PRIVY COUNCIL CASE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19798, 19 November 1927, Page 11

PRIVY COUNCIL CASE.

APPEAL FROM DOMINION. LOCAL JUDGMENT UPHELD. (Received November 18, 5.5 p.m.) A. and N.Z.-Sun. LONDON, Nov. 17. The New Zealand appeal case, Watson versus Haggitt and others, was to-day dismissed by the Privy Council. This was an appeal from the New Zealand Court of Appeal. The case was, one in which the plaintiff was Mrs. Bertha Haggitt and the defendant Mr. John Lachlan MacGillivray Watson. The facts of the case were that Haggitt, plaintiff's late husband, and Watson, were in partnership as solicitors under a deed of partnership for a term of 15 years. x\ft.er the expiration of this period the partners carried on the business as usual, without entering into a renewal of the deed, until the death of Haggitt determined the partnership. Watson claimed that before dividing the profits between himself and his late partner's representatives he was entitled to deduct £ISOO per year as salary. Mrs. Haggitt resisted this claim and desired a division of " net profits " before such deduction. Mr. Justice Sims held that Watson was entitled to make the deduction. The case hinged round the words " net profits" in the partnership deed. The New Zealand Appeal Court allowed the appeal with costs. The defendants appealed to the Privy Council.