GDL Law Notes GDL Equity and Trusts Notes
A collection of the best GDL notes the director of Oxbridge Notes (an Oxford law graduate) could find after combing through many applications from mostly first class students and carefully evaluating each on accuracy, formatting, logical structure, spelling/grammar, conciseness and "wow-factor". In short these are what we believe to be the strongest set of GDL notes available in the UK this year. You'll notice that we include several different authors' worth of notes. The first is our 2017 author...
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Equity & Trusts: Tracing & Liability of Strangers
STRUCTURE for an exam question
Intro
What is tracing?
Advantages of proprietary claim:
Who are claimants
Requirements for tracing in equity (Diplock)
(1) fiduciary relationship [[note Millett, Foskett, criticises this requirement]].
(2) an equitable proprietary interest
Could be unavailable if (Re Diplock):
(1) dissipation;
(2) property into hands of equity’s darling (bona fide purchaser for value without notice)
(3) inequitability (Diplock).
Trace
Proprietary tracing
Claim:
Proprietary, 3 types of remedy:
Equitable Ownership
Equitable Charge (lien)
Subrogation
Personal, against trustee : but might be insolvent.
Personal, against strangers:
Against innocent volunteer, possibly Re Diplock claim [CF proprietary claim against an innocent volunteer, above, if hasn’t been dissipated]
Not innocent volunteer:
Knowing recipient
Dishonest assistant
Intro
What is tracing, Foskett v McKeown, Lord Millett—a ‘process’—of identifying a new asset as the substitute of the old’. Tracing is the process, not a claim or remedy.
Common law tracing, limitations
(1) Won’t work if C doesn’t have a legal interest in the property to trace
(2) Absence of proprietary remedies
(3) Mixing: inability of common law to trace through mixed funds (Agip v Jackson).
Advantages of proprietary claim:
(1) priority creditor status;
(2) can take benefit of any increase in value, can trace into substitute assets;
(3) no technical statutory limitation period (s21(1) Limitation Act 1980). [[although is subject to doctrine of laches, ‘delay defeats equity’.
Who are claimants
Requirements for tracing in equity (Re Diplock)
(1) fiduciary relationship;
eg trustee/B; executor/legatee (like Diplock); solicitor/client (Re Hallett); account/employer (Agip v Jackson); mistaken payment (Chase Manhattan Bank v Israel-British Bank); even thief/victim (Black v Freedman
[[note Millett, Foskett v McKeown, criticises this requirement: no logical justification for needed fiduciary relationship when not needed for common law tracing; why 2 sets of rules?]].
Judicial & academic support for unifying equity & common law rules.
(2) an equitable proprietary interest
eg under a trust; or of a beneficiary under an estate. Easy to find—Diplock found for next of kin against executors even before estate administered.
Could be Quistclose trust, Quistclose v Barclays Bank [[unlikely to come up]]: (1) loan; (2) made solely for a specific purpose; (3) money segregated from borrower’s other assets.
Into whose hands can you trace in equity:
(1) An innocent volunteer (subject to Diplock inequitable defence) [if not dissipated]
(2) Recipient with knowledge, even if they have provided value
(3) CANNOT trace into Equity’s Darling hands—bona fide purchaser for value without notice [[although you could trace into the proceeds of sale given by the Equity’s Darling for the property]].
[[CF, if funds are dissipated—making a personal claim against eg knowing recipient]].
Limitations, what can defeat equitable proprietary tracing: Could be unavailable if (Re Diplock):
(1) dissipation;
Diplock egs: dinner; ongoing expenses (eg utility bills); ‘aesthetic property improvements’ not adding value.
If used to pay off unsecured debts—dissipation (Diplock).
Money paid off into overdrawn bank account = dissipation (Bishopsgate Investment v Homan), form of unsecured d.
(2) property into hands of equity’s darling (bona fide purchaser for value without notice). Cannot trace if: (i) received property in good faith; (ii) no knowledge of breach; (iii) provided something of value. [[CF: can trace into innocent volunteer (no value/consideration); and into knowing recipient (knowledge of breach)]].
3) Inequitability defence (Diplock): hospital spent money on improving pre-owned property; inequitable to allow a charge on the hospital; would have been enforceable by sale [[NB: amount claimed was disproportionately low to the value of whole property]].
NB: is a defence for (1) tracing claim; & (2) subrogation.
NB, Boscawen v Bajway, Millett LJ, restricts inequity defence: allowing the hospital to escape from proprietary claim is itself an inequity against the legatees who have lost their money; should be confined to circumstances of Diplock—charity using money to improve pre-existing property/pay off mortgage; low claim to value of property ratio; would mean having to sell off property.
+ 4—change of position defence can defeat a subrogation claim
TRACING through a bank account
Unmixed funds
C’s money paid into wrongdoer’s bank account—C has an equitable charge on bank account for the amount of money paid in (Re Hallett’s Estate).
Payments made out of account: C can trace the funds back out of the account and into substitute property.
Mixed funds (1) C’s property mixed with T’s property:
(1) Presumption of honesty, Re Hallett’s Estate: presumption that T spends own money first; T cannot deny he acted as a good T.
(2) Rebutting presumption of honesty where rest of funds dissipated, Re Oatway: can rebut if works against B (shares went up in value, rest dissipated); honest T taken to have acquitted property for trust [[NB: in this case, the rest of the property had been completely dissipated]]
Turner v Jacob: Oatway rebuttal only applies if there’s been complete dissipation of everything else in bank account. [[but note: unusual case, family dispute; hadn’t been a deliberate breach of an express trust like Shalson and Hallet--> might have influenced court.
(3) ‘Cherry picking’, Shalson v Russo: even if bank account contains enough to satisy C’s claim---B can choose to trace earlier payments out of account; everything is presumed against wrongdoer [[NB: only works if only contest is between beneficiary and wrongdoer]].
CF, Turner v Jacob, can only trace an earlier payment out if rest of fund is dissipated: cannot trace payment out if enough money left...
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A collection of the best GDL notes the director of Oxbridge Notes (an Oxford law graduate) could find after combing through many applications from mostly first class students and carefully evaluating each on accuracy, formatting, logical structure, spelling/grammar, conciseness and "wow-factor". In short these are what we believe to be the strongest set of GDL notes available in the UK this year. You'll notice that we include several different authors' worth of notes. The first is our 2017 author...
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