University of Southampton

Law School

EQUITY & TRUSTS LAW

Seminar Materials

2012/2013

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 Equity & Trusts

Seminar Outlines 2012/2013

The structure of this module

The first seminars will be held in rotation starting from weeks 3 and 4 of the first
semester. Seminars are bi-weekly. Students must read chapters 1 and 2 in Hudson’s
Equity & Trusts, or a similar textbook, by way of introduction to this topic before the
first seminar. This module is structured so that these materials will be covered in
lectures before students are required to consider them for seminars.

The following 10 seminars will form the basis of the module.

Seminar Title Week commencing,

No. depending on your
group:
1 Certainty of intention & certainty of 15 Oct / 22 Oct
subject matter
2 Certainty of objects 29 Oct / 5 Nov
3 The beneficiary principle 12 Nov / 19 Nov.
4 The constitution of trusts 26 Nov / 3 Dec.
5 Duties of trustees and breach of trust 10 Dec / 7 Jan.
6 Constructive trusts 28 Jan / 4 Feb.
7 Trusts of homes 11 Feb. / 18 Feb.
8 Dishonest assistance and knowing receipt 25 February / 4 Mar.
9 Tracing 11 Mar / 15 Apr
10 Charities 22 Apr / 29 Apr

What to read for this module

This document contains the questions which you will consider for the larger part of
your seminars, together with some further journal reading – while the core reading is
set out in the Lecture Materials. These materials contain cross-references to the
Lecture Materials to tell you which cases, statutes, textbook and journal material you
are expected to have read. You are given references to Hudson’s textbook Equity &
Trusts and to two other textbooks in the Lecture Materials: if you are using other
textbooks or other casebooks, then you should rely on the indexes and tables of cases
to identify the appropriate parts of those books.

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How to study for this module

You must bring your casebooks, detailed notes and/or copies of judgments (depending
on how you are choosing to study) to seminars. Cases with ** must be read in full.
Cases with * should be read in detail, but a casebook may suffice. All other cases
mentioned in the course documents must also be considered to identify their core
principles.

The aim of this hand-out is to guide your preparation for seminars. This does not
necessarily cover the whole of the module, although the manner in which material is
covered in lectures and in seminars should guide you as to material considered to be
important enough to be assessed in the examination. The seminars aim to follow the
pattern of the lectures. The seminars can only focus on the most important cases and
issues: for that, you should be guided by the lectures. The seminar will concentrate on
the problems which you are referred to below.

It may not be possible to consider all of the problems for each seminar in class – your
seminar leader will guide you on this matter. Your seminar leader will focus on the
most important aspects of each topic and therefore you should be guided by their
advice. However, you must prepare all of the seminar questions in advance.

The lay-out of these materials

The materials for each seminar follow a set format. Each Seminar Topic correlates
exactly with each of the Topics in the Lecture Materials. One of the most significant
features of these seminars is that having only one hour per fortnight means that you
must be well-prepared so that none of this precious time is lost. Therefore, each of
these Seminar Materials are set out in the following order:

 The “Self-test Questions” are intended to guide your preparation before the
seminar. You should be able to answer these questions as you go through your
reading. Being able to answer them will lead you through a basic
comprehension of the law. Your seminar leader may choose to begin with
some or all of these questions to test your group’s comprehension of the law.
 The “Seminar Questions” are the questions which will form the principal
focus of your seminars. You must prepare them in advance of your seminar.
The shorter problem questions are intended to allow your seminar leader to
assess how well your group has understood the law, and to enable you to
practice your skills. By contrast, the longer problem questions and the essay
titles allow you to practice the skills which you will need to perform well in
the examination: these questions give you an indication of the type of
questions (if not necessarily the exact subject matter of the questions) which
are likely to be asked in the final examination.
 The “Further Questions” are examples of the sorts of questions which might
be asked in the examination, and as such they will enable you to practice and
to assess your progress at revision time.

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Importantly, your seminar leader may choose to focus on some questions more than
others within your seminar, or they may introduce different questions entirely. You
should be guided by them.

A suggestion for your work method

You should think of seminars as being in the middle of your preparation, and not as
being the last time you look at the material; just as you have been advised to read in
advance of lectures. You are advised to find some time as soon as possible after your
seminars finish to write up your notes, or to perform whatever operation works best
for your mind so that you will be able to pick up the threads of the seminar topic again
when revising before the examination.

Extra materials to help you with your preparation

You might (or you might not!) find it helpful to use Professor Hudson’s trusts law
podcasts on www.alastairhudson.com as an introduction to your studies. The summary
podcasts – which last on average for 10 or 15 minutes – are designed to help you to
understand “the big picture” in relation to each area of law before you start your
reading and to understand how to structure a problem answer. It is always easier to
prepare for a seminar if you understand the outline of the material first. Recordings of
Professor Hudson’s lectures will also be put online some time after the lectures have
been delivered. There are other podcasts on that website setting out pathways to
further reading and probing further into some of the individual cases. However, these
podcasts are not intended to be a replacement for reading the material.

Assessment

The problem questions and essay titles in these seminar materials are intended both to
guide your attention to the issues which are considered most important in each area
and also to give you examples of potential examination questions. Previous years’
examination papers are available through the College web-site and through the library
in the usual way.

During the module, students will be set two assessments as contained in these
materials: one in each semester.

Key

Abbreviations: AH = Hudson’s Equity & Trusts (full references are in the Lecture
Materials); ME = Modern Equity; HM = Hayton & Mitchell; MB = Maudsley & Burn.

ASH

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 Seminar 1
Introduction to equity & trusts,
certainty of intention and certainty of subject matter

The aims of this seminar are twofold. First to consider the nature of equity and “conscience”.
Second, to consider certainty of intention and of subject matter which are essential to the
formation of an express private trust. In particular students could be aware of those forms of
action in relation to the treatment of property which will lead to the creation of a trust.

For the appropriate cases for this seminar, you should read the Introductory
material and Topic 1 in the Lecture Course Documents. You are expected to have
prepared all of the material in those sections on the Lecture Materials.

The textbook reading can be found at:-

AH 1 – 146
ME 3 – 77, 94 – 103
HM 3 – 58, 141 – 163
MB 1 – 89

Self-test Questions
These questions are intended for you to follow through your preparation in advance of the seminar.

1. How do the following people understand equity:

(a) Aristotle,
(b) Lord Ellesmere in the Earl of Oxford’s Case,
(c) Charles Dickens in Bleak House,
(d) Lord Browne-Wilkinson in Westdeutsche Landesbank v Islington?
(e) Why was the Judicature Act 1873 important?
(f) An idea to think about throughout the course: “what is a conscience?” (See Hudson, section
32.2, at p.1305)

2. When a trust comes into existence:

(a) What are the respective rights of the settlor, trustees and beneficiaries?
(b) What are the benefits of a trust?
(c) What is a “fiduciary”?

3. In relation to the cases on certainty of intention:

(a) What action or form of words will lead to the creation of a trust?
(b) What sort of intention in relation to the property is necessary, e.g. as in Paul v Constance
or Re Kayford?
(c) How were the principles in Re Kayford adopted in Brazzill v Willoughby and in Mills v
Sportsdirect.com?

4. In relation to the cases on certainty of subject matter:

(a) Read and be prepared to discuss the judgment of Lord Mustill in Re Goldcorp on certainty
of subject matter.
(b) Read and be prepared to discuss the basis on which Dillon LJ in Hunter v Moss justified
reaching a different judgment from that suggested by the line of authorities including Re
London Wine and Re Goldcorp.

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 (c) How does White v Shortall criticise Hunter v Moss, and what approach does it adopt
instead?
(d) Why did the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court in the Lehman Bros cases reach the
decisions that they did? To what extent do those cases affect the traditional trusts law
principles?

Read and be prepared to discuss the following cases:-

Certainty of Intention
 Paul v Constance
 Re Kayford
With the following cases, focus on the certainty of intention points specifically:
 Brazzill v Willoughby
 Mills v Sportsdirect.com Retail Ltd

Certainty of Subject Matter

 Re Goldcorp
 Hunter v Moss
 Re Harvard Securities
 MacJordan v Brookmount
 White v Shortall
With the following cases, focus on the certainty of subject matter points specifically:
 Re Global Trader Europe Ltd
 Re Lehman Bros International (Europe)(No2)
 Re Lehman Brothers International (Europe)(in administration) v CRC Credit Fund Ltd

Seminar Questions
Question 1

(a) Dick owes Mervyn £100,000 as part of a business transaction. Mervyn wants to ensure that he is
protected against the risk that Dick’s business will go into insolvency before payment is made. Advise
Mervyn, precisely, how Mervyn should insist that Dick organises his affairs so that Mervyn is protected
under trusts law before payment is made.

(b) Consider whether or not it would be sufficient to create a trust if Dick says: “Your money is
protected. It’s safe. Think of it as being in your box.”? If you think that it is not sufficient, what should
Mervyn require that Dick does?

(c) If Dick tells Mervyn that he has opened a new bank account with £100,000 in it, but if the money is
not actually paid into such an account, then what is Mervyn’s legal position?

Question 2

Dolly collected paintings and sculptures. She wanted to benefit her two adult children Edward and
Fenella. For this purpose she decided that her children should take a benefit in two abstract oil paintings
(one titled “Pretension” and the other “Self-importance”) and two sculptures, in her words, “so that they
got one each”. The two sculptures were identical, machine-produced casts of Magritte’s “The Head
with Clouds” which were effectively indistinguishable from one another.

Therefore, Dolly decided to send an email to her personal assistant on 1st January in the following
terms: “I don’t understand the legal niceties, but I want Edward and Fenella to be able to benefit from
Pretension and Self-Importance and my sculptures. I want it sorted out, please. One painting each, one
sculpture each. Completely ring-fenced for them. Arrange a meeting with my solicitors to tie it all up.”

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On 2nd January, Dolly decided to write identical letters to Edward and Fenella. Each letter read: “Uncle
Charlie will hold one painting and one sculpture for you as soon as I get it sorted out with the
solicitors.”

Dolly died on 2nd February. The solicitors had not met with Dolly before that time.

(a) Advise the executors of Dolly’s estate as to whether or not there was sufficient certainty of
intention to create a trust.

(b) Advise the executors of Dolly’s estate as to whether or not there was sufficient certainty of
subject matter in the oil paintings and the sculptures.

(c) Would your answer differ if the items of property were shares in an ordinary company? If so,
do you think that that is a meaningful distinction?

(d) Would your answer differ if Dolly had created one trust and provided “both sculptures and
both paintings shall be held on trust for Edward and Fenella equally”?

Question 3

If equity is a flexible doctrine which is concerned with “good conscience” and morality, then why does
trusts law begin with a study of the rigidity of the three “certainties”? How can this paradox be
resolved?

Question 4

Following on from Question 3 above, why on earth does Hudson think (Equity & Trusts, section 1.3.3,
p.24) that equity is like “cool jazz” if it involves so much certainty?

Further Questions
Question 1 (another self-test question)

Celia was a successful artist who wanted to take a break after an exhibition of her work. So, she went on
a round-the-world trip for a year. Celia wanted her close friend and fellow artist, Arthur, to look after
her affairs while she was gone. Arthur agreed to look after all of Celia’s valuable chattels (her
computer, her customized motorbike, her jewellery, and so forth), and to administer her bank account
and her business affairs. Arthur decided to store all of the chattels in one corner of his garage separately
from all of his own property. Arthur mixed some of the money from selling Celia’s paintings with his
own money for convenience: but he kept a clear and honest note of how much money he owed to Celia.
Six months later, Arthur went into insolvency.

(a) What rights does Celia have (in trusts law terms)?

(b) What information would you need to know from the parties to reach your decision?

(c) How might different pieces of information lead you to different conclusions? (Remember, in
practice it is usually the case that the parties’ bring you confused accounts of what has happened,
and you have to try to impose some order and sense onto them.)

Question 2 (another self-test question)

You are in a supermarket. You pay £10 for goods which cost £7. Mistakenly, the till operator pays you
£13 in change as though you had paid with a £20 note.

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(a) What should you do?
(b) Is there is a difference here between what morality or ethics might prompt you to do, and what
law or equity might require you to do?
(c) Does it matter that the supermarket sold you £3 of rotten fruit the week before?
(d) Does it make a difference that you are a communist anti-globalisation activist who believes
that making profits is immoral?

Question 3 (a possible exam question, which is continued in other seminars)

“There is a paradox at the heart of equity: at times it is wilfully flexible, even chaotic; whereas at other
times it is rigid and dogmatic.” Discuss.

Question 4 (a part of a possible exam question)

Jared learned that he had a terminal illness in January and so embarked on the following dealings with
various items of his property.

Jared wanted to settle £300,000, which he kept in cash in a safe in his office, on trust for his two adult
children, Ina and Javier. Therefore, on 1 March he declared that: “Henceforth £150,000 shall be held on
trust by Jack for Ina as beneficiary absolutely”. On the same day he declared that: “Henceforth,
£150,000 shall be held on trust by Jill for Javier as beneficiary absolutely”. On 10 March, Jared
changed his mind and decided to declare that Jared would hold the entire £300,000 on trust for his
brother, Lionel.

Jared died on 2 April 2010.

Advise the parties as to the ownership of the various items of property.

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 Seminar 2
Certainty of objects

The aim of this seminar is to consider the issue of certainty of objects which is essential to the
formation of an express private trust. In particular students should be aware of those forms of
action in relation to the treatment of property which will lead to the creation of a trust.

For the appropriate cases for this seminar, you should see Topic 2 in the Lecture
Materials.

For background reading to this topic you could consider Prof Thomas’s seminal
work Powers or chapter 4 of Thomas and Hudson’s The Law of Trusts. By way of
textbook reading you should focus on the following:-
AH 146 – 178
ME 79 – 123
HM 141 – 184
MB 89 – 108

Self-test Questions
1. Why is certainty so important in the law of trusts?

2. (a) What is the distinction between:

(i) a fixed trust,
(ii) a discretionary trust power,
(iii) a fiduciary mere power, and
(iv) a personal power?

(b) Why should each of the concepts in (a) have different rules for certainty?

(c) How can the rigour of these rules be mitigated by using alternative case law?

(d) Why are there restrictions on simply allowing the trustees to resolve any uncertainty
themselves?

(e) Consider the cases on the word “friends”. Why is there is a problem with using the word
“friends” in trusts? Why has it been found to be void in some circumstances, and why has it
been found to valid in other circumstances? How should a settlor qualify the word “friend” to
make sure that it is valid?

3. Read and be prepared to discuss the following cases:

 Re Hay’s Settlement Trusts
 IRC v Broadway Cottages
 Re Gulbenkian
 McPhail v Doulton
 Re Baden No 2
 Re Barlow

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  Re Tuck’s ST
 Re Coxen

Seminar Questions
Consider the trusts law analysis of the following:-

1. Celia declared her intention to settle £100,000 on trust so that “my trustees shall advance a
maximum of £10,000 per annum to any of my dear friends who are in financial difficulties”.

2. Deborah declared her intention to settle £50,000 “to be held on trust for my relatives equally”.

3. Jack wishes to create the following dispositions by transferring four parcels of £10,000 to his
trustees. Each parcel of £10,000 has been separated from all other moneys.

(a) so that my trustees shall hold £10,000 for whichever of my relatives they shall consider to
be most deserving of it;

(b) so that my trustees may pay £10,000 to any of my most loyal customers which they may
select, but so that the money shall be spent within eighty years;

(c) £10,000 so that my trustees may pay any amount out of that fund to whichever of the
inhabitants of Emsworth they shall consider to be the most hard-working; such that the trustees
may decide on the application of this money in their personal discretion.

(d) £10,000 to my trustees so that they shall divide it as they shall see fit between my close
friends whom they may consider to be most deserving of it.

4. If equity is a flexible doctrine which is concerned with “good conscience” and morality, then
why does trusts law begin with a study of the three “certainties”? How can this paradox be resolved?
(This was also Question 3 in the last seminar.)

Further Question
Question 1 (this question is of a type which could form part of an examination question)

Arthur wishes to settle four, separate sums of £10,000 (which are held in separate bank accounts) on the
following terms:-

(a) So that my trustees shall hold £10,000 on trust for such brave patriots as they shall identify.

(b) So that my trustees may pay any sum out of £10,000 to whichever of my relatives have
shown me the most kindness.

Advise Arthur.

Further reading:-
 Emery, C. “The Most Hallowed Principle-Certainty of Beneficiaries in Trusts and Powers of
Appointment” (1982) Vol. 98 LQR 551
 Grub, ‘Powers, Trusts and Classes of Objects’ (1982) Conv. 432
 Matthews, P, “A Heresy and a Half in Certainty of Objects” (1984) Conv 202
 Martin J and Hayton D, Certainty of Objects - What is Heresy? [1984] Conv. 307
 Hayton D, “Uncertainty of Subject Matter of Trusts” (1994) Vol.110 LQR 335
 Birks P, ‘The content of fiduciary obligations’ (2002) Tru Law Int 16(1) 34-52 at pp 36-38

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 Seminar 3
The Beneficiary Principle

This seminar considers the importance of there being some human or other legal person (such as
a company) who can act as a beneficiary so that there will be a valid trust. The basis of the
beneficiary principle relates to the need for certainty (considered in the previous seminar) and for
the need to comply with the perpetuity rules and the rules against remoteness. This seminar will
introduce you to the ways in which trusts lawyers manipulate trusts concepts to achieve the results
their clients require so that they both create valid trusts and put their purposes into effect.

For the appropriate cases for this seminar, you should see Topic 3 in the Lecture
Materials.

For the appropriate textbook references for this seminar you should focus on the
following:-
AH 179 – 239
ME 391 – 420
HM 185 – 213
MB 357 – 403

By way of periodical reading, you should read the following:-

 *Langbein, “The contractarian basis of the law of trusts” (1995) 105 Yale Law Journal 625.
 *Hayton, “Developing the obligation characteristic of the trust” (2001) 117 LQR 96.

Self-test Questions
1. What circumstances will constitute a trust which is created for the benefit of people rather than
being invalid for a purpose?

2. Read and be prepared to discuss the following cases:

 Saunders v Vautier
 Leahy v Att-Gen for NSW
 Re Denley
 Re Lipinski
 Re Grant’s Will Trusts
 Re Recher’s Will Trusts
 Conservative Association v Burrell
 Re West Sussex Constabulary, etc.
 Re Bucks Constabulary, etc.
 Re Horley Town FC

3. (a) Would it have been possible to uphold the trust in Leahy on the basis that it would have
been for the benefit of members of the order of nuns? (b) Could the judgement in Denley have been
used for this purpose? (c) Why were those two cases decidedly differently?

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4. (a) When a club or association (i.e. any body which is not incorporated as a company)
distributes its assets, on what basis are they distributed to which people? (b) Why do we consider cases
to do with “clubs” and “associations” in relation to trusts law? (c) How does the law of contract help us
to come to a different analysis? (d) Does the law of contract resolve questions of ownership of the
property?

5. (a) What are the essential characteristics of a beneficiary’s interest under a trust? (b) How does
Viscount Simonds in Leahy seem to understand that interest different from Goff J in Re Denley and
Oliver J in Re Lipinski.

6. Why do some people (e.g. Hayton) argue for the abolition of the beneficiary principle?

Seminar Questions
Consider whether or not the following dispositions will constitute valid trusts:

1. Celia left £100,000 to an unincorporated association “to be used for the purposes of the
association now and in the future”.

2. Dipali left £500 to an unincorporated association “to be used for the enjoyment of the current
members in accordance with the terms of the association’s constitutional purposes”.

3. Arthur left £10,000 to an unincorporated association on the following terms: “this £10,000
shall be used by the officers of the association for the purposes of the association as determined by the
association’s members in accordance with the club’s constitution.”

4. Jack wishes to create the following dispositions by transferring four parcels of £10,000 to his
trustees. Each parcel of £10,000 has been separated from all other moneys.

(a) so that my trustees shall hold £10,000 for the purposes of the Southampton Arm-Wrestling
Club to provide equipment for the club’s activities;

(b) so that my trustees shall transfer £10,000 to the treasurer of the Hampshire Naturists
Association as an accretion to the association’s funds to be used for its general purposes.

(c) £10,000 to my trustees so that they shall use it for the purpose of constructing a clubhouse
for the Highfield Strollers Football Club.

(d) £10,000 to be paid by my trustees to the treasurer of the Portsmouth Poker Association
subject to a mandate to use the money in accordance with the association’s purposes.

5. Having read the articles by Langbein and by Hayton, should trusts be considered merely to be
forms of contract? What would be the effects of such a change of analysis?

Further Questions
Question 1 (which could be an examination question on the beneficiary principle and certainty of
objects combined.)

Arthur wishes to settle four, separate sums of £10,000 (which are held in separate bank accounts) on the
following terms.

(a) So that my trustees shall hold £10,000 on trust for such brave patriots as they shall identify.

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 (b) So that my trustees may pay any sum out of £10,000 to whichever of my relatives have
shown me the most kindness.
(c) So that my trustees shall pay £10,000 to the Treasurer of the Mile End Polo Club to
advance the club’s activities.
(d) So that my trustees shall pay £10,000 to the Treasurer of the Stepney Cricket Club so that
he shall use the money to build a new clubhouse with a kitchen for catering purposes.

Advise Arthur.

Question 2 (which could be an examination question)

‘If the trust is not to be rendered commercially useless, then it must be understood as being something
closer to a contract than a creature of some antiquated notion of “good conscience”’. Discuss.

Question 3

Are the arguments for the abolition of the beneficiary principle entirely moral?

Further reading

 N Gravells, Public Purpose Trusts (1977) 40 MLR 397

 B Green, ‘The Dissolution of Unincorporated Non-Profit Associations’ (1980) 43 MLR 626
 S Gardner, ‘New Angles on Unincorporated Associations’ [1992] Conv 41
 P Matthews, ‘A Problem in the Construction of Gifts to Unincorporated Associations’ [1995]
Conv 302
 S Gardner, ‘A Detail in the Construction of Gifts to Unincorporated Associations’ [1998] Conv 8

Note: your first in-course assessment is set out overleaf and, for students of
Professor Hudson, it must be handed in at the next seminar.

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 Equity & Trusts

First Assessment1

Your class tutor will give you the hand-in deadline and procedure for this assignment.
For students of Professor Hudson, this assignment must be handed in at the next seminar, being Seminar 4.
(This is a “formative” assignment and as such does not form part of your final grade for this module.)

Bertie has recently died. All the property he had left in the world was £300,000 in
cash which was held in three separate parcels of £100,000 each in three separate cash
boxes marked A, B and C. In his will he appointed his wife Priscilla and his son
Archibald to be his executors and trustees. His will contains the following
dispositions:

‘(i) I leave the specific sum of £100,000 (held in cash box A) to be held on trust to
be divided equally between such servants of the family as have given the family
faithful service, so that all the money shall be spent;

(ii) for twenty years after my death, the trustees shall distribute the money in cash
in box B among my stalwart friends in amounts of not more than £10,000 in any one
year but so that all of the money shall be spent within eighty years;

(iii) the trustees shall apply £5,000 from the money in box C in each year after my
death to the Southampton Trusts Lawyers’ Club to fund a subscription to the Chancery
Division Law Reports and to pay for promoting its activities.’

Advise the following people as to their rights:-

(a) Jeeves, the family butler for twenty years preceding Bertie’s death;
(b) Dara, Bertie’s golf partner for the last thirty years and
(c) Russell, chair of the Southampton Trust Lawyers’ Club.

Format of your answer, your seminar leader will give you instructions on this but for Professor Hudson’s students
certainly: (i) your answer can be hand-written or typed (indeed it is better to hand-write your answer and to give
yourself only one hour actually to write it out as though you were in an examination); (ii) no footnotes whatsoever;
(iii) no bibliography; (iv) there is no need to write more than 2,500 words, if you do so you will undoubtedly have
failed to restrict yourself to answering the question; (v) consider the facts of the question in detail in your answer;
(vi) do not waffle. You will receive a suggested solution when your assessment is returned to you.

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Your seminar leader may or may not use this problem for your assessment.

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 Seminar 4
The Constitution of Trusts

This seminar aims to introduce you to some more of the techniques (building on the last seminar) which trusts
lawyers use to avoid rules of trusts law. By the end of this seminar you should be able to analyse sets of facts so that
you can differentiate between the effect of the various analyses considered in the cases to those sets of facts. First, this
seminar considers a complex stream of cases arising out of complex tax avoidance schemes constructed to avoid
s.53(1)(c) LPA. This seminar is an important gateway for you into the way in which trusts lawyers manipulate
trusts law principles for their commercial ends. What is essential is that you consider the reasons why the court
decides whether or not the parties’ actions fall within or without s.53(1)(c) LPA and further how you can use these
cases to avoid the result in Grey v. IRC. . Secondly, we will consider the forms of activity which will, or which will
not, lead to the creation of a valid express trust. Students will be expected to understand the occasionally narrow
distinctions between the cases. Remember, the most important thing is to remember the reasons why a court has
upheld, or invalidated, a trust in certain circumstances.

For the appropriate cases for this seminar, you should see Topic 4 in the Lecture
Materials.

For the appropriate textbook references for this seminar you should focus on the
following:-
AH 240 – 299
ME 123 – 154
HM 91 – 139
MB 116 – 130, 150 – 169

By way of periodical reading, you would be well-advised to consider the

following:-
 Green (1984) 47 MLR 388
 Harris (1975) 38 MLR 557

Self-test Questions
1. When will a disposition fall within s.53(1)(c)? How can the rule in Grey v. IRC be eluded by
using the following cases and what are the alternative analyses suggested in those cases:-
 Vandervell v. IRC
 Oughtred v IRC and Neville v Wilson
 Re Lashmar and Grainge v Wilberforce
 Cohen and Moore v IRC?

2. How do the following cases qualify the rule in Milroy v Lord?

 Re Rose
 Pennington v Waine
 Kaye v Zeital
 Curtis v Pulbrook

3. Where is the line between a perfect gift, an imperfect gift which fails, an imperfect transfer
which takes effect as a trust, and an irrevocable trust, in the following cases:

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  Paul v Paul
 Re Brook’s ST
 Re Ralli’s WT
 Cannon v Hartley
 Re Cook
 Fletcher v Fletcher?

Seminar Questions
1. Analyse the following dealings with property in relation to the cases on s.53(1) LPA 1925.
Which of the case law analyses will apply to which dealings?

a) Timothy is absolute owner of shares. Timothy declares himself to be trustee of the shares for
Arnold.
b) Samantha is the absolute owner of shares. She transfers those shares to Tariq and directs Tariq
to hold those shares on trust for Asif.
c) Tolla holds shares on bare trust for Albert. Albert directs Tolla to hold those shares on bare
trust for Brenda instead.
d) Trevor holds shares on bare trust for Arthur. Arthur directs Trevor to transfer title in those
shares to Xavier to hold on bare trust for Yves.
e) Timon holds shares on bare trust for Alexandra. Alexandra directs Timon to terminate the trust
and to transfer the absolute title in the shares to Alexandra. Alexandra then declares a new trust
over those shares in favour of Evelyn and Edward as beneficiaries.
f) Tom is the trustee of shares which he holds on bare trust for Ben. Ben announces that he holds
his equitable interest on trust for Sandeep absolutely.
g) Tom is the trustee of shares which he holds on bare trust for Ben. Ben announces that he holds
his equitable interest on trust for Sandeep except that Ben shall retain the power to decide how
much of the dividends payable on those shares shall be advanced to Sandeep immediately.

2. Celia died on 21st April 2012. Her executors seek your advice as to whether or not she retained
title in any of the following items of property at the date of her death, based on the following
information.

(i) On 1st February 2012, Celia was the absolute owner of 200 shares in UK plc. Celia
telephoned her cousin Duncan to tell him that she intended to transfer those shares to him
immediately. Celia completed part of a share transfer form but she did not sign it and she did
not post it off the company as she was required to do.

(ii) In your view, would it have made any difference in question (i) if Celia had died very soon
after the conversation with Duncan, and if she had expressed her intention to complete that
gift on her deathbed but without having prepared a will?

(iii) On 1st March 2012, Celia was the sole beneficiary under the “B trust”. The trust property
constituted 300 shares in Lovely plc. Celia wanted to exchange the Lovely plc shares for Nasty
plc shares which were held on trust for her friend Eve. Therefore, on 1st March Celia and Eve
entered into a contract whereby Celia and Eve agreed to exchange their equitable interests
under the two trusts with one another.

(iv) On 1st April 2012, Celia purported to deal as follows with any property which she might
had received in the future under a power of appointment held by her mother, in an email to her
solicitor, Bob: “any property which passes to me by way of my mother’s power of appointment
shall be held on trust for my perfect cousin, Jimmy”. Jimmy had furnished no consideration for
this promise. Celia sent a letter to Bob the next day which read: “I intend by this covenant to
hold any property I may receive in the future further to my mother’s power of appointment on
trust for Jimmy; and I intend the benefit of this covenant to be held on trust for him
immediately.” Celia’s mother appointed £30,000 to her on 20th April 2012.

16
Further Questions
Question 1 (these issues could form parts of an examination question)

Jared learned that he had a terminal illness in January 2010 and so embarked on the following dealings
with various items of his property.

Jared wanted to re-organise his various shareholdings. On 15 March 2010, Jared decided that 200
shares in Happy plc which were held on bare trust for him by Timothy should be transferred to someone
else. So, Jared telephoned Timothy and said: “I want you to transfer the legal title in my 200 Happy plc
shares to Trevor to hold on trust for my cousin Bertha.”

On 16 March 2010, Jared decided that the 200 shares in Misery plc which were held on bare trust for
him by Johnny should be transferred in the following manner. Jared entered into a contract with Dipali
to the effect that Jared would transfer his equitable interest to Dipali in exchange for a payment of
£1,000.

On 1 April 2010, Jared decided to transfer his 400 shares in Jumpy Ltd to his long-term lover, Bernard.
He completed the share transfer form, except that he made a mistake when filling in the form when he
wrote down the wrong number of shares. So, mistakenly, the form purported to transfer 4,000 shares.
Now, further to a power granted to the directors of Jumpy Ltd by that company’s constitution, the
directors of the company are refusing to consent to the transfer of the shares.

Jared died on 2 April 2010. Advise the parties as to the ownership of the various items of property.

Question 2 (this sort of essay title could form an examination question)

‘Equity is said to be a flexible doctrine which is concerned with “good conscience” and morality; and
yet many of its trusts law doctrines are characterised by rigidity and questionable dealings by
practitioners. This is the paradox which lies at the heart of equity.’ Discuss.

(A similar question has been asked in previous seminars. It is almost as though there is a
theme developing through our discussion of express private trusts…)

(There is a discussion of whether or not there is such a paradox in Chapter 7 of Hudson’s

Equity & Trusts. The term “paradox” is defined by the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary,
inter alia, to mean: ‘A statement or argument which, despite sound reasoning from an
acceptable premiss, leads to a conclusion that is against sense, logically unacceptable, or self-
contradictory’.)

Further reading:-
 McKay, ‘Share Transfer and the Complete and Perfect Rule’ (1976) 40 Conv 139-155
 Battersby, G. “Formalities for the Disposal of Equitable Interests Under a Trust” (1979) Conv 17
 Green B, ‘Grey, Oughtred and Vandervell - A contextual Reappraisal’ (1984) MLR 385
 Sparkes P, ‘Death Bed Gifts of Land’ (1991) Conv. 184
 Lowrie and Todd, ‘Re Rose Revisited’ (1998) CLJ 46-54
 Baughen, S. “‘Equality is Equity’: or is it?” (2000) Conv 58
 Hopkins, N. “Constitution of Trusts – A Novel Point” (2001) 60(3) CLJ 483
 Ladds D, ‘Pennington v Waine’ (2003) 17(1) Trusts Law International, 35-39
 Garton J, ‘The Role of the Trust Mechanism in the Rule in Re Rose’ [2003] Conv 364-379
 Doggett, A. “Explaining Re Rose: the Search Goes On?” (2003) 62 CLJ 263
 Youdan, “Formalities for Trusts of Land and the doctrine in Rochefoucauld v Boustead” 43 CLJ
306.

17
 Seminar 5
Duties of trustees and breach of trust

This seminar considers (i) some of the key fiduciary duties of trustees and (ii) the various
remedies for breach of trust.

For the appropriate cases for this seminar, you should see Topic 5 in the Lecture
Materials.

For the appropriate textbook references for this seminar you should focus on the
following:-
AH The specific sections in Chapters 8, 9 and 18 set out in the Lecture Materials
ME 565 – 605 (trustees’ duties), 691 – 760 (breach of trust)
HM 354 – 417 (focus on the cases in the Lecture Materials), 704 - 760
MB 681 – 747, 863 – 894 (focus on the cases in the Lecture Materials)

Self-test Questions

1. Read and be prepared to discuss the following cases (on the issues relevant to this seminar):

 Target Holdings v Redferns

 Armitage v Nurse
 Walker v Stones
 Spread Trustee Ltd v Hutcheson
 Re Hastings-Bass
 Pitt v Holt
 O’Rourke v Derbyshire
 Schmidt v Rosewood
 Breakspear v Ackland

2. Read and be prepared to discuss the provisions of the Trustee Act 2000 and the following
cases on the investment of trusts:

 Cowan v Scargill
 Nestle v NatWest
 Bartlett v Barclays Bank

3. What is the effect of the decision of the House of Lords in Target Holdings v Redferns?

4. Is it conscionable for trustees to be able to limit their liability for negligent breaches of trust,
further to Armitage v Nurse? What if those trustees are professionals?

5. Why should access to information from trustees be restricted only to claimants who can
demonstrate that they have some proprietary right in the trust property?

6. Is it conscionable for trustees to be able to get a second bite of the cherry using the doctrine in
Hastings-Bass, or is it a reasonable protection for beneficiaries? Does Pitt v Holt constitute a sensible
re-organisation of that principle?

18
7. What is the impact of moving from a concept of “prudence” to a concept of “reasonableness”
in relation to trust investment? Is “portfolio investment theory” a better approach to trust investment in
all circumstances? In what circumstances will a trustee be liable for breach of trust as a result of
investment of a trust?

Seminar Questions
1. Jeeves was a solicitor who had been in legal practice for twenty-five years. Jeeves was the sole
trustee of the Wooster family trust which contained £1 million. The trust was a discretionary trust, of
which Bertie and Tuppy were the only beneficiaries. Bertie was a forty year-old partner in a successful
international advertising firm, whose capital in the advertising firm was estimated at about £10 million
at the material time and whose matrimonial home in rural Hampshire was worth about £5 million.
Tuppy was a twenty-five year-old, penniless artist living in a squat in Portsmouth.

The other relevant provisions of the trust instrument were as follows:

“(a) the trustee shall have a power to pay any capital from the trust fund to either beneficiary
under the trust if their circumstances should deteriorate significantly;
(b) the trustee shall not be liable for any act of gross negligence.”

In December 2011, Bertie decided that he wanted to change career away from the pressures of
advertising. He had been divorced in November 2009 and had lost the house in the divorce settlement.
Furthermore, Bertie cannot liquidate his capital in the advertising firm for another six months, and so he
has to rely on his salary of £250,000 per annum in the meantime. Therefore, Bertie telephoned Jeeves
and told Jeeves that he wanted to relocate to Paris. Therefore, Bertie asked Jeeves to transfer £600,000
from the capital of the trust fund to him so that he could use it to rent an apartment in Paris and start an
art business in Paris. Jeeves did as Bertie had asked and paid £600,000 to him after selling off a large
number of the trust’s investments.

Selling off the trust’s investments assets to generate the amount of £600,000 created a large tax bill for
the trust. Jeeves had not known that this tax liability would be created. Jeeves maintains, however, that
he would have sold these assets to help Bertie even if he had known about the tax bill. Bertie has not yet
spent any of the money.

Advise Tuppy.

2. Assume that the following facts follow on from the facts of the preceding problem. After
selling off that parcel of trust investments, there was only £400,000 left in the trust fund. There was a
term in the trust instrument that the trustee could only invest in companies which were quoted on the
London Stock Exchange.

Jeeves considered that he should adopt a more adventurous investment policy than he had done
previously so as to build up the capital in the trust fund and to generate income for Tuppy. After reading
a blog on a web-site by a well-known City stockbroker whom Jeeves had known at university, Jeeves
decided to invest the whole of the trust fund in X Ltd and Y Ltd as the stockbroker had recommended
on the web-site. X Ltd and Y Ltd were both private companies which had only been trading for two
years each without yet making a profit. In consequence, neither of them was quoted on the London
Stock Exchange. Both companies specialised in internet browser software which they hoped would
compete with Google and Yahoo eventually. Both companies have since been involved in litigation
with much larger internet companies and their shares have fallen in value by a half.

Advise Tuppy.

19
3. ‘The shift in trusts law from a concept of “prudence” to a concept of “reasonableness” is a
monumental change which has dragged the law on the investment of trusts into the 21st century. It is a
shame that the global financial crisis has shown how inappropriate concepts such as “portfolio
investment theory” really are.’ Discuss.

4. ‘Trustees are not really bound by ties of good conscience if they can limit their liabilities.
Moreover, the trustees may actually be the solicitors who draft the terms of the trust instrument
containing that exclusion of liability clause for themselves. It is not sufficient to prevent exclusion of
liability for dishonesty and still pretend that such a trustee is in truth still a fiduciary in the classic sense
of that term.’ Discuss.

5. ‘The decision in Pitt v Holt finally remedies the appalling situation in which trustees could
reverse their mistakes to the detriment of the public exchequer. This affront to the notion of good
conscience in equity will not be missed.’ Discuss.

6. Why must there be secrecy in the operation of a trust’s affairs?

Further Questions
Question 1 (the following is a type which could be an examination question)

Tony was the sole trustee of the Curtis family trust. He had no professional qualifications, and worked
as a self-employed plumber. He had agreed to act as trustee as a personal favour to members of the
Curtis family. The Curtis family trust contained about £100,000. The only two surviving beneficiaries
of this trust were Agatha and Jared. Agatha was a successful 55-year-old playwright. She was the life
tenant under the trust. Jared was an aspiring 30-year-old heavy metal guitarist with an as-yet
unsuccessful rock band. Jared was the remainder beneficiary. Jared had no capital other than his
collection of vintage guitars and his rights under the trust fund.

The relevant provisions of the trust instrument were as follows:

“(a) the trustee shall have a power to pay any capital from the trust fund to any beneficiary so
as to protect them from hardship;
(b) the trustee shall not be liable for any act of dishonesty.”

Agatha had been experiencing difficulties in finding new ideas for her plays and her audiences had been
dwindling for some years. Therefore, Agatha telephoned Tony to ask him to use the entire trust fund to
buy her a small villa in Spain where she could write plays about English people living there. Tony
asked: 'am I allowed to do that?' Agatha answered: 'you are the trustee, and so you can do anything you
like. It is my trust fund, and I want that money now.' Tony attempted to contact Jared, but Jared had
changed his mobile telephone number and his e-mail address so that Tony could not track him down
that week. Agatha began to chase Tony, even turning up at his house on several occasions, until Tony
agreed to pay £90,000 from the trust fund to Agatha.

Tony learned from one of his customers, who was a stockbroker, that a new company called Dodgy
Start Up Ltd was a good investment prospect for the future. The stockbroker had mentioned this while
Tony was installing a new washing machine for him. Therefore, Tony decided to invest the remaining
£10,000 from the trust fund in that company because he had been advised by his customer that this
investment would earn ‘big money quick’. However, Dodgy Start Up Ltd never showed a profit and is
now due to be wound up as a result of fraud within the company.

Advise Jared.

Question 2 (the following could be an examination question)

‘The duties of trustees have hardened into a form which is very different from the flexible concept of
equity which Aristotle had in mind. They are more akin to contract than anything else: trustees can limit

20
their liabilities in the trust instrument; the liabilities of trustees making trust investments are based on a
concept of “reasonableness” which is reminiscent of the common law; and the amount of information
which must be given to beneficiaries is limited. These are, in truth, commercial trusts which are very
different from the traditional family trusts.’ Discuss.

Further reading:-
 Hayton D, ‘Developing the Law of Trusts for the Twenty-First Century’ (1990) 106 LQR 87
 Watt G & Stauch M, ‘Is there liability for imprudent trustee investment?’ [1998] Conv 352
 McCormack G, ‘Widening trustees investment powers’ (1998) Tru Law Int 158
 McCormack G, ‘The Liability of Trustees for Gross Negligence’ [1998] Conv 100
 Garton, ‘Trustee Act 2000’ (2001) 15 Trust Law International 34
 Hicks A, ‘The Trustee Act 2000 and the modern meaning of ‘investment’” (2001) Tru Law Int
15(4) 203-13
 Nugee, E. “Re Hastings-Bass Again – Void or Voidable?” (2003) Vol 3 PCB 173
 Hilliard, J. “Limiting Re Hastings-Bass” (2004) Conv. 208

21
 Seminar 6
Constructive trusts and aspects of resulting trusts

In this seminar we will be focusing on (i) constructive trusts as they arise in relation to secret
profits taken by fiduciaries and in relation to bribes and (ii) we will be considering briefly the
tests for knowing receipt and dishonest assistance to introduce the next seminar.

You should think of this seminar and the next seminar as being linked. We are concerned in
general terms with situations in which there is some value lost to a trust as a result of
misfeasance by a fiduciary or by some “stranger to the trust”, which will lead the beneficiaries
either to seek a proprietary remedy against that fiduciary or whoever holds the trust property, or
to seek a personal claim against some third party. There is too much material in this field to fit
into one seminar and therefore it has been spread across two seminars.

For the appropriate cases for this seminar, you should see Topic 7, and those parts
of Topic 6 not dealing with Quistclose trusts, in the Lecture Materials.

For the appropriate textbook references for this seminar you should focus on the
following:-
AH 551 – 646 (constructive trusts); 501 – 544 (resulting trusts)
ME 301 – 344
HM 348 – 379
MB 278 – 321

Self-test Questions
1. (a) Read and be prepared to discuss the views of the majority of the House of Lords in
Boardman v Phipps.
(b) What was the approach of the minority in the House of Lords in that case?

2. (a) How might a defendant rely on the defence of authorisation in relation to a claim seeking a
constructive trust over secret profits?
(b) In the operation of this defence in practice, is there a distinction between trustees managing
family trusts and directors dealing with the companies which employ them?
(c) How would these questions be answered under s.175 of the Companies Act 2006.

3. (a) Read and be prepared to discuss the judgment of Lord Templeman in Attorney-General for
Hong Kong v Reid.
(b) How did Lord Templeman indicate in Reid that he would have treated decreases in the
value of any property acquired with the bribe?
(c) What is the effect of the decision of the Court of Appeal in Sinclair v Versailles Trading?

4. Consider the basis on which the constructive is awarded in the following cases (and any others
which you have met) and consider whether or not there is in truth a single, coherent basis for
constructive trusts in English law:
 Westdeutsche Landesbank v Islington
 Boardman v Phipps

22
  Attorney-General for Hong Kong v Reid
 Sinclair Investment Holdings v Versailles Trading (2011)
 Lloyds Bank v Rosset
 Paragon Finance v Thackerar.

5. Read and be prepared to discuss the following cases on the nature of the resulting trust:

 Westdeutsche Landesbank v Islington (Lord Browne-Wilkinson, resulting trusts only)

 Re Vandervell No.2
 Tinsley v Milligan
 Tribe v Tribe
 Midland Bank v Wyatt

6. What was the model of resulting trusts which Prof. Birks had proposed; and why was it
rejected by the House of Lords in Westdeutsche Landesbank v Islington LBC? See the
following:
 Birks, ‘Restitution and resulting trusts’, in Goldstein (ed), Equity: Contemporary Legal
Developments (Jerusalem University, 1992), 335.
 Swadling, ‘A new role for resulting trusts?’ (1996) 16 Legal Studies 110.

Seminar Questions
1. John is trustee of a family trust. The trust fund contained £40,000 in cash. A stockbroker, who
was hired by the trust, advised John to invest £30,000 in a private company. John decided to invest
£25,000 of the trust’s money and £5,000 of his own money in that company. Shares in the company
doubled in value. Advise the beneficiaries of that trust.

2. Michael was the accountant advising the trustees of a family trust. The trust fund comprised £2
million and a minority shareholding in Flex Ltd, a private company. The trustees tended to defer to
Michael in relation to investment decisions.

While attending a meeting of Flex Ltd on behalf of the trust in January 2011, Michael learned of an
opportunity to generate large profits for Flex Ltd. It would, however, require taking over the company
and replacing its management. To acquire a majority shareholding would require £1.5 million. In
previous years the trustees had always told Michael that they wanted to keep at least £1 million in free
cash or in liquid investments in case the beneficiaries ever needed money in an emergency. Therefore,
Michael decided to use £1 million of trust money and to use £500,000 of his own money so as to
acquire a majority shareholding between himself and the trust. Michael was dismissive of the
commercial abilities of the trustees. Therefore, he decided that he would not explain his plan to the
trustees because he considered that they would not have understood it.

In his annual accounts prepared for the trustees, Michael included the following information on page 12
of the fifteen page document which comprised the accounts: “to ensure the acquisition of the shares
which were necessary to acquire a majority shareholding in Flex Ltd, the trust’s accountant decided to
contribute personally to the necessary expenditure”. Further, Michael asked the trustees to sign a
certificate which read: “the trustees hereby consent to Michael making investments on his own account
in relation to any opportunities about which he may acquire intelligence while working for this trust.”

Having taken control of Flex Ltd, Michael was also able to direct the board of directors of Flex Ltd to
use Michael as their accountant. The Chief Executive of Flex Ltd, Jeremy, was initially reluctant to
change accountant but Michael offered to pay him £30,000 if he agreed to divert all of the company’s
accountancy work to Michael. Jeremy took the money and did as Michael asked. Jeremy used the
money to buy more shares in Flex Ltd – those shares are now worth £40,000.

23
In 2011-12, Flex Ltd generated huge profits and Michael personally earned £200,000 in profits from
this transaction by 1st January 2012.

On 1st June 2012, the £200,000 in profits were paid into a bank account which was held in Michael’s
name and which Michael maintained for many trusts which he advised. Due to poor investment of this
money, the account holds only £150,000 at the present date.

Advise the beneficiaries of the family trust.

3. “Even though the cases on constructive trusts appear at first glance to be based on different
principles, when analysed more closely it is clear that they are all in truth predicated on a single,
coherent notion of good conscience.” Discuss.

4. “The doctrines of equity are simply too muddled to be of any real use in English law. What is
needed is a clear structure to organise doctrines like constructive trusts, resulting trusts, and equitable
estoppel.” Discuss (with reference to any or all of those doctrines).

Further Questions

Question 1

“The concept of conscience provides all the clarity and conceptual coherence which is required from
equity.” Discuss (with reference to any or all of the doctrines of constructive trusts, resulting trusts, and
equitable estoppel).

Question 2

‘In truth, there is no single doctrine of “constructive trust” at all. Rather there are a jumble of incoherent
equitable doctrines which purport to bear the same label.’ Discuss.

Question 3

Tariq was a solicitor who advised the Griffin family trust. Tariq was also a director of Yummy Ltd, a
private company.
Tariq learned of an opportunity for him to invest personally in a new internet technology start-
up company, Double Tech Ltd. However, to be allowed to participate in Double Tech Ltd, Tariq was
required to invest £500,000, even though he could only raise £200,000 from his own funds. The trustees
of the Griffin family trust had no professional qualifications and so had tended to rely entirely on
Tariq’s advice relating to all trust dealings for the last ten years. Therefore, Tariq procured £300,000
from the Griffin family trust to invest in Double Tech Ltd. In the financial year 2011/12, Tariq earned
personal profits from Double Tech Ltd of £20,000; while the Griffin family trust earned profits of
£30,000. At the end of that financial year, Tariq wrote a six page letter to the trustees explaining his
investment decisions for that year, and on page five he wrote: “I decided to invest heavily in Double
Tech Ltd because they promised such a high rate of return, and indeed they produced a very creditable
10%”. He made no other mention to the trustees of this investment at any time.
While Tariq was working on behalf of Yummy Ltd, he learned of an opportunity to import a
new low-calorie sweetener for use in cake products. Tariq realised that this new product could be very
popular indeed and that it could make its importer a huge profit. If Yummy Ltd acquired the contract to
become the sole importer then Tariq could not earn a personal profit. However, he realised that Yummy
Ltd was focusing its production on biscuits as opposed to cakes. Therefore, Tariq decided to present the
opportunity to import the new sweetener to the board of directors of Yummy Ltd and to hope that they
would decide not to exploit it.

24
 To ensure that the directors would not decide to pursue the opportunity, Tariq paid £20,000 to
Lenny, a chemist, to prepare a report for the board of directors which would show that the sweetener
could not be used successfully in biscuit products on the spurious basis that it would produce an
unpleasant after-taste. Lenny’s report also included the truthful statement that the sweetener had not yet
acquired authorisation to be included in food products in the UK. As a consequence of accepting that
both items of information were significant, the board of directors voted not to acquire the rights to
import the sweetener in June 2012. The board of directors also voted to approve the following
resolution: “Tariq may act in relation to the rights over the cake sweetener product on the basis of the
information submitted to the board of directors”.
Therefore, Tariq acquired the rights. When the authorisation to use the sweetener in food
products in the UK was procured in July 2012, Tariq was able to sell those rights for a profit of
£40,000. Lenny invested his money in Glum plc shares, which have since halved in value.
Advise the beneficiaries of the Griffin family trust and Yummy Ltd.

Further reading:-

Constructive trusts
Birks P, Introduction to the Law of Restitution (Clarendon Press, 1989), p.89.
Elias, Explaining Constructive Trusts (Clarendon Press, 1990)
Millett P, “Bribes and secret commissions” (1993) Restitution Law Review 7
Birks P, “Trusts raised to avoid unjust enrichment: the Westdeutsche case” [1996] RLR 3
Grantham R, “Restitution, property and ignorance: A reply to Mr Swadling” [1996] 2 LMCLQ 463
Millet P. “Restitution and Constructive Trusts” (1998) Vol.118 LQR 399
Etherton, “Constructive Trusts and Proprietary Estoppel: The Search for Clarity and Principle” (2009)
Conv. 104-126

Resulting trusts
Rickett, C, “Different Views on the Scope of the Quistclose Analysis” (1991) 107 LQR, 608
Robert Chambers, Resulting Trusts (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997)
Rickett, C & Grantham R, “Resulting trusts: the true nature of the failing trust cases” (2000) 116 LQR 15
Ho L, ‘Re-interpreting the Quistclose Trust: a critique of Chambers’ analysis’ (2001) OJLS 267
Penner J, ‘Twinsectra: the Quistclose trust’ (2002) Tr Law Int 16(3) 165-173
Yeo TM, ‘The Quistclose Trust’ (2003) 119 LQR 8
Glister J, ‘The Nature of Quistclose Trusts: Classification and Reconciliation’ (2004) CLJ 632-655
Swadling W, ‘Explaining Resulting Trusts’ (2008) LQR 72 – 102

25
 Seminar 7
Trusts of homes

This seminar considers the complicated law relating to rights in the family home. The student
should attempt to distinguish the different approaches offered by the courts one from another.
This topic is amenable both to essays as well as to problems. Students must attempt to grapple
with the academic commentary on this topic as well as with the cases simpliciter.

For the appropriate cases for this seminar, you should see Topic 8 in the Lecture
Materials.

For the appropriate textbook references for this seminar you should focus on the
following:-
AH 700 – 800
ME 287 – 325
HM 645 – 633
MB 321 – 347

Self-test Questions
1. Formulate the tests in the following cases:-

The leading case

 Jones v Kernott
 Stack v Dowden
 Oxley v Hiscock
 Gissing v Gissing

Rigid common intention constructive trust

 Lloyds Bank v Rosset

Resulting trusts – ‘balance sheet cases’

 Springette v Dafoe
 Huntingford v Hobbs

Family assets approach

 Hammond v Mitchell
 Midland Bank v Cooke

Unconscionability cases
 Jennings v Rice
 Cox v Jones

Proprietary estoppel
 Re Basham
 Baker v Baker
 Gillett v Holt
 Lissimore v Downing

26
  Thorner v Major
 Porntip Stallion v Albert Stallion Holdings Ltd

2. Distinguish between the following doctrines as they relate to trusts of homes:

 Express trusts
 Resulting trusts
 Common intention constructive trusts
 Ordinary constructive trusts
 Proprietary estoppel
 Unjust enrichment (Canada)

3. To what extent can the case law be reconciled? Or is it preferable to treat Jones v Kernott as having
replaced all of the previous case law?

4. Do you prefer the formalism and rigidity of Lloyds Bank v Rosset and the judgment of Lord
Neuberger in Stack v Dowden; or the attempt to set out principles in a quasi-legislative style in Jones v
Kernott; or the open-textured, principles-based approaches of cases like Jennings v Rice and Midland Bank v
Cooke? Why? What does this tell you about your personal preferences in relation to different intellectual
approaches to law? For example, do you think you are a “positivist” or a “natural law” enthusiast?

5. Why did feminist theorists dislike Lloyds Bank v Rosset? Has Jones v Kernott effected any great
change in that context?

Seminar Questions
1. What change did Jones v Kernott effect to the law on trusts of homes? What problems had there
been with Stack v Dowden, and what problems had there been previously with Lloyds Bank v Rosset?

2. Larry and Cheryl are an unmarried couple who acquired a house in rural Devon in May 2010
for their joint occupation. The house was registered in Larry’s sole name. Larry explained to Cheryl that
it was a condition of the mortgage contract that this was done. He said this knowing that it was not true
because he was unsure about their future together.

The house cost £300,000. The house was acquired by the following means. £20,000 was provided to
Larry as a birthday present from his parents. £30,000 was contributed by Larry in cash. The remaining
£250,000 was provided by means of a mortgage which was taken out in their joint names, but the
parties had agreed that Larry would make all of the repayments because Larry was the only one in full-
time work. They did not reach any further understanding about their home.

Cheryl gave birth to their first child within one month of the couple moving into the house. Cheryl took
sole responsibility for their child while Larry was required to travel with work. Larry was abroad for
about fifteen days each month. Cheryl also took sole responsibility for the renovation of approximately
half of the house and for the entire redecoration of the house. Cheryl has given birth to twins since then.

Two months ago, Cheryl learned that Larry had become romantically involved with one of his work
colleagues. She confronted Larry and they effected a reconciliation. Cheryl asked Larry to “place the
rights of myself and the children on a more secure footing, or else I will need to take legal advice”.
Larry reassured her that “this house has always been as much your home as mine”.

However, Larry continued with his affair. The couple have now separated. Advise Cheryl.

3. ‘The English courts’ approach to trusts of homes is merely the search for the “phantom of
common intention”. A better approach would be to identify the detriment suffered by the plaintiff and
make awards on that basis alone.’ Discuss.

27
4. Is it possible to reconcile the cases on trusts of homes, as the Court of Appeal attempted in
Oxley v Hiscock? Or are they simply irreconcilable?

5. Could the law on trusts of homes be made more certain? Would that even be desirable?

Further Questions
Question 1 (this question is of the kind which could be an examination question)

Jack and Diane were an unmarried couple who bought a house together in May 2010. The legal title in
the house was registered in their joint names. Diane was a doctor who earned £150,000 per annum. Jack
was a comic book illustrator who struggled to earn more than £10,000 per annum.

Jack had been at university with the vendor, Charles. At a dinner party at the house in March 2010,
Charles had told everyone that he wanted to sell the house, and that he had had a valuation of £420,000
for it. Jack and Diane had decided immediately that they wanted to buy it. Jack offered Charles
£400,000 for an immediate sale without expenses like estate agents’ fees. Charles agreed.

Therefore, the purchase price of the house was £400,000 when the purchase was completed in May
2010. Diane paid £100,000 in cash from her savings. The remainder of the purchase price was funded
by a mortgage of £300,000 from Profit Bank which was taken out in the parties’ joint names. The
mortgage was an interest-only mortgage, such that no repayments of capital were made. Diane made all
of the interest payments out of her personal bank account. There was no discussion between the parties.
Instead they accepted that only Diane could have afforded the payments.

The couple had a child in May 2011. Jack agreed to take on all of the childcare responsibilities so that
Diane could return to work as soon as possible.

In March 2012, Jack earned £100,000 from the sale of the rights to make a film of one of his comic
books. He asked Diane: “Should I use the money to extend the house to make a playroom for the
baby?” Diane answered: “Well, it is as much your house as mine, darling, and it is your money from the
film”. So, Jack spent all of the £100,000 on building an extension onto the house.

The couple decided to separate in December 2012. Advise them as to their rights in the house.

Question 2 (this question is of the kind which could be an examination question)

“The attempt to clarify the law relating to trusts of homes in Jones v Kernott was always doomed to
failure. It leaves many questions unanswered. In particular, it lacks the sort of central, organising
principle which was present in much of the earlier case law.” Discuss.

Further reading:-

 Barlow, A & Lind, C, ‘A Matter of Trust: The Allocation of Rights in the Family Home”, (1999)
19 Legal Studies, 468.
 Bottomley, “From Mrs Burns to Mrs Oxley: Do Cohabiting Women (Still) need Marriage Law?”
(2006) Feminist Legal Studies 181
 Cooke E, “Cohabitants, Common Intention and Contributions (Again)” (2005) Conv 555
 Dixon M, “Stack v Dowden” (2007) Conv 352
 Gardner S, “Rethinking Family Property” (1993) 109 LQR 263.
 Gardner S, “Quantum in Gissing v Gissing Constructive Trusts”, (2004) LQR, 541.
 Gardner S, ‘The Remedial Discretion in Proprietary Estoppel- Again’, (2006) 122 LQR 495

28
 Piska N, ‘Two Recent Reflections on the Resulting Trust’ (2008) Conv 441
 Probert R. “Sharing Homes – a Long Awaited Paper” (2002) Family Law 834
 Probert R, “Land, Law and Ex- Lovers”, (2005) Conv. 168
 Thompson MP, ‘Constructive Trusts, Estoppel and the Family Home’ (2004) Conv 496
 Wong S, “Trusting in Trust(s): The Family Home and Human Rights” (2003) Feminist Legal
Studies, 119.
 Wong S, ‘Constructive trusts over the family home: lessons to be learned from other
commonwealth jurisdictions?’ (1998) 18 Legal Studies 369

29
 Equity & Trusts

Second Assignment2

Your tutor will specify the hand-in deadline and the hand-in procedure for your assignment.
This is a “formative” assignment and does not form part of your final grade for this module.

Do whichever question you choose.

(1) “The law of trusts has a paradox at its heart: on the one hand we are told that
the trust is based on conscience, while on the other hand there are large number of
technical rules underpinning the law on express trusts which make the trust appear
more like a species of contract than anything.” Discuss.

rd
(2) Stella and Kathleen are a couple who bought a house together on 3 April
2010 for £400,000. The purchase was funded in part by means of a gift of £50,000
from Stella’s parents which was made, according to the card in the envelope
containing the cheque, “to both of you as you start your life together”. The remainder
of the purchase price was provided by way of a mortgage from Profit Bank in Stella’s
sole name. The property was registered in Stella’s sole name at the Land Registry.

The vendor of the house had been a school-friend of Kathleen. Kathleen had
convinced the vendor to reduce the price of the property by £20,000 down to the sale
price of £400,000.

As Stella said over dinner the night before they signed the paperwork to complete
the sale of the house: “This will be our home together.” Kathleen agreed. In April
2010, Stella was aged 25 and had a bright career working in a law firm. Kathleen,
aged 30, was finding it difficult to find work as a freelance graphic designer. The
house was a small terraced house in Hove in south-east England. The couple
decided that they wanted to have a baby by artificial insemination. Kathleen was to
be the birth-mother. They had bought the house to provide a home for all three of
them. In December 2010, Kathleen gave birth to their first child. Kathleen stayed at
home to take care of the baby and to supervise the extensive alteration works which
were being done on the interior of the property.

Stella made all of the mortgage repayments. Kathleen stopped work to look after the
child while she supervised the building work and the decoration of the property.
Kathleen and Stella paid for the building work, which cost £50,000, out of their joint
savings. The value of the property increased by £200,000 over these two years, at
least half of which is considered by professional valuers to be due to the improved
decoration and design to the interior.
st
When the building work was finally finished on 1 April 2012, Kathleen said: “I hope
all this work means that I have earned some rights in this house”. Stella replied: “You
know this is our home. Both of us together, and the baby. It always has been.”

2
Your seminar leader may or may not use these problems for your assessment.

30
Stella continued to pay all of the mortgage repayments until she fell suddenly ill in
July 2012. Her condition has declined rapidly and she has not been able to work
since July 2012. The doctors think it unlikely that she will ever be able to work again.
In January 2013 she was made redundant. Kathleen has therefore recommenced
work and has made all of the mortgage repayments since January 2013, and has
paid for all of the other household expenses (including childcare) since then.
Kathleen is however having difficulty earning enough money. The couple fear that
Profit Bank will seek a sale of the property.

Advise Kathleen and Stella as to their respective rights in the property.

(3) “The doctrine of constructive trusts is incoherent.” Discuss.

Format of your answer, your seminar leader will give you instructions on this but for Professor Hudson’s students certainly: (i) your answer can
be hand-written or typed, it is better to hand-write your answer and to give yourself only one hour actually to write it out as though you were in
an examination; (ii) no footnotes whatsoever; (iii) no bibliography; (iv) there is no need to write more than 2,500 words, if you do so you will
have failed to restrict yourself to answering the question; (v) consider the facts of the question in detail in your answer; (vi) do not waffle. You
will receive a suggested solution when your assessment is returned to you.

31
 Seminar 8
Dishonest assistance and unconscionable receipt

For the appropriate cases for this seminar, you should see Topic 9 in the Lecture
Materials.

For the appropriate textbook references for this seminar you should focus on the
following:-
AH 953 – 1032
ME 309 – 324
HM 502 – 532
MB 968 – 1007

Self-test Questions
1. (a) Read and be prepared to discuss the conception of dishonest assistance set out by Lord
Nicholls in Royal Brunei Airlines v Tan.

(b) How is this test reinterpreted by Lord Hutton in Twinsectra v Yardley?

(c) What is the effect of Lord Nicholls’s judgment in Dubai Aluminium v Salaam?

(d) What is the effect of the Privy Council’s judgment in Barlow Clowes v Eurotrust?

(e) How has the case law persisted with the idea of considering the defendant’s personal
characteristics in cases such as Starglade v Nash? Is this in keeping with the original judgment
of Lord Nicholls in Royal Brunei Airlines v Tan?

2. (a) Read and be prepared to discuss the judgment of Megarry V-C in Re Montagu.
(i) what are the three forms of knowledge accepted by Megarry V-C?
(ii) why does his lordship restrict the possible forms to those three?

(b) How is this test reinterpreted in BCCI v Akindele?

(c) How does Scott LJ conceive of this concept of knowledge in Polly Peck v Nadir (No 2)?

(d) How is a company fixed with liability based on “knowledge”, “dishonesty” or

“unconscionability” in cases such as El Ajou v Dollar Land Holdings?

3. In what sense does personal liability to account for a loss caused by a breach of trust operate as
a constructive trust?

Seminar Questions
1. Marcus, a stockbroker with Profit Fund Management (“PFM”), had lunch with an old school-
friend, Toby. Toby was the trustee of a pension fund. Marcus convinced Toby during lunch to invest all

32
of the fund’s spare cash in a speculative diamond mining company in South Africa. Toby told Marcus
that the trust’s investment powers limited it to investment in the UK. Marcus assured Toby that this
could not be the case. What Marcus did not reveal was that he would receive 2% of the investment as a
bonus. The investment was paid through PFM’s accounts and PFM took a 5% fee for arranging the
investment. The investment was worthless. Advise Toby.

2. Dipali was a senior trader with Credit Bank, a bank with 100 traders in the UK, and also one of
the thirty member of the board of directors. Dipali had personal responsibility within the bank for all
investments made through Freedonia.

Johnny contacted Dipali in March by telephone. He introduced himself as the trustee of a group of
Freedonian investment trusts which collected investments from Freedonian investors. Johnny asked
Dipali to invest £5 million on behalf of this trust. The documentation which Johnny provided to Dipali
disclosed that the investors were ordinary members of the public in Freedonia. That documentation also
disclosed that the trust’s total investment capital was about £100 million.

In April, the first investments came from Johnny as anticipated and were paid into accounts held by
Credit Bank. The profits were returned to Freedonia and were paid into the trust’s accounts in
Freedonia.

Then in December, Johnny flew to London to meet Dipali for the first time. He told Dipali that he
expected the trust’s activities and investor base to expand hugely in the coming months and that he
would be passing all of his investment business through Credit Bank. Dipali said she was very
interested in providing whatever services Johnny needed. Johnny then told Dipali that he wanted to
invest the entire £100 million from the Freedonian investment trust through Credit Bank over the next
five months, in amounts of £20 million per month. The capital investments and their profits were,
however, to be exchanged into US dollars and paid in small parcels into a number of different bank
accounts in Johnny’s name in Panama, in the Cayman Islands and in the British Virgin Islands.

Dipali agreed to the arrangement. She asked no further questions about the trust’s activities. She earned
her usual commission from Credit Bank in relation to this business. When asked by her fellow directors
how she had acquired such large investments from Johnny, she replied: “My personal moral code in
relation to clients is that I follow their instructions completely. Johnny has instructed me to maintain
complete confidentiality.” The other directors were very angry at this because they were concerned
about the impact on the bank if the regulators found out that no inquiries were made into this client, but
Dipali refused to change her business practices.

Later that day, it transpired that Johnny had stolen the entire £100 million from the trust. Both he and
the money have now disappeared.

Advise the beneficiaries of the trust.

3. ‘The liabilities of strangers to account for losses caused by breaches of trust have become
more commercially useful now that they have broken away from the test of “knowledge”. The test of
dishonesty and the test of unconscionability both offer a more coherent form of liability.’ Discuss.

Further Questions
Question 1

Douglas was a senior trader at Mammoth Bank, an investment bank, in London. He was one among two
hundred traders, but he was responsible for all investments involving Ruritania and had a team of ten
traders who reported to him. He was not a member of the board of directors.

33
In May, Douglas was approached at a conference by Agnes. Agnes said that she represented a reclusive
billionaire from Ruritania and that she was responsible for investing a fund of £50 million on his behalf.
She said that she had instructions to invest “really sexy amounts of money” in derivatives markets in
London. However, she told Douglas that she could not reveal the identity of the billionaire to Mammoth
Bank because he would not want it to be known in the marketplace that he was moving his money out of
Ruritania.

Douglas decided to take investment instructions from Agnes because after the global financial crisis, he
wanted to rebuild his profits and he needed new clients to do that. Agnes therefore organised that £5
million was to be paid to Mammoth Bank on 1 June so that it could be invested under Douglas’s
instructions.

Agnes had agreed to a larger than usual fee for Mammoth Bank if Douglas did not embark on an
intrusive investigation of the billionaire’s funds. Douglas thought he knew the identity of the billionaire
and was reassured because it was well-known that that billionaire already did some of his personal
banking with Mammoth Bank. Nevertheless, the legal department in Mammoth Bank insisted on
knowing more about the source of Agnes’s funds. However, because it was so overworked by the
litigation begun as a result of the financial crisis, the legal department failed to chase Douglas for this
information until early November.

The £5 million was transferred into one of the funds operated by Mammoth Bank which was held on
trust by Mammoth Bank for the benefit of its investors. On 1 November, Agnes asked that the profits
from these investments and the original £5 million be paid into a bank account in Panama over which
Agnes was the only signatory. Douglas telephoned Agnes to say: “I am worried that this is not entirely
regular”. Agnes answered: “How I manage the fund is my prerogative”, and immediately hung up.

On the next day, it transpired that Agnes was not authorised to invest the £5 million and that she has
now disappeared with the money from the Panamanian bank account. The money was in fact originally
taken from a charitable trust in Ruritania. At today’s date, Douglas has personal assets worth £2 million
in total.

Advise the trustees of the Ruritanian charitable trust.

Question 2
‘Lord Nicholls made it clear that the liability of strangers to account in relation to breaches of trust is
not based on negligence, nor on unconscionability. However, the concept of dishonesty which has been
developed is becoming increasingly confused.’ Discuss.

Question 3
‘The development of a concept of unconscionability has left the law on “knowing receipt” in a state of
great confusion. It is simply incoherent.’ Discuss.

Further reading:-
 Birks P, (1993) LMCLQ 318;
 Gardner S, “Knowing Assistance & Knowing Receipt: Taking Stock”, (1996) 112 LQR 56
 Millett P, “Restitution and Constructive Trusts” (1998) 114 L.Q.R. 399: arguing for replacing
constructive trusteeship by restitution. Also (1998) 114 LQR 214.
 Martin, J “Recipient Liability after Westdeutsche”, (1998) Conv, 13
 Fox F, “Constructive Notice and Knowing Receipt: an Economic Analysis” (1998) C.L.J. 391
 Smith L, “Constructive trusts and constructive trustees” (1999) C.L.J. 294.
 Birks and Pretto (eds), Breach of Trust (Hart, 2002)
 Yeo, “Dishonest Assistance: Restatement from the Privy Council”, (2006) LQR 122

34
 Seminar 9
Tracing and Quistclose trusts

For the appropriate cases for this seminar, you should see Topic 10 in the Lecture
Materials.

For the appropriate textbook references for this seminar you should focus on the
following:-
AH 889 – 953 (tracing); 1060 – 1090 (Quistclose trusts)
ME 719 – 758
HM 534 – 570
MB 894 – 947

Self-test Questions
1. What is the availability of common law tracing after FC Jones, etc. v Jones?

2. (a) What is the pre-requisite for equitable tracing in Re Diplock, Westdeutsche Landesbank,
etc?

(b) What are the possible approaches if the trustee has mixed trust money with her own money
in Re Hallett and in Re Oatway?

(c) How does Foskett v McKeown deal with the problem of a trustee mixing trust money with
her own money, even if the people claiming through the trustee are innocent volunteers?

(d) Explain the distinction between Clayton’s Case and Ontario Securities / Barlow Clowes.

(e) How does Russell-Cooke v Prentis circumvent Clayton’s Case?

(f) What are the available remedies in relating to equitable tracing? Which remedies would you
use in which sorts of situation?

(g) What are the available defences in relation to equitable tracing?

3. Read and be prepared to discuss the following cases on the nature of the Quistclose trust:

 Barclays Bank v Quistclose

 Twinsectra v Yardley (the speech of Lord Millett on Quistclose trusts only)
 Templeton Insurance Ltd v Penningtons Solicitors LLP
 Re Farepak Food and Gifts Ltd (on Quistclose trusts only)

35
Seminar Questions
1. Hazel was a trustee who held a painting worth £100,000 on trust for Brenda under a bare trust.
Hazel sold the painting in breach of trust and paid the sale proceeds of £100,000 into a bank account in
which she already held £50,000 on trust for her adult child, Jeremy. The next day, Hazel used the
money in that bank account to buy a Jaguar XF motor car for £50,000 and then on the following day
Hazel used the remaining money in that bank account to buy a Ferrari motor car. The Ferrari was
destroyed in a road accident two days later. Advise Brenda.

2. Gordon held three abstract paintings on trust for the Darling family trust: the paintings were
called “One”, “Two” and “Three” respectively. The terms of the trust were that Gordon was not
permitted to sell the paintings but rather that he should seek to earn income for the trust by exhibiting
them. Gordon was the sole trustee.

Gordon had a gambling addiction and so had run up enormous debts. In desperation, Gordon decided to
sell the paintings to meet his debts.

In September, Gordon sold One to Arthur for £100,000. Gordon has since lost all of these sale proceeds
through gambling. Arthur sold One for £120,000 on 1 December 2008. Arthur used the entire amount to
buy an Aston Martin DB9 motor car which cost £120,000.

On 1 October, Gordon sold Two to Bea for £500,000. Tragically, Two was destroyed in a fire at the
warehouse in which it had been stored. On 2 October, Gordon paid the £500,000 into a bank account in
which he already held £20,000 on trust for his mother. The following payments were then made out of
that account. On 3 October, £10,000 was used to buy shares in a company, Business Undertaker plc,
which specialised in providing insolvency services. The shares in that company have now quadrupled in
value. On 4 October, £30,000 was taken out of that account to invest in Static plc, whose shares have
not changed in value. On 5 October, the remaining money was invested in the shares of Waffle Bank.
Shares in Waffle Bank are now worth only 5% of their value on 5 October.

In November, Gordon sold Three to Carol for £20,000. This money was paid into a bank account which
is now overdrawn. The £20,000 had been used to pay off the final instalment on Gordon’s own
mortgage over his home. Carol has now spent £1,000 in renting gallery space to display Three to the
public with a view to selling it.

Gordon, Arthur, Bea, and Carol are now all personally bankrupt. Advise the beneficiaries of the Darling
family trust.

3. David handed Tracey his jacket and smartphone while he went swimming. Tracey sold both of
these items for £50 to a stranger on the beach, Mersault. Tracey used the £50 to buy a small wrap of
cocaine from a drug dealer on the beach. How should the law deal with this situation? What if Mersault
and the drug dealer cannot be found?

4. “In Twinsectra v Yardley, Lord Millett described the Quistclose trust as an orthodox type of
resulting trust, but that hardly does justice to the complexity of the concept and it overlooks the many
shortcomings in that judgment. Furthermore, it could be said that none of the English cases have
managed to set out a coherent understanding of Quistclose trusts.” Discuss.

Further Questions
Question 1 (the following could be an examination question)

“Quistclose trusts are not limited to one form or another. Instead, the term ‘Quistclose trust’ is a blanket
term for a range of techniques used by banks to take security for loans. Consequently, it comes as no
surprise that no single explanation of how Quistclose trusts work is wholly satisfying.” Discuss.

36
Question 2

‘Quistclose trusts should be understood as being a form of express trust with a power for the borrower
to use the loan money for a contractually specified purpose. The models of Quistclose trust which have
been suggested by the English courts are riddled with inconsistencies.’ Discuss.

Question 3: this question combines tracing, dishonest assistance and knowing receipt … just for
fun:-

Bingo was a well-established stockbroker and investment advisor to the Taylor family trust. The
trustees of that trust were Tick and Tock. He gave advice the trustees to invest in the following terms: at
that time, the trust fund was worth a total of £500,000. The trustees were not professional investors and
so took Bingo’s advice. The trust expressly prohibited investment in shares in private, “ltd” companies.

Bingo was a substantial shareholder in Whizz Ltd. In 2010 Bingo advised that the total trust fund
(£500,000) be invested in Whizz Ltd. Bingo knew that Whizz Ltd was about to enter into a risky
business venture at that time in an area in which Whizz Ltd had no experience. Margaret, the managing
director and controlling mind of Whizz Ltd, had asked Bingo to look into raising money for this
business venture. When Bingo procured £500,000 from the Taylor family trust and presented the
payment to Whizz Ltd, Margaret asked: ‘where did you manage to find such a large investment?’ Bingo
replied, cryptically: ‘Ask me no questions, and I will tell you no lies.’ Margaret said nothing more.

The £500,000 was then used in the following four ways:-

(i) First, £150,000 was placed in a current bank account No. 100. That account went
overdrawn in 2011; the money was used to pay off the mortgage on the company
headquarters. There was £80,000 in the account by April 2012.
(ii) Second, £50,000 was placed in current bank account No. 200 in July 2011. Account No.
200 already contained £10,000. Out of account No. 200, £20,000 was spent on a lavish
Christmas party for clients. No further amounts have been paid out of the account no. 200
since then.
(iii) Third, £275,000 was used to purchase machinery which the company has kept.
(iv) Fourth, £25,000 was used to buy operating equipment and donated to a medical charity.
Advise Tick and Tock generally.

Further reading:-

 Birks ‘Mixing and Tracing: Property and Restitution’ (1992) 45 CLP 69

 Birks (ed.), Laundering and Tracing (Oxford: Clarendon Press,1995): inc. Hayton, ‘Equity’s
Identification Rules’, and Birks ‘Overview: Tracing, Claiming and Defences’, p.289-322.
 Smith L, The Law of Tracing (Oxford: Clarendon Press,1997)
 Rotherham C, Proprietary Remedies in Context : A Study in the Judicial Redistribution of
Property Rights, (OUP, 2002).
 Millett P, “Tracing the Proceeds of Fraud” (1991) 107 LQR 71.
 Simon Evans, ‘Rethinking Tracing and the Law of Restitution’ (1999) 115 LQR 469
 Oakley AJ, ‘Proprietary Claims and Their Priority in Insolvency’ (1995) CLJ 377
 Jones A, ‘Identification of improperly appropriated trust money – mixing and Maxwell’ (1996)
Conv 129
 Pawlowski M, “The Demise of the Rule in Clayton’s Case” (2003) Conv, 339

37
 Seminar 10
Charities

This seminar considers the stand-alone topic of charities. Many students find the easier structure
of this topic more straightforward than many other areas of trusts law. It is important to
remember that charities are public trusts with different rules from other areas concerning private
trusts. The objective is to understand the rules for the four separate categories of charity, and then
to allocate any set of facts between those four heads of charity by applying the relevant principles
to each category.

The objectives of this seminar are:

(1)to be able to decide whether a given object would be classed as a charitable object. This requires
an understanding of the scope of the term ‘charitable’ and a determination of whether, in reaching
decisions, the judges take into account the advantages associated with charitable giving;
(2) to understand the basis for the Charity Act 2011, and to determine whether the Act made
significant in-road into the common law on charity;
(3) to analyse the rule that prevents a political purpose from being charitable

For the appropriate cases for this seminar, you should see Topic 11 in the Lecture
Materials.

For the appropriate textbook references for this seminar you should focus on the
following:-
AH 1096 – 1164
ME 421 – 502
HM 214 – 301, focus on cases listed in the Lecture Materials
MB 409 – 622, focus on the cases listed in the Lecture Materials

Self-test Questions
1. What are the advantages of charitable status? Why are charities not invalid purpose trusts?

Formulate the analyses in the following cases:

 Dingle v Turner
 Joseph Rowntree Memorial, etc. v A-G
 Re Compton
 Oppenheim v Tobacco Securities
 IRC v Educational Grants Association
 Re Hopkins
 Re Shaw
 ICLR v A-G
 Re South Place Ethical Society
 Re Hetherington
 National Anti-Vivisection Society v IRC

38
2. Is the concept of a “public benefit” used differently in relation to different types of charitable
purpose?

3. Should the approach in Dingle v. Turner be applied to charities created for educational
purposes? What would be the effect of such an approach?

4. Why are sport, communal activities and research considered to be charitable educational
purposes in some circumstances but not others in the case law? What will be the effect of the
Charities Act 2011 on this area of law?

5. In what circumstances, if any, can a charity pursue political purposes?

Seminar Questions
1. Consider the following purposes and advise whether or not they are charitable:-

a) “the furtherance of alternative medicine, and in particular, faith-healing and acupuncture”

b) “the benefit of the customers who assemble annually to drink beaujolais nouveau at Oriel’s in
Sloane Square, London”
c) “educating the children of Cabinet ministers at private schools”
d) “a gymnasium for lazy law students in Portsmouth”
e) “research into the reform of the law of charities”
f) “the relief of harm to farm animals and a change in the law on carriage of animals by rail”
g) “£100,000 for the benefit of Widgets Ltd Working Men’s Club” [Widgets Ltd employs 500
people.]
h) “£100,000 for the benefit of the Sunderland Public Working Person’s Club” [Where that club
is open to “any working person”.]
i) “£100,000 for the provision of a hostel for members of Widgets Ltd Working Men’s Club who
have fallen on difficult times”
j) “£100,000 to provide a hostel for 12 occupants at any time who have fallen on difficult times”
k) “£100,000 for the private education of any child in the world, with a power for the trustees to
apply the money solely for the benefit of the children of the employees of Tubby Clarke
Tobacco Products Ltd”
l) “£5,000 for the erection of a granite statue in Southampton’s West Quay shopping complex to
facilitate the worship of the divine Cheryl Cole and thus raise the spirits of local people”

2. ‘Judges are programmed to validate charitable purposes whenever possible and so the notion
of public benefit had widened accordingly. It is now a meaningless concept.’ Discuss.

3. Advise on whether the following gifts in Joanna’s will create valid and charitable trusts:
(a) my shares to my cat;
(b) my house to form the site for a social and recreational centre where Roman
Catholics resident in Southampton can meet;
(c) £10,000 to Southern University for the promotion of research into a simplified alphabet;
(d) my residue to the residents of Hampshire.

4. Consider the validity of the following as a charitable trust both under the common law and
Charities Act 2006 law:

(a) A fund to acquire and preserve as much land as possible bordering upon an estuary so as to
prevent its commercial development and to try to forestall the construction of a new road, with the
aim of safeguarding the estuary’s present use as an important staging post and wintering ground
for migratory birds.

(b) A gift to augment a fund established by former employees of a company, made redundant for
economic reasons, which they set up for themselves and other similarly placed people in the area,

39
 to pay for counselling and advice on whether to use their redundancy payments to start up small
businesses.

(c) A trust to subsidise the sale of condoms to young people, to help prevent the spread of AIDS?

Further Questions
Question 1

David wanted to benefit the following purposes by settling £10,000 on each purpose by way of trust.
Advise him as to whether or not they would constitute valid charitable trusts:-

“1. To relieve the poverty of my cousins who have been made redundant after closure of the
Sunderland shipyards.

2. To provide education for the people of Sunderland in the need to change the law governing
strike action by trade unions.

3. To provide for the construction of a new railway bridge over the River Wear in Sunderland.

4. To provide for the payment of a priest to hold a prayer service for the eleven men
comprising the Sunderland Football Club team before each Saturday home fixture.”

Question 2
‘The notion of public benefit in the law of charities is a disreputable one: in truth judges twist this idea
both to validate any generally benevolent purpose and also to prevent tax avoidance.’ Discuss.

Further reading:-
 Private Action, Public Benefit: A Review of Charities and the Wider Not-For-Profit Sector,
Strategy Unit Report, September 2002
 www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/innovation/2002/charity/report/02.htm
 Charities and Not-For-Profits: A Modern Legal Framework, The Government’s Response to
‘Private Action, Public Benefit’, Home Office, July 2003
 www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs2/charitiesnotforprofits.pdf
 The Public Character of Charity, The Charity Commission Publication, RR8 (www.charity-
commission.gov.uk)
 For the public benefit? A consultation document on charity law reform, (London, National
Council for Voluntary Organisations, January 2001) (to be found in the Reserve Collection,
Hartley Library)
 Review of Charity Taxation Consultation Document, HM Treasury, March 1999

 M. Chesterman, Charities, Trusts and Social Welfare (London: Wiedenfeld & Nicolson,1979)
 J. Hackney, The Politics of Chancery (1981) 34 C.L.P. 113, 119-123
 Chesterman, Foundations of Charity Law in the New Welfare State [1999] 62 MLR 333
 Jean Warburton, Charitable Trusts – Unique? [1999] 63 Conv 20
 N Gravells, Charitable Trusts and Ancillary Purposes [1978] Conv 92
 Cohen. Charities – A Utilitarian Perspective (1983) CLP 241
 S Bright, Charity and Trusts for the public benefit – time for a re-think? [1989] 30 Conv 28
 Histed, Rectification of Wills and Charitable Trusts for Poor Relations [1996] Conv 379
 Hackney, (2008) “Charities and Public Benefit” LQR 347
 Rahmatian, A. (2009) “The Continued Relevance of the ‘poor relations’ and the ‘poor employees’
Cases Under the Charities Act 2006” Conv 12
The End
ASH

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