Shaw v Ipatoff [1957] HCA 30

High Court of Australia Dixon C.J. McTiernan, Webb, Kitto and Taylor JJ. Shaw v Ipatoff [1957] HCA 30

ORDER Appeal allowed. Order of the Full Court of the Supreme Court of Victoria dated 4th October 1956 set aside. In lieu thereof order as follows—(1) that the respondent's appeals to that Court from the two orders of Hudson J. as to the custody of the infant Rose Marie Ipatoff be dismissed and that the said orders of Hudson J. be affirmed; and (2) that the respondent's appeal to the said Full Court from the order of Hudson J. on the appellant's application for authority to adopt the said infant be allowed, the last-mentioned order of Hudson J. be set aside and the said application be dismissed. No order as to costs here or below.

Cur. adv. vult.

The following written judgments were delivered:—

May 20 Dixon C.J., Kitto and Taylor JJ.

This is an appeal by special leave from an order of the Full Court of the Supreme Court of Victoria, by which appeals were upheld against three orders made by Hudson J. in respect of the custody and adoption of a female infant.

The infant, who is illegitimate, was born on 8th September 1949. Her mother is dead and the identity of her father does not appear from the evidence. At the time of the hearing before Hudson J., that is to say in May 1956, she was nearly seven years of age, and had been in the custody of the appellant, to whom she is a stranger in blood, for two years and three months. She was originally placed in that custody by the respondent, who was her mother's sister. Hudson J. made an order in favour of the appellant on an application by her for custody, an order dismissing a cross-application by the respondent for custody, and an order authorising the appellant to adopt the infant. On appeal, the Full Court set aside all three orders and gave custody of the infant to the respondent. The appellant seeks from this Court a reversal of the Full Court's decision and a restoration of the orders of Hudson J.