2018 Harold Ford Lecture

"Judicial advice to trustees: its origins, purposes and nature" presented by The Hon Chief Justice Susan Kiefel AC Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia

Date: 14 September 2018

The rather strange practice of equity courts of providing advice to trustees has a long history.  To understand how it evolved it is necessary to trace its origins and the later development of procedures arising out of the general administration action.  It is necessary to identify its purposes in order to understand both the breadth of the power to advise and its limits.  Equity's broader supervisory jurisdiction over trusts may be explicable by reference to history.  There may be questions whether orders by way of judicial advice involve judicial power or are to be regarded as historical anomalies.

View a copy of Justice Kiefel’s speech here.