This chapter considers the landmark status of the House of Lords in Thorner v Major [2009] UKHL 18, understanding it as an example of story-telling in the law. The chapter explores the issues surrounding the equitable doctrine of proprietary estoppel, as it applies in particular in the context...

In the context of the decision of the UK Supreme Court in Jones v Kernott [2012] UKSC 53; [2012] 1 AC 776, this note looks at the way in which the interests under a common intention constructive trust can vary over time. It considers the role of s.53(1)(c) of the Law of Property Act 1925, which...

This chapter considers the justification for the 'automatic' resulting trust. It points out that, as a historical matter, the dominant explanation has been that the settler 'retains' any beneficial interest of which he has not disposed. It is suggested, by reference to the “doctrine of the old...

This article considers the nature and future of resulting trusts, and offers a critique of the Birks/Chambers theory of resulting trusts. It argues that the current law cannot be explained, as the Birks/Chambers theory suggests, on the basis of the reversal of unjust enrichment. Instead, the law...

This article addresses the approach of the law of equity to the problem of third party undue influence in the context of bank guarantees. It considers the decision of the Irish High Court in Ulster Bank v Fitzgerald and its relationship to the approach of English law, as represented by Barclays...

This article considers the situation where a family home has been purchased in joint names, without any express declaration of the beneficial interests. The courts have interpreted the applicable equitable doctrines so as to make it very difficult for a defendant to resist a claim by his or her...

This article considers the new Irish legislative scheme for cohabitants, contained in Part 15 of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010. The article discusses the background to the legislation, noting the increase in the prevalence of cohabitation in...

What does the law presume when it is proven simply that one person has made a payment of money to another? Surprisingly, there are three candidate answers to this question. First, a number of nineteenth-century authorities hold that ‘when money is paid by one man to another the legal...

This note considers the decision of the Irish High Court in Re Prendiville (1992) which dealt with the enforcement of half-secret trusts. It confirms, in a case where the point arose for decision, that Irish law rejects “the prior acceptance rule” favoured in the English cases. The judgment...

In recent years, as illustrated by Thorner v Major (2009) UKHL 18, the law of proprietary estoppel has become more favourable to claimants in the inheritance context. Focusing on two recent English Court of Appeal decisions, Suggitt v Suggitt (2012) EWCA Civ 1140 and Bradbury v Taylor (2012)...