The Court granted the Patriarch judicial advice that he was justified in defending trust proceedings and prosecuting a counterclaim concerning the charitable purposes of church land, and made an indemnity order permitting costs to be paid from trust funds subject to a costs cap of $506,875 and subject to revocation or variation by the trial judge. The Court dismissed a proposed objector's application for joinder, holding that the summary character of judicial advice proceedings under Order 54 precluded treating the plaintiff in the main proceeding as a party of parity, particularly where the Attorney-General was joined as protector of the charity. On the contested question of whether confidential counsel opinions should be provided to the court in judicial advice applications, the Court affirmed the usual Victorian practice of receiving such opinions, distinguishing Edelman J's observations in Plan B Trustees as not cast in definitive terms and as arising under different legislation.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 3 later cases that cite this judgment.
2 of the 3 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.