Australian Mutual Provident Society v Gregory

The Australian Mutual Provident Society (AMP) appealed to the High Court of Australia from a decision of the Supreme Court of Tasmania. The dispute concerned the priority of claims to the interest of George William Gregory in his deceased father's Tasmanian estate. The AMP and other assignees claimed priority based on assignments of George William Gregory's interest made after his insolvency in Natal, South Africa, but to which they had given notice to the trustees of the estate. The respondent, Thomas Herbert Green, was the trustee in insolvency of George William Gregory's estate in Natal.

The legal issues before the High Court were twofold. Firstly, whether George William Gregory's interest in his father's Tasmanian estate was to be classified as an immoveable or a moveable for the purposes of private international law. Secondly, assuming the interest was a moveable, whether the Natal trustee in insolvency had priority over subsequent assignees who had given notice to the trustees of the estate, or if the priority was governed by Tasmanian law requiring notice to perfect such a claim.

The High Court, in allowing the appeal, held that George William Gregory's interest in the Tasmanian land, which was subject to a trust for sale, was an immoveable for the purposes of private international law. This was because the right was enforceable with respect to land, and therefore followed the character of the land itself, irrespective of any notional conversion to personalty under Tasmanian municipal law. Consequently, the insolvency in Natal did not operate as a valid assignment of this immoveable interest within Tasmania. Furthermore, the Court determined that even if the interest were considered a moveable, the assignee in Tasmania who took without notice of the insolvency and gave notice to the trustees of the property would have priority over the Natal trustee in insolvency, applying the principles of priority established by Tasmanian law.