The recent case of Breen v. Williams1 provided the High Court with an
opportunity to re-evaluate the fiduciary law of this country to bring it into
line with that of the Canadian jurisdiction. Canadian courts have a history
of imposing positive obligations on fiduciaries in novel situations, most
recently in respect of doctor-patient relationships. Such relationships, it
held, were fiduciary in nature and, by virtue of this, the doctor was said to
be burdened with a positive obligation to act with 'utmost good faith and
loyalty'2 towards the patient, an incident of which was to allow patients
access to their medical records. However, in a clear rejection of Canadian
developments, the High Court unanimously refused to expand the nature
and scope of Australian fiduciary law in such a way as to impose upon
doctors such an obligation.