- Title
- The Bathurst Diocese decision in Australia and its implications for the civil liability of churches
- Creator
- Foster, Neil
- Relation
- Ecclesiastical Law Society Vol. 19, Issue 1, p. 14-34
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0956618X1600106X
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2017
- Description
- In the New South Wales Supreme Court decision of Anglican Development Fund Diocese of Bathurst v Palmer in December 2015, a single judge of the court held that a large amount of money which had been lent to institutions in the Anglican Diocese of Bathurst, and guaranteed by a letter of comfort issued by the then bishop of the diocese, had to be repaid by the bishop-in-council, including (should it be necessary) levying the necessary funds from the parishes. The lengthy judgment contains a number of interesting comments on the legal personality of church entities and may have long-term implications (and not merely in Australia) for unincorporated, mainstream denominations and their contractual and tortious liability to meet orders for payment of damages. The article discusses the decision and some of those implications.
- Subject
- diocese; liability; tort; contract; legal personality; solvency
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1351494
- Identifier
- uon:30720
- Identifier
- ISSN:0956-618X
- Rights
- This article has been published in a revised form in Ecclesiastical Law Society http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0956618X1600106X. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © Ecclesiastical Law Society.
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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