Wrongful life : an analysis of recent legal developments.

Abstract

The wrongful life cause of action has been an issue of international debate in the legal fraternity for decades and was ultimately decided by the Constitutional Court in 2014 in the South African law perspective. The court had to pronounce on the existence of the cause of action in South African law and concluded that the claim had a potential existence in our law. Various arguments by different jurisdictions are addressed and are analysed in this paper. The paper offers a thorough analysis of the judgment and offers a South African perspective to the cause of action. It also provides an analysis and distinction between a dissatisfied life cause of action which is an umbrella term for the various causes of action relevant to wrongful life and the wrongful life cause of action as an independent action.