Where a deed of release is drafted by one party's solicitors and described in covering correspondence as prepared 'to record the settlement that has been reached', and the other party's solicitor accepts the deed without objection, the agreement falls within the first class of Masters v Cameron and is immediately binding regardless of whether the deed is subsequently executed. Post-agreement conduct — including unqualified statements to the court that proceedings have settled, and failure to protest the absence of agreement — is relevant evidence of intention to be immediately bound. The 'general rule' suggested by Young J in Cleary v Masterton (that there is no binding settlement until a deed is delivered and exchanged) does not rise above an empirical generalisation and does not apply where the evidence otherwise demonstrates an intention to be immediately bound.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 12 later cases that cite this judgment.