High Court of Australia
13 C.L.R.] OF AUSTRALIA.
{HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA.]
THE CROWN . E a XM ' . APPELLANT; DEFENDANT,
HENRICKSON & KNUTSON . : 4 . RESPONDENTS. PETITIONERS,
ON APPEAL FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
Indemnity—Implied contract of—Act done by one person at another's request H.C. oF A.
injurious to a third party.
In April 1907, H. & K., general contractors, entered into a written agree-
1911.
es PERTH,
ment with the Minister for Public Works for Western Australia to construct o/) 17, 18,
a sewer in a public street. In the course of their operations damage was caused to the buildings of one C. C. thereupon brought an action against the contractors in respect of that damage. 'Lhe jury negatived any negligence on the part of H. & K., but found that (.'s property had been injured, and gave a verdict accordingly. In an action by the contractors against the Govern- ment claiming to be indemnified against the loss sustained by them in conse- quence of the verdict,
Held, that the principle laid down by Lord Halsbury L.C. in Sheffield Corporation v. Barclay, (1905) A.C., 302, at p. 397, viz, that when an act is done by one person at the request of another, which act is not in itself manifestly tortious to the knowledge of the person doing it, and such act turns out to be injurious to the rights of a third party, the person doing it is entitled to an indemnity from him who requested that it should be done, applied, and that this implied right to indemnity was not excluded by the terms of the written agreement.
Judgment of the Supreme Court of Western Australia (McMillan J.) affirmed.
AppEaL from a judgment of McMillan J. In April 1907 the respondents, who were general contractors,
20.
Griffith C.J., Barton and O'Connor JJ.
474 HIGH COURT p19
H.C. or A. entered into a contract with the Minister of Works in connectio
We try to embed the page this law was scraped from. If the site blocks framing, you still get the link and a local excerpt.
Last checked with source on —
Checking whether the official page can be embedded…
Plain-English simplify of this law: a short summary, key points, and both sides of the argument. Generated on first view via Replicate, then cached. Vote on what helps your study.
No study brief is cached for this law yet. Sign up to generate a plain-English brief.
Sign up to generate