Judgment No. SC 27/18 Civil Appeal No. SC 173/17 The role of the registrar is set out by the authors Herbstein and Van Winsen, The Civil practice of Superior Courts of South Africa, (3rd ed, Juta and Co Ltd, Cape Town) at p.35 as follows: “the Registrar is an official of the court, responsible for the smooth functioning of the court and is charged with multifarious duties which duties are administrative in nature. For the purposes of clarity, these duties include but are not limited to the issue of process, recording, preserving and directing the flow of all documents filed by the litigants. The Registrar is also responsible for the setting down of cases and issuance of court orders. It is common cause that the Supreme Court is a court of record and the Registrar is the custodian of all court records. Case management which includes maintaining records and scheduling hearings is also the Registrar’s prerogative.” From the above, it is clear that the registrar provides a full range of administrative and support services to the Judges by managing cases coming to court. However, he or she can also perform quasi-judicial functions but only in limited circumstances that are prescribed by statute. An examination of the Supreme Court Act and Rules clearly illustrates that it is not one of the functions of the registrar to decline a notice of appeal which has been filed in time. Where a notice of appeal is defective for whatever reason it is for the court seized with the matter to make such a determination. The registrar cannot refuse to receive a notice of appeal on the basis that it is defective, in the sense that it does not comply with r 29 of the Supreme Court Rules. The registrar may suggest to a party that their document is defective in order for them to make the necessary amendments and bring the document back for filing. However, because of the administrative nature of the registrar’s duties, if a party insists on filing its document as it is after such direction has been offered, the Registrar is obliged to accept the document. 4