Civil Law Commons^™

The Intersection Of The Rule In Yerkey V Jones And Contemporary Anti-Discrimination Law In Australia – Can The ‘Special Wives’ Equity Survive?, Kenneth Yin, Mostafa M. Naser

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The High Court in Yerkey v Jones considered the enforceability of a guarantee provided by a married woman to secure her husband’s debts. Dixon J said that although the relationship of husband and wife did not give rise to a presumption of undue influence, the law had never been divested completely of ‘the equitable presumption of an invalidating tendency’. Dixon J’s formulation was essentially adopted by the majority justices in Garcia v National Australia Bank and their judgment thus represents the definitive endorsement of Dixon J’s view. Kirby
J on the other hand rejected ‘the stereotype underlying Yerkey’, which he …