This dispute concerns the ownership of a valuable herd of Cape Buffalo, which escaped from the Thomas Baines Nature Reserve in the Eastern Cape, a provincial nature reserve managed in the public interest by the appellant, the Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency ("the Agency"). The Agency asserted that despite the escape of the buffalo and the consequence that might otherwise have followed at common law it, as an organ of State which manages the reserve, has the right to exercise control over the buffalo and is entitled to the return of the herd, either in terms of prevailing legislation, or by way of a decision by the court, after developing the common law, in line with constitutional principles relating to conservation. The respondent, Medbury (Pty) Ltd t/a Crown River Safari ("Medbury"), contended that since the buffalo, after their escape, had been confined within its property it legitimately acquired ownership of the herd. The court had to decide on two main issues. The first was whether a certificate in terms of s 2(2)(a) of the Act is the sole prerequisite for the operation of section 2(1)(a) and; whether the common law must be developed to promote the spirit, purport and object of the Bill of Rights in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (“the Constitution”), more specifically s 24(b)(ii) thereof to provide that wild animals which are sufficiently contained within a protected area managed by an organ of state in terms of nature conservation legislation are res publicae owned by such organs of State. The High Court dismissed the claim, leading to the present appeal.