Where a husband forges his wife's signature on a loan agreement and mortgage, and the mortgage definition of 'Secured Agreement' is broad enough to encompass 'any agreement' between the mortgagee and any one of the mortgagors, an implied agreement arising from the husband's execution of the loan documents and the advancing of money may fall within that definition, distinguishing the narrower definition in English which required written acknowledgment. The Consumer Credit Code s 70 does not apply to a person who becomes a mortgagor only by operation of the Real Property Act 1900 (per Young JA), though the question of whether the Code can apply to statutory mortgagors was left open by Hodgson JA. Compensation from the Torrens Assurance Fund for a joint tenant affected by a forged mortgage is not the full amount of the mortgage debt, but the difference between the value of the claimant's beneficial interest and the sum received after payment of the mortgage.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 4 later cases that cite this judgment.