Yewens v Noakes

Yewens v Noakes (1880) 6 QBD 530, was an English tax law case which addressed the question of the division between master and servant.

Facts
There was a statutory exemption for duty on inhabited houses where premises were occupied by 'a servant or other person.... for the protection

Judgment
The Court of Appeal held that a clerk who earned £150 a year did not fall within the definition of servant.

Lord Justice Bramwell gave judgment said, "a servant is a person who is subject to the command of his master as to the manner in which he shall do his work."

Lord Justice Thesiger said it was obvious that a salaried clerk was not a "servant" any more than were "the manager of a bank, a foreman with high wages, persons in the position almost of gentlemen."