Rex v Korsten[1] is an important case in South African criminal law, with its bearing on the defence of impossibility.
It was heard in the Natal Provincial Division on February 7, 1927, by Dove-Wilson JP, Carter J and Matthews J.
[3] The court held that, inasmuch as Act 14 of 1911 imposed an absolute duty on the accused to dip his cattle, the facts above set out afforded no defence: Under the Stock Diseases Act the obligation to dip is imperative.
[4] In Jetha v R, some two years later, Dove-Wilson JP found that the requirements of impossibility had been met.
This article relating to case law in South Africa is a stub.