Stucoid Pty Ltd v Stadiums Pty Ltd [1960] HCA 41

High Court of Australia Dixon C.J. Menzies and Windeyer JJ. Stucoid Pty Ltd v Stadiums Pty Ltd [1960] HCA 41

ORDER Appeals dismissed with costs.

Dixon C.J. delivered the judgment of the Court:—

July 4 Dixon C.J.

These are appeals from two orders of Philp J. made on 18th December 1959. The orders were made under the provisions of The Contractors' and Workmen's Lien Acts, 1906 to 1921 Q.. One order dismissed an application by originating summons of a contractor for the enforcement of a lien and a charge claimed under the Act. The other order directed the cancellation of the lien which had been lodged at the office of the Registrar of Titles as an encumbrance on the title of the building owner. The order also cancelled this registration of the lien.

Section 4 of the Act provides that a contractor or sub-contractor or workman who does or procures to be done any work upon or in connexion with any land or any building or other structure or permanent improvement upon land is entitled to a lien upon the whole interest of the employer in that land or upon the moneys payable to the contractor or sub-contractor as the case may require for a contract price of or wages for his work, subject to certain conditions and limitations which are not material to our decision.

Section 6 provides that a workman is entitled to a charge for the moneys due to him for his work upon any money payable to the contractor or sub-contractor by whom he is employed, and the sub-contractor is entitled to a charge for the money due to him under his contract upon any money payable to the contractor or sub-contractor with or under whom he has contracted.

The lien mentioned in s. 4 is, in its relation to the moneys payable to the contractor or sub-contractor, apparently the same thing as the charge referred to in s. 6. The lien in respect of land is another thing.