Declaration, alleging that the plaintiff was a member of a mutual insurance society, which insured members against losses to ships entered and insured in the books of the society, on a deposit being made of 5l. per cent, on the amount insured ; that the defendants were the committee of the society, by the rules of which they had the entire control of the funds and affairs of the society, and were to determine on the admission or rejection of ships insured or proposed for insurance; that by another rule, ‘if the committee shall at any time deem the conduct of any member suspicious, or that such member is for any other reason unworthy of remaining in this society, they shall have full power to exclude such member, by directing the secretary to give such member notice in writing that the committee have excluded such member from the society, and, after the giving of such notice, such member shall be excluded, and have no claim or be responsible for or in respect of any loss or damage happening after such notice ; ‘ that the plaintiff, as such member, had entered a ship on the books of the society, and had paid the deposit, and was thereupon entitled to an indemnity for loss happening to the ship ; that the defendants, well knowing the premises, but ‘wrongfully, collusively, and improperly contriving to deprive the plaintiff of the benefit of such indemnity, did wrongfully, collusively, and improperly expel the plaintiff from the society on the alleged ground that his conduct was suspicious, or that he was for some reason unworthy of remaining in the society, without giving the plaintiff, or any person on his behalf, any opportunity whatsoever of being heard before them, and without, in fact, hearing the plaintiff, or any person on his behalf, in defence and vindication of the plaintiff’s conduct as a member of the society with reference to the said ground of expulsion ‘; whereby the plaintiff lost the benefit of an indemnity for damage which his ship subsequently sustained, and was otherwise damnified. Demurrer.
Held: that the declaration shewed no cause of action.
By Kelly, C.B., Pollock and Amphlett, BB. (following Blisset v. Daniel, 10 Hare, 493), on the ground that, assuming the allegations of the declaration to be true, the act of the defendants in expelling the plaintiff without giving him an opportunity of being heard was void ; that the plaintiff, therefore, still remained a member of the society, and had sustained no damage.
By Cleasby and Pollock, BB., on the ground that the declaration did not sufficiently charge mala fides.
Quaere, by Cleasby and Amphlett, BB., whether any action would lie against the defendants for acts done by them in the discharge of their functions as members of the committee.
Kelly CB said of audi alteram partem: ‘This rule is not confined to the conduct of strictly legal tribunals, but is applicable to every tribunal or body of persons invested with authority to adjudicate upon matters involving civil consequences to individuals’.
Kelly CB
[1874] UKLawRpExch 26, (1873-1874) LR 9 Exch 190
Commonlii
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Blisset v Daniel 1853
The court considered the limits on a power of expulsion from a partnership.
Held: (Page-Wood V-C) Construing the articles, two-thirds of the partners could expel a partner by serving a notice upon him without holding any meeting or giving any . .
Cited by:
Cited – Ridge v Baldwin (No 1) HL 14-Mar-1963
No Condemnation Without Opportunity For Defence
Ridge, a Chief Constable, had been wrongfully dismissed because he was not given the opportunity of presenting his defence. He had been acquitted of the charges brought against him, but the judge at trial had made adverse comments about his . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 10 October 2021; Ref: scu.653098