INTRICATE CASE

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 94, 12 July 1927, Page 15

INTRICATE CASE

LEGALITY OF SALE OFFICIAL ASSIGNEE OBJECTS Press Association. WELLINGTON, To-day. The case of the Official Assignee v. Archibald Charles Fretwell came before the Appeal Court this morning. Respondent's brother Harry White Fretwell, was a farmer who was convicted on November 7 1923, of assault, and sentenced three days after to three years’ imprisonment. The injured man, one Drake, sued for damages, and on November 19, 1924, obtained a judgment for £699. Four days later Fretwell became bankrupt, and on the day he was found guilty, he conveyed all his property to his brother, the respondent, and received a mortgage back for £l,lBO, the land being already subject to a mortgage to the State Advances Office of £620. The official assignee brought an action to set the sale of the land and mortgage aside on the ground that Fretwell was not in law a convict deal with his property, and that the transaction was fraudulent. Mr. Justice Herdman held that Fretwell was n oitn law a convict until the day sentence was passed, and that fraud was not proved as the conveyance was made seven months before Drake brought his action, and on these grounds he gave judgment for the defendant. From this decision the official assignee now appeals. Mr. Gould appeared for the appellant and Mr. Northcroft for the respondent. The former argued that what Mr. Justice Herdman held to be a contract for sale, made on the day of the conviction, was in fact, only an offer which was not accepted until after sentence was passed, so that the sale was void, the date of acceptance being the date of sale. The case is proceeding.