Double Sales, Double Property Registrations

An odd situation arose in Prophitius & Another v Campbell & Others 2008 (3) SA 552 (D). A property owner had sold the same land to two successive parties. The property had, by some unfathomable process, been registered in the name of the first purchaser and thereafter (without the rights of the first purchaser being cancelled), it was also registered in the second purchaser’s name. The court held that the seller had committed fraud by selling the same property to both parties, but found that they were both innocent, i.e. not parties to the seller’s fraudulent dealings. The court went on to hold that the public system of deeds registration was a notice to the world of the ownership of immovable property and that, under our system, the first purchaser had obtained transfer, which meant that they became the actual owners. This was in accordance with the principle qui prior est tempore potior est jure.