in the latter case were

the propositions that a person cannot stand surety for his

own obligation; and that if he purports to do so the

resulting transaction is a nullity. There is authority

to support these propositions. The obligations of a

surety are essentially accessory in nature, in the sense

that they are grafted onto a principal obligation and

without a principal obligation they can have no separate

existence. The definition of a contract of suretyship

 5

given in Caney, The Law of Suretyship, 3rd ed, p 27 reads as

follows:

"Suretyship is an accessory contract by which

a person (the surety) undertakes to the

creditor of another (the principal debtor),

primarily that the principal debtor, who

remains bound, will perform his obligation to

the creditor and, secondarily that if and so

far as the principal debtor fails to do so,

he, the surety, will perform it or, failing

that, indemnify the creditor."

This definition (as it appeared in the second edition of

Caney) was cited with approval in Trust Bank of Africa Ltd

v Frysch 1977 (3) SA 562 (A) at 584 F and in Sapirstein and

Others v Anqlo African Shipping Co (SA) Ltd 1978 (4) SA 1

(A), at 11 H. Of course, this is not to say that the

principal obligation must be in existence at the time when

the contract of suretyship is entered into. As appears

from the two decisions just cited, a suretyship may be

 6

contracted with reference to a principal obligation which is

to come into existence in the future, in which event the

obligation of the surety does not arise until the principal

obligation has been contracted. In the meanwhile it is, as

Van der Keessel (Praelectiones 3.3.24) puts it, "in

pendenti". (See also Diqest 5.1.35.)

One of the consequences of the accessory nature of

a suretyship obligation is that it must relate to a

principal obligation owed by another. This is reflected in

Caney's definition and the principle may be traced back to

Roman Law. Thus in Digest 46.1.21 one reads (I quote from

the Watson translation) -

"2. When I had advanced money to your

slave, you manumitted him, and then I

accepted the same surety [in respect of the

debt]. If the surety accepted liability for

the obligation which rested on you within a

year [from the manumission], he [Julian] says

that he is bound; but that if it was for

 7

[the slave's] natural obligation, it is

rather the case that no transaction has been

effected. For it cannot be admitted that a

person becomes bound by going surety for

himself. Bút he thought that if the

manumitted slave became heir to his surety,

the ground of the suretyship survives and

that in any event, there would still be the

natural obligation so that though the civil

obligation no longer exist, what has been

paid cannot be recovered. Nor does it

conflict with this that if the principal

debtor become the heir of his surety, the

ancillary obligation is destroyed; for there

cannot be a double civil obligation with the

same person [over the same thing].

Conversely also, if the surety become heir to

the manumitted slave, there remains the same

obligation upon him, although his liability

is natural and one cannot be surety for

oneself." (My emphasis.)

The position under Roman Law where a surety became heir to

the principal debtor, and vice versa, is dealt with in

Digest 46.1.5 and it would seem that the resultant "merger"

 8

("confusio") caused the obligation of suretyship to fall

away. (See also Domat's Civil Law (Strahan trans., 1897.)

Of course, as Caney remarks (op cit, p 174, n 105), under

our modern system of administration of estates, where an

heir is no longer a universal successor, this position would

not arise. And it is of interest to note that modern Dutch

law has departed from the Roman law in this regard (see

Asser, 5de druk (1988), Bijzondere Overeenkomsten, deel iv,

p 152).

The Roman-Dutch law of suretyship differed little

from the Roman law (see Wessels, Law of Contract in South

Africa, 2nd ed, par 3777). In his Koopmans Handboek

(published in 1806) Van der Linden (at 1.14.10) defines

suretyship ("borgtogt") as -

"....een contract, waar bij iemand zig

verbindt voor eenen schuldenaar, ten behoeven

van den schuldeisscher, om hem geheel of

gedeeltelijk te betaalen, het geen de

 9

schuldenaar hem schuldig is, zig alzoo bij

zijne verbintenis voegende";

and the author explains that it follows from this definition

that no suretyship can exist unless there is a valid

principal obligation on the part of a principal debtor and

"Dat de borgtocht te niet gaat, wanneer de

beide qualiteiten van principaalen

schuldenaar en borg zig in een en denzelfden

persoon vereenigen, b.v. wanneer de één des

anders erfgenaam wordt."

(See also J Voet, Ad Pandectas, 46.3.20; Huber,

Heedensdaegse Rechtsgeleertheyt 3.41.3; Kersteman's

Aanhangsel, vol 1, p 189.) Pothier, Traité des

Obligations, par 383 put the position under Roman Law thus

(I quote the Evans translation):

"From the principle that the surety,

according to our definition, is one who

obliges himself for and accedes to the

obligation of another, the Roman jurists

 10

deduced this consequence, that whenever the

two qualities of principal debtor and surety

become united in the same person, which

happens when the surety becomes heir to the

principal; or, vice versa, when the

principal becomes heir of the surety, or when

a third person becomes heir to both the one

and the other; in all these cases the

quality of principal destroys that of surety;

as a surety is essentially one who is

obliged for another, and a man cannot be a

surety for himself; whence they concluded

that in all these cases, the obligation as

surety was extinguished, and that the

principal obligation remained only."

Moreover, definitions of the contract of suretyship by

writers on Roman-Dutch law emphasize that the surety

undertakes under certain circumstances to discharge the

obligation of another (the principal debtor): see eg

Grotius, Inleydinghe, 3.3.12; Van Leeuwen, Het Rooms-

Hollands-Recht 4.4.2 and Censura Forensis 1.4.17.3; Voet,

op cit, 46.1.1; Huber, op cit, 3.26.2).

 11

Modern South African writers also accept that

under our law it is essential to the existence of a

suretyship that there be a principal obligation in terms

whereof someone other than the surety is the debtor; and

that a person cannot stand as surety for his own debt (see

De Wet & Yeats, Kontraktereg en Handelsreg, 4de ed. p 345;

26 LAWSA par 153; Caney, The Law of Suretyship, 3rd ed, pp

27-8, 174; Wessels, Law of Contract in South Africa, 2nd

ed, paras 2624, 4368; Van Jaarsveld, Suid-Afrikaanse

Handelsreg, 3de ed, p 760). It may be argued that the

corollary to this would seem to be that a contract,

intended by the parties to constitute a suretyship, in terms

of which a person purports to stand surety for a principal

obligation owed by himself, is a nullity (see 26 LAWSA par

153; cf Croxon's Garage (Pty) Ltd v Olivier 1971 (4) SA 85

(T), at 88 A - C ) . In Standard Bank of SA Ltd v Lombard and

Another 1977 (2) SA 808 (W), at 813 F-H, and in the

 12

Reichmans case, supra, at 114 E, it was accepted or assumed

that a person cannot validly stand as surety for his own

debt. In Litecor Voltex (Natal) (Pty) Ltd v Jason 1988 (2)

SA 78 (D) Didcott J expressed doubts as to the correctness

of a classification of invalidity, but went on to say (at p

81 B) -

"To guarantee the payment of your own debt is

a futile exercise, to say the least, neither

underwriting nor reinforcing the obligation

to pay it that rests on you in any event.

Failing the basic test for a suretyship, it

does not amount to such. Nor does it

accomplish anything else. It is not worth,

in short, the paper on which it is written."

It seems to me that whatever the precise terminology should

be an undertaking in a contract whereby a person purports

to stand as surety for his own debt is not a legally

enforceable one.

In the present case the respondent bound herself

 13

in terms of the contract as surety and co-principal debtor

("borg en medehoofskuldenaar"). It is clear, however, that

this undertaking as co-principal debtor did not in any way

change the purported nature of the contract, viz one of

suretyship, the effect of such an undertaking merely being a

renunciation of the benefits of excussion and division (see

Neon and Cold Cathode Illuminations (Pty) Ltd v Ephron 1978

(1) SA 463 (A), at 471 D-E).

The next question is whether a contract whereby a

woman married in community of property purports (with her

husband's assistance) to stand surety for an obligration

undertaken by her husband amounts to standing surety for

one's own debt.

The legal position in regard to contractual debts

incurred by husband or wife where they are married to one

another in community of property was authoritatively stated

by this Court in De Wet, NO v Jurgens, 1970 (3) SA 38 (A),

 14

as follows (at p 47 D-F):

"Dit blyk duidelik dat die man en die

vrou se skulde gemeenskaplike skulde is wat

uit die gemeenskaplike boedel betaalbaar is.

Hulle is dus eintlik medeskuldenaars. Dit

is wel waar dat die man gewoonweg

verantwoordelik is vir die betaling van

skulde, maar dit beteken nie dat net hy

skuldenaar is nie. Betalings word van hom

geëis omdat hy in beheer van die boedel is,

en hy word in die Hof aangespreek omdat,

behalwe in sekere uitsonderingsgevalle, slegs

hy voor die Hof gedaag kan word. Wanneer hy

skulde betaal, betaal hy dit uit die

gemeenskaplike boedel, en wanneer hy 'n

vonnisskuld nie betaal nie, word eksekusie

teen die bates in die gemeenskaplike boedel

gehef."

On the facts of this case it is not necessary to consider

what the position is with regard to so-called "private

debts" (see Lee & Honore, Family, Things and Succession, 2nd

ed, paras 82-4).

 15

If the principles enunciated in De Wet NO v

Jurgens, supra, be applied in the present case, then it is

clear that on 10 September 1980, when the suretyship

contract was signed, the principal debt, viz. the amount

owed or to be owed to appellant on overdraft, was the joint

obligation of Van Zyl and respondent. Moreover, although

the suretyship was entered into by respondent alone as

surety (Van Zyl's signature thereof being merely to

supplement respondent's limited contractual capacity: see

Cross v Pienaar en 'n Ander 1978 (4) SA 943 (T), at 949 F-G),

the suretyship obligation which she thus purported to incur

would, if valid, likewise become a joint obligation owed by

Van Zyl and herself. There was thus at the time of

signature of the suretyship a complete identity of surety

and principal debtor: the purported effect of the

transaction was to make respondent and Van Zyl co-sureties

of the overdraft obligation in respect of which they were

 16

co-debtors. It was consequently a clear case of persons

standing surety for their own debt and, in my view, in the

light of the principles expounded above, the suretyship was

unenforceable when entered into.

The position is, of course, complicated by the

fact that at the time when appellant instituted action

against respondent (in March 1985) respondent was no longer

married to Van Zyl, their marriage having been dissolved by

divorce on 25 May 1982. Although the evidence on the point

is not clear, it seems probable that as at the date of

divorce Van Zyl's current account with appellant was

overdrawn.

Upon divorce the community of property and of

debts subsisting between Van Zyl and respondent was

terminated and respondent became endowed with full legal

capacity. Each became entitled to half the joint estate,

such as it was, and the assets thereof were divided by

 17

agreement between them. Debts incurred as joint

liabilities during the marriage and unpaid as at the

dissolution of the marriage remained exigible from the

former parties to the marriage. In Lee and Honorê (op cit,

par 97) it is stated that such a debt may be enforced by the

creditor concerned for the whole amount outstanding against

the estate of the spouse who incurred it and for half the

amount against the estate of the other spouse; and that the

original debtor who has paid the whole amount has a

regressus pro semisse against the other spouse because the

debt was a joint one. As the learned author of this

section (Prof A H van Wyk) indicates, however, the position

is not altogether clear, particularly in the light of our

case law. I do not find it necessary, however, in present

circumstances to express any view as to the precise nature

of the post-nuptial liability of the spouses for community

debts. What is of significance is the fact that as at the

date of dissolution of the marriage the amount owing to

 18

appellant on overdraft remained a joint liability of the

parties; and that thereafter all subsequent amounts

advanced by appellant to Van Zyl on overdraft constituted

his own separate liability.

I would again emphasize that at no time did

appellant seek to recover the amount owed on overdraft (as

at 23 October 1984) from respondent on the basis of her

liability for the joint debts of the community (at the time

of the dissolution); and that the present claim is based

entirely on the contract of suretyship.

The questions which now arise are how, if at all,

the termination of the marriage and the consequent

dissolution of the community of property and debts between

Van Zyl and the respondent affected the position; and

whether under such changed circumstances respondent became

liable on the suretyship for the outstanding amount of van

Zyl's overdraft. The suretyship is in the widest possible

 19

Zyl's overdraft. The suretyship is in the widest possible

terms. The relevant portion reads:

"Vir die verlening deur Nedbank Beperk .

(hierna 'die genoemde Bank') van sekere

bankfasiliteite aan Petrus Gideon van

Zyl....(hierna genoem die 'genoemde

skuldenaar') garandeer en verbind ek.... die

ondergetekende Magrieta van Zyl my...

sowel gesamentlik as afsonderlik... as borg

en medehoofskuldenaar vir die

terugbetaling op aanvraag van enige geldsom

of geldsomme wat die genoemde skuldenaar...

nou of hierna van tyd tot tyd aan genoemde

Bank.... skuldig mag wees.... hetsy die skuld

voortspruit uit geld wat reeds voorgeskiet is

of hierna voorgeskiet sal word...."

Accordingly it might be contended that as there is no

limitation as to the duration and applicability of the

surety's undertaking it covers overdraft obligations (to the

appellant) incurred by Van Zyl after the divorce; and that

qua such future obligations the suretyship was valid and

 20

enforceable.

The chief obstacle in the path of this line of

argument is that proof that the amount of R15 213,61

constituted a post-nuptial overdraft obligation is totally

lacking. As I have indicated, it is probable that at the

time of the divorce Van Zyl's current account was overdrawn,

possibly in an amount at least equivalent to the amount of

appellant's claim; but appellant made no attempt either in

the pleadings or the evidence at the trial or in the course

of argument before us to establish precisely what the

overdraft amount was at the time of the divorce or to show

that according to a correct process of appropriation or

allocation of deposits (cf. Trust Bank of Africa Ltd v

Senekal 1977 (2) SA 587 (W); Paget's Law of Banking, 9th ed,

pp 118 ff) the debit balance existing at the time of divorce

had been wholly liquidated by 23 October 1984, when the

claim was computed. At the trial a bundle of documents,

 21

marked "B", was handed in by agreement, but it is not clear

what exactly was agreed to in regard to their admissibility

or probative value. These documents included certified

copies of Van Zyl's bank statements. Mr Bellingham, the

bank official called to give evidence by the appellant,

stated that certain of these documents came from a file

under his control, but these did not include the bank

statements. It is impossible to say whether or not these

are computer printouts. Bellingham stated that at the time

of the trial he was the sub-accountant ("onderrekenmeester")

at the Uitenhage branch of appellant bank, where Van Zyl's

current account was as from March 1981. He also said: "Ek

was die bestuurdersklerk op die stadium", but is not clear

what stage ("stadium") is referred to. Under cross-

examination he said (referring to the bank statements):

"Die state word deur ons hoofkantoor opgestel". In my

view, the bank statements themselves cannot be used to prove

 22

the drawings and deposits on Van Zyl's bank account (cf

Narlis v South African Bank of Athens 1976 (2) SA 573 (A);

Trust Bank of Africa Ltd v Senekal, supra, at 590 E - 591

B) ; and Bellingham himself did not purport to give any

original evidence in this connection. Thus even if the

claim could in law be based upon the validity of the

suretyship in so far as it related to the post-nuptial

obligations of Van Zyl to appellant bank it must fail for

want of a proven factual foundation.

Finally, I must refer to the decision in the

Reichmans case, supra. In that case Friedman J was

confronted with a factual situation similar to the present

one. The main differences were that (a) in that case the

wife, who stood surety, owned a valuable piece of immovable

property which she had acquired by way of inheritance and

which did not form part of the joint estate, and (b) husband

and wife were still married to one another at the time when
 23

the creditor sued the wife (defendant) on the deed of

suretyship. It was argued on behalf of the defendant that

she was in effect standing surety for herself and that this

was something which in law created a nullity.

Friedman J rejected this argument and gave

judgment for the plaintiff. He assumed in favour of the

defendant that one cannot stand surety for oneself (see p

114 E). His further reasoning may be summarized as

follows:

(1) It does not follow from the fact that the joint

estate may be liable for the payment of any debt

incurred by the wife under the suretyship that she

is standing surety for herself: her husband, not

she, is the principal debtor.

(2) The rights and obligations of the wife under the

deed of suretyship differ in certain respects from

those of the principal debtor.

 24

(3) The suretyship agreement could survive the

dissolution of the marriage, upon which there

would be a total separation of identity between

surety and principal debtor.

(4) The joint estate is not the only source out of

which the wife's indebtedness to the creditor can

and need necessarily be met, eg where the wife has

assets falling outside the community.

With respect, I am not able to agree with this

reasoning. As to (1), it seems to me that it is incorrect

to say that the husband is the principal debtor. Husband

and wife are in truth joint debtors with regard to the

principal debt, even though it may contractually have been

incurred by him. As to (2), the rights and obligations

under the suretyship are also those of both husband and

wife, owed jointly. As I have indicated, the point made

under (3) may, given the proper facts, be sound in the sense
 25

that the suretyship is enforceable in respect of post-

nuptial obligations, but I fail to see the relevance of this

in a case where the marriage has not been dissolved or where

the obligations are incurred stante matrimonio. And as

to (4), the fact that the wife may have assets outside the

community, which is not pertinent in the present case, does

not seem to me to alter the basic identity between surety

and principal debtor.

Friedman J also referred by way of analogy to the

following remarks of Botha J in the Standard Bank case,

supra, at p 813 F-H, (a case concerned with whether a

partner could validly bind himself as a surety for the debts

of the partnership) -

"In the next place counsel for the

defendant submitted that, since a partnership

was not a legal persona separate from the

individual partners, partners could not

validly bind themselves as sureties for the

 26

partnership, because they would in effect be

standing in as sureties for themselves. I

was not referred to any authority for the

proposition that partners could not validly

bind themselves individually as sureties for

partnership debts. (Cf Caney on Suretyship,

2nd ed at p 4 8 ) . In matters of practice

and procedure, the law does to some extent

recognise the existence of a partnership as

an entity in itself, albeit not as an entity

endowed with legal personality. Thus a

creditor of the partnership is obliged during

the subsistence of the partnership to sue all

the partners together for payment of the

partnership debts and execution must first be

levied on partnership assets before the

assets of individual partners may be attached

in execution. I can see no reason in

principle why partners should not bind

themselves to a partnership creditor in such

a way that each partner is individually

liable in solidum to the creditor for

payment of the whole of the partnership

debts, even during the subsistence of the

partnership. This, I conceive was plainly

the object sought to be achieved by means of

 27

the documents in question in this case. I

can see no reason why the documents should

not be valid and operative as such, even if

it is to be assumed that they do not qualify

as suretyships stricto sensu, a matter on

which I need not express any firm opinion."

And it is to be noted that in Du Toit en 'n Ander v Barclays

Nasionale Bank Bpk 1985 (1) SA 563 ( A ) , at p 575 F-G, this

Court confirmed these views. I do not think that the

partnership analogy is a valid one. Unlike a partnership,

there is no basis for saying that the law, to any extent,

recognises the relationship of marriage in community "as an

entity in itself"; nor do the f eatures of the law of

partnership emphasized in this quotation from the judgment

in the Standard Bank case find any parallel in marriage in

community.

I accordingly agree with the conclusion reached by

the Court a quo. The appeal is dismissed with costs.

M M CORBETT
HEFER JA)
NESTADT JA) CONCUR
F H GROSSKOPF JA)
NICHOLAS AJA)