WCX v Homebuilding [2025] NSWCA 16
A builder obtained judgment against C who held a line of credit from a funder. The Sheriff sought to execute on property of C which the funder then claimed. It was argued the Sheriff acted unlawfully, as ‘functions in relation to … any legal proceedings to which the Sheriff is a party … are to be exercised by the Sheriff’s alternate, and not by the Sheriff’8.
This was rejected. The office of Sheriff pre-dates the Norman Conquest9 with functions largely concerning ‘physical conduct in the real world’. Purpose and legislative history confirmed that execution on assets did not make the Sheriff a ‘party’. A Sheriff seeking to execute has no personal interest in the property.
This principle is from Episode 119 of interpretation NOW!
Footnotes:
8 s 6(1)(a) of the Sheriff Act 2005 (NSW).
9 [65], Prest Blackstone’s Commentaries (266), Bennett (1976) 7 SLR 360.