Facts
- The P lent the D a sum of money, secured by a mortgage and several guarantors
- When the D defaulted on the loan, the P sued the mortgagees and guarantors
- The D said they could not do that based on provisions of the Banking Act 1953 which fined anybody who carried out banking without a proper license
- The P did not have a proper licence
Held
- The statute did not expressly render it unlawful to give or lend money without a licence, it just imposed a fine on those who did (similarity to building licenses here)
- This was supported because the fine was not per contract, it was per day.
- The HCA refused to believe that parliament would have intended to render the contract illegal where the result would e grave injury to innocent members of the public
-- Download Yango Pastoral Co Pty Ltd v First Chicago Australia Ltd (1978) 139 CLR 410 as PDF --

