Tyrone N. Butts
APE Reporter
Bequest for 'white babies' is not racist, rules judge
A court in Australia has upheld the right of an eccentric old lady to leave money to a Sydney hospital for the exclusive treatment of "white babies", ruling that such an act did not breach the country's laws on race discrimination.
The house of Marjorie Williams
Justice Peter Young, a judge in the New South Wales supreme court, ruled that the 82-year-old Sydney woman, Marjori
Williams, was entitled to attach conditions to a charitable gift but he rejected a second proviso in her will that her house be sold only to a "young white Australian couple". He argued that this
was
too difficult to define.
"There is far more room for uncertainty here than with the words 'white babies',
" he said. "Does it mean Australian by birth or a person who has since obtained Australian nationality? Does it mean that both members of the couple must be Australian?"
The judge described Miss Williams, who died in January 2002, as "a lady who had very strong dislikes". She had a particular antipathy towards her brother Eric, who she specified should "not get anything out of the [sale of the] house or one cent of any money".
Miss Williams and her idiosyncratic views came to light after her executor, Stephen Kay, and members of her family including her brother challenged the will. The supreme court ruling has displeased all in
volved - it upheld the A$10,000 (
A court in Australia has upheld the right of an eccentric old lady to leave money to a Sydney hospital for the exclusive treatment of "white babies", ruling that such an act did not breach the country's laws on race discrimination.
The house of Marjorie Williams
Justice Peter Young, a judge in the New South Wales supreme court, ruled that the 82-year-old Sydney woman, Marjori
Williams, was entitled to attach conditions to a charitable gift but he rejected a second proviso in her will that her house be sold only to a "young white Australian couple". He argued that this
was
too difficult to define.
"There is far more room for uncertainty here than with the words 'white babies',
" he said. "Does it mean Australian by birth or a person who has since obtained Australian nationality? Does it mean that both members of the couple must be Australian?"
The judge described Miss Williams, who died in January 2002, as "a lady who had very strong dislikes". She had a particular antipathy towards her brother Eric, who she specified should "not get anything out of the [sale of the] house or one cent of any money".
Miss Williams and her idiosyncratic views came to light after her executor, Stephen Kay, and members of her family including her brother challenged the will. The supreme court ruling has displeased all in
volved - it upheld the A$10,000 (