Storie v Storie [1945] HCA 56

Storie v Storie [1945] HCA 56

The order refusing the mother's application for custody should be set aside because insufficient weight was given to the importance of parental care for the child’s welfare and the estrangement from her mother caused by the existing arrangement with a non-parent. The welfare of the child required her to be returned...

Source-derived case information.

Parties
Appellant: Agnes Cis Storie; Respondent: Eric Ernest Holmes Storie
Jurisdiction
Australia
Procedural Posture
Appeal / High Court of Australia on Appeal From the Full Court of the Supreme Court of Victoria
Outcome
Appeal allowed
Legal Topics
Custody of Children, Welfare of the Child, Exercise of Judicial Discretion
Family Law Custody of Children Welfare of the Child Exercise of Judicial Discretion

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Parties

Agnes Cis Storie

Appellant

Eric Ernest Holmes Storie

Respondent

Procedural Posture

Appeal / High Court of Australia on Appeal From the Full Court of the Supreme Court of Victoria

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Whether the mother’s application for custody of her child should have been refused in circumstances where the child was placed with a third party and not both parents.
  2. 2 Whether the appellate court should interfere with an order refusing custody on the basis of the welfare of the child and the exercise of discretion by the primary judge.

Ratio Decidendi

The order refusing the mother's application for custody should be set aside because insufficient weight was given to the importance of parental care for the child’s welfare and the estrangement from her mother caused by the existing arrangement with a non-parent. The welfare of the child required her to be returned to her mother, and the appellate court was justified in interfering with the primary judge's discretion on the basis that an injustice would otherwise result.

Court Disposition

Appeal allowed

Orders

  • Order of Supreme Court set aside
  • Order that Eric Ernest Holmes Storie do within fourteen days of the service of this order upon him deliver up the infant child Lynette Violet Storie into the custody of Agnes Cis Storie, the mother of the said infant, and that the said infant do remain in the care and custody of her said mother, but so that the...