Garnishee Order. (Law school bar/oral question).

Question:  Define  the Garnishee  Order.  

The Garnishee order  is order  of the Court, Obtained by  judgment creditor  attaching  funds in  the hand  of third party who  owes the judgment  creditor  money,  warning  the third party the garnishee not  to release  the  money attached until  directed by the court  to do so.  See Sheldon’s Practice  and  Law of Banking, page 195. (Simply:  Garnishee  Order  is the Order  of Court  served on a Garnishee attaching  a debt  in  his hands.  Garnishee is a  person who has been warned by a Court to  pay a debt  to  a third party rather  than  to the  owner).

Notes:  Banker and Customer  –  duty  of  secrecy.  The guiding  case on  this subject is  Tounier vs.  National  Provincial  Bank (1923)  in this case  the  court  held  that  the  banker’s obligation  secrecy regarding his  Customer’s affairs was  a  legal  one arising  out  of contract implied  in  the  relation  of Banker and customer, but  that the duty  of secrecy is not absolute  but  is  qualified. The Court  cited the following  qualifications as examples:                                                      

a). where the disclosure is under  compulsion  by  law;                         

b).  where  there  is  a  duty  to  public to  disclose;                                   

c).  where  there  is  interest  of the Bank  require  disclosure; and 

d).  where  disclosure  is  made by  express  or implied  consent of customer.