Prima facie
Literal translation
at first face; on first appearance
Legal meaning
In South African law, prima facie refers to evidence or a case that is sufficient on its face to establish a fact or support a claim unless it is rebutted. It does not mean conclusive proof, but rather a threshold showing that calls for an answer from the opposing party. The expression is commonly used in civil procedure, criminal procedure, and the law of evidence when courts assess whether a party has produced enough material to proceed or to justify a particular inference.
Examples
- The plaintiff established a prima facie case of negligence.
- The State must adduce prima facie evidence before the accused is called to answer.
- The applicant made out a prima facie right for interim relief.
Cases citing this term
- 🇿🇦 Imperial Marine Company v The Motor Vessel Pasquale Della Gatta and Another; Imperial Marine Company v The Motor Vessel Filippo Lembo and Another
- 🇿🇼 Sheriff of the High Court of Zimbabwe v Fuel Africa (Pvt) Ltd and Lablink Distributors (Pvt) LtdHigh Court (Bulawayo)
- 🇿🇼 Gibson Katsande v Chindega Katsande (nee Mungofa)Other Courts
- 🇿🇦 Nedbank Limited and Another v Survé and OthersSupreme Court of Appeal of South Africa· 2023-12-18· 160/23
Act 4 of 2000 – application for interim interdict in Equality Court – failure to establish \u003cmark>prima\u003c/mark> \u003cmark>facie\u003c/mark> case – appealability of interim interdict. __________________________________________________________________ ORDER __________________________________________________________________ On appeal from: Western Cape Division of the
- 🇿🇦 Farocean Marine (Pty) Ltd v Malacca Holdings Limited and AnotherSupreme Court of Appeal of South Africa· 2004-05-28· 223/03
delivery: 28 MAY 2004 Summary: Attachment to found or confirm jurisdiction – nature of \u003cmark>prima\u003c/mark> \u003cmark>facie\u003c/mark> case required against defendant in the alternative – joinder of further defendant in the alternative – section
- 🇿🇼 Patricia Darangwa N.O. v Africa Sun Limited and OthersHigh Court (Harare)
- 🇿🇼 Falcon Mine Zimbabwe Limited v Wendall Robert Parsons and OthersHigh Court (Harare)· HC 4922/21
- 🇿🇦 Die Staat v Ronnie Legote en Michael SitholeSupreme Court of Appeal of South Africa· 2001-05-22· 206/99
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA IN THE SUPREME COURT OF APPEAL OF SOUTH
- 🇿🇦 Seyisi v The StateSupreme Court of Appeal of South Africa· 2012-09-28· 117/12
September 2012 Delivered: 28 September 2012 Summary: Expert evidence – once accepted as credible, constitutes \u003cmark>prima\u003c/mark> \u003cmark>facie\u003c/mark> proof – onus of rebuttal on the defence. ______________________________________________________________________ ORDER ______________________________________________________________________ On appeal from: Eastern Cape High
- 🇿🇼 Blessing Luzhi v The StateHigh Court (Bulawayo)
Live search across the public SA case corpus. Results may include false positives where the same Latin lexeme appears in a different context.