Armitage v Nurse

Armitage v Nurse is the leading decision in English trusts law concerning the validity of exemption clauses. The Court of Appeal held that in English law trustee exemption clauses can validly exempt trustees from liability for all breaches of trust except fraud. Millett LJ gave the leading judgment.

Facts

Millett LJ summarises the facts at p. 248 of the report.

Judgment

In the hearing of the Court of Appeal, Bernard Weatherill QC for Armitage submitted that the "irreducible core" duties of a trustee include the following.
Gregory Hill made submissions for Nurse.

Court of Appeal

Millett LJ held that only a clause which purported to exclude liability for fraud would be considered repugnant and contrary to public policy. Thus the exclusion clause in favour of the trustee was allowed.
This case was cited by the NSW Supreme Court case of Maleski v Hampson.