Crichton v Crichton - [1930] HCA 14

CRICHTON AND OTHERS

RESPONDENTS. DEFENDANTS,

ON APPEAL FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF Gift-Husband and wife-Father and son-Trust-Advancement-Bonds bought by

husband--Gift to wife and son--Whether gift perfected. MELBOURNE,

A husband applied and paid for bonds in a Commonwealth loan. He May 29,30.

obtained from the Commonwealth Bank an acknowledgment that it held bonds of the required denomination on his account. In fact the bonds were SYDNEY,

represented by inscribed stock in the Bank's name. Afterwards he caused Aug. 11.

the Bank to issue to him in substitution an acknowledgment that it held the bonds upon his wife's account. About a year later he obtained his wife's signature to a direction to the Bank to hold the bonds on her behalf, and told her he was giving her the bonds and would keep the safe custody receipt in

Held, by the whole Court, that the wife was beneficially entitled to the bonds: By Isaacs C.J., on the ground that the husband had constituted himself a trustee thereof for her;

By Gavan Duffy and Starke JJ., on the ground that a gift was effectually made to the wife

By Rich J., on the ground that the husband had transferred to the wife the legal title to call for the bonds with an intention of advancing her

By Dixon J., on the ground that the husband had invested his wife with the legal title to call for the bonds and that when afterwards he communicated a present intention of giving them to her beneficially he effectually made over to her his outstanding equitable interest.

43 CLR 537

A father while abroad with his son, an infant, procured a bill of exchange H. C. payable to his son's order drawn upon a bank in Melbourne. He obtained his son's indorsement and sent it to his correspondents in Melbourne with instructions to buy Commonwealth bonds on his son's account. They bought bonds, and on the father's return handed them to the father, who deposited them with the Commonwealth Bank for safe custody in his own name. The father then became a lunatic patient for a period during which his son came of age. The Master-in-Lunacy, considering the bonds to belong to the son, caused the Bank to substitute the son for the father as the person for whom the Bank held the bonds, and on the maturity of the bonds the son took up other bonds which the Bank acknowledged it held on his account. On his father's recovery the son offered to hold these bonds as a trustee for his father, but, in the end, his father signed a paper agreeing to waive all claim to them.

Held, by Gavan Duffy, Rich, Starke and Dixon JJ. (Isaacs C.J. dissenting), that the son was beneficially entitled to the bonds:

By Gavan Duffy and Starke JJ., on the ground that the acts of the father after he recovered, completed and perfected the gift or advancement to his son-if none of his other acts or…

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

Continue reading Crichton v Crichton

Details

AGLC: Crichton v Crichton [1930] HCA 14
Case: [1930] HCA 14
Decision Date: 11 August 1930

CaseChat Overview and Summary

The appellant, William Francis Crichton, appealed to the High Court of Australia from a decision of the Supreme Court of Victoria. He sought a declaration that certain Commonwealth Treasury bonds, held by his wife, Penelope Crichton, and his son, John Burns Crichton, belonged to him. These bonds were derived from original bonds that had previously belonged to the appellant. The circumstances surrounding the disposition of the bonds to his wife and son differed.

The legal issues before the High Court were whether the appellant had effectively gifted or settled the bonds upon his wife and son, thereby divesting himself of beneficial ownership. Specifically, the court had to determine if the appellant had taken all necessary steps to perfect the gift or create a binding trust in favour of his wife and son, or if he retained an equitable interest in the bonds.

Regarding the wife's bonds, the majority of the court found that she was beneficially entitled. Isaacs C.J. held that the husband had constituted himself a trustee for his wife. Gavan Duffy and Starke JJ. concluded that a gift was effectively made. Rich J. found that the husband had transferred the legal title to call for the bonds with the intention of advancing his wife. Dixon J. determined that the husband had invested his wife with the legal title to call for the bonds and, by communicating a present intention to give them beneficially, had effectually transferred his outstanding equitable interest. Concerning the son's bonds, the majority (Gavan Duffy, Rich, Starke, and Dixon JJ., with Isaacs C.J. dissenting) held that the son was beneficially entitled. Gavan Duffy and Starke JJ. found that the father's later actions perfected the gift or advancement. Rich J. reasoned that the father's correspondents were agents of the son, and the bonds were purchased for him, thus becoming his property. Dixon J. concluded that the son possessed the legal title, and the father's subsequent renunciation of his beneficial interest was effective.

The High Court, by majority, dismissed the appeal concerning the wife's bonds and allowed the appeal concerning the son's bonds, affirming the decision of the Supreme Court of Victoria in part.

Orders