Commissioner of Stamp Duties (NSW) v Pearse

The case involved an appeal to the High Court of Australia from the Supreme Court of New South Wales concerning the assessment of probate duty. The dispute arose between the Commissioner of Stamp Duties (NSW) and the executrix and executors of the will of Henry Bowen Aylmer Pearse, deceased. The core of the disagreement lay in the valuation of certain shares in a proprietary company, Plashett Pastoral Co. Pty. Ltd., which formed part of the deceased's estate. The Commissioner had exercised his discretion under section 127 (1) (c) of the Stamp Duties Act 1920-1949 (NSW) to adopt a specific method of valuation for these unlisted shares.

The legal issues before the High Court were twofold. Firstly, the Court had to determine whether the Supreme Court, on a case stated under section 124 of the Act, possessed the power to review and determine the correct mode of valuation when the Commissioner had exercised his discretion under section 127 (1) (c). Secondly, the Court considered whether, in the context of a will that expressly empowered a solicitor-trustee to charge profit costs for professional work, any moneys payable to the solicitor constituted a beneficial gift to him, akin to other dispositions in the will, for the purposes of probate duty.

The High Court, by a majority, held that section 124 of the Stamp Duties Act empowered the Supreme Court to determine the correct mode of valuation, even when the Commissioner had exercised his discretion under section 127 (1) (c). This principle was applied in accordance with the decision in *Commissioner of Stamp Duties (Q.) v. Beak*. Regarding the second issue, a majority of the Court (McTiernan, Williams, and Webb JJ., with Dixon and Fullagar JJ. dissenting) found that moneys payable to a solicitor-trustee for profit costs, when authorised by the will, were to be treated as a beneficial gift and thus subject to probate duty as part of the estate.

The appeal from the Supreme Court of New South Wales was affirmed. The decision of the Supreme Court of New South Wales (Full Court) in *Pearse v. Commissioner of Stamp Duties* was upheld.