Research project

'Recognising and Responding to Economic Forms of Domestic Violence in Private Law'(funded by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship)

This project explores the role of vitiating doctrines in identifying and responding to economic forms of domestic violence against women. Economic (or financial) abuse is a broad term that captures a wide range of behaviours, from restricting access to bank accounts, taking income, identity theft, refusing to contribute to household expenses, and the phenomenon of ‘emotionally transmitted debt,’ besides many others. It occurs when one partner controls, manipulates or exploits the other partner’s ability to deal with their financial circumstances.

This project is particularly concerned with transactions procured in abusive and exploitative circumstances. Such transactions will remain valid unless a vitiating factor is identified. The equitable doctrines that make up the framework for this identification are, therefore, of great importance in assessing whether the legal response to economic forms of domestic violence is effective. Equity has developed concepts to identify which cases require intervention, such as duress (insofar as it is argued as a basis for equitable relief), unconscionable conduct, the special wives’ equity, and undue influence. However, the new understanding of economic abuse as a form of domestic violence justifies a doctrinal and empirical re-examination of a framework that was developed without this type of violence in mind.

This project aims to understand the role of these doctrines in three ways. First, it will examine the jurisprudence using traditional doctrinal analysis. Second, it will systematically analyse judgments in cases where a current or former partner seeks equitable intervention to determine how and why courts decide whether to apply a vitiating doctrine. Finally, both the doctrinal and empirical analysis will be critically evaluated using feminist legal theory, and domestic violence sociological discourses (especially feminist strands, including coercive control theory).