Ong on Subrogation

In this book Professor Denis Ong, author of the acclaimed works Trusts Law, Ong on Equity and Ong on Specific Performance, addresses the complexities of the equitable doctrine of Subrogation. This lucid text ranges over all areas where the doctrine is most commonly applied - insurance, trusts and the administration of estates, and sureties.

Generally, the key principles of law are identified and the key cases, across Australian and international jurisdictions, discussed in detail.

Ong on Subrogation has been cited in the Victorian Court of Appeal in Commonwealth v Byrnes and Hewitt [2018] VSCA 41 (a decision of a five-member bench of the Court):

104. More recently, Ong, (1) frankly designates the High Court's decision 'inaccurate'. He concludes that due to its 'disappointing' and fundamentally mistaken omission to acknowledge and apply the established distinction between exoneration and recoupment, the plurality made inaccurately wide statements, which unduly restricted the respective entitlements of both trust and non-trust creditors. Ong acknowledges, that, at one point at least, the plurality seem to suggest that the trustee's charge securing the right of indemnity enures for the benefit of all its creditors. Ong considers that to be contrary to the fundamental, purpose-restricted nature of that right. Ong states that on the basis of the established principles articulated in In re Richardson, the High Court should have clearly endorsed the trust creditors' unique access to the right of indemnity in its exoneration aspect.

(1) Denis Ong, Ong on Subrogation (Federation Press, 2014) 33-8.