Garnishee relief requires an admitted debt; a bona fide dispute over liability must be tried on evidence.

Summary garnishee relief is available only where the debt is admitted or the objection is frivolous; if the garnishee raises a bona fide and substantial dispute as to liability, the court should not determine the matter finally on affidavits alone. A claimed set-off arising from the same contractual dealings and allegations of negligence required the issue to be tried on evidence. On the record, no clear attachable debt from the garnishee to the judgment-debtor was shown, so attachment and payment could not be ordered summarily. The garnishee order was set aside and the matter remanded for determination on evidence with appropriate issues and discovery.

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Issues: (i) Whether a garnishee order can be made summarily when the garnishee raises a real and substantial dispute as to liability to the judgment-debtor. (ii) Whether the decree-holder had established the existence of a debt due from the garnishee to the judgment-debtor so as to justify attachment and payment.

Issue (i): Whether a garnishee order can be made summarily when the garnishee raises a real and substantial dispute as to liability to the judgment-debtor.

Analysis: The summary garnishee procedure is available only where the debt is admitted, or the objection is frivolous or without substance. Where the garnishee asserts that nothing is payable and sets up a substantive defence, including a claim of set-off arising from the same contractual dealings and alleged negligence, the court should not finally determine liability on affidavits alone. In such a case the proper course is to frame an issue and try the question on evidence.

Conclusion: The disputed liability should not have been decided summarily against the garnishee; the matter required trial on evidence.

Issue (ii): Whether the decree-holder had established the existence of a debt due from the garnishee to the judgment-debtor so as to justify attachment and payment.

Analysis: An application for garnishee relief must rest on an affidavit showing that a debt is believed to be due from the garnishee to the judgment-debtor. On the record, the materials did not disclose a clear, undisputed debt. The garnishee's denial was categorical, and the correspondence and affidavits showed a substantial contest over liability. In these circumstances, attachment and payment could not be ordered without adjudication of the underlying liability.

Conclusion: The existence of an attachable debt was not established sufficiently to support the summary order.

Final Conclusion: The garnishee order was set aside and the matter was remanded for determination on evidence with appropriate issues and discovery.

Ratio Decidendi: A garnishee order may be made summarily only where the debt is admitted or the dispute is insubstantial; if the garnishee raises a bona fide factual dispute as to liability, the court must direct a trial of the issue rather than decide the matter on affidavits.

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