Consent to jurisdiction – the rationale in considering a court’s jurisdiction in the issuing of emoluments attachment orders

Abstract: In South Africa tens of thousands of ordinary working people in debt are having substantial portions of their wages or salaries deducted based on unlawfully obtained emoluments attachment orders. Unscrupulous credit providers often insert dubious jurisdiction clauses in credit agreements and end up instituting legal proceedings in courts miles away from where consumers work or reside. In practice, debt collection practitioners use section 45 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act to obtain consent to the issuing of emoluments attachment orders from courts which would not have jurisdiction in terms of section 65J(1)(a) of the Magistrates’ Courts Act. This minor dissertation investigates the inevitable impact of the National Credit Act on civil procedures used by credit providers to collect outstanding debts sounding in money; the interpretation of section 45 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act with regard to its application in practices relating to the issuing of emoluments attachment orders by consent; and the rationale in considering a court’s jurisdiction in the issuing of emoluments attachment orders where the underlying agreement is a credit agreement to which the National Credit Act applies.LL.M. (Banking Law