Category: Agency

Brian Cooper and Co v Fairview Estates (Investments) Ltd: CA 13 Mar 1987

A substantial property developer sought a tenant for its office block and agreed with his selling agent to pay ‘a full scale letting fee . . should you introduce a tenant by whom you are unable to be retained and with whom we have not been in previous communication and who subsequently completes a lease.’ There was an introduction but, after a number of months, a lease was completed by a company in respect of whose introduction the personnel in Fairview had no recollection, the tenant having been procured by other means.
Held: The agent was not an effective cause of the tenancy but the fee was payable. The court refused to imply the usual term requiring that the agent play an effective part was that an introduction was all that Fairview wanted; they had their own employers and lawyers who could do all the subsequent work and no further work after the introduction was expected of the agent. Woolf LJ thought the implied term would avoid the possibility of the client paying commission to more than one agent each of whom might be said to have ‘introduced’ a purchaser or lessee but only one of whom could be said to be the effective cause of the transaction, and said: ‘In a case where there are no express qualifications to be fulfilled other than that a purchaser should be introduced by the estate agent, then the need to imply a term as to effective cause can be readily appreciated, since otherwise if the vendor engages more than one agent there will be no way in which he can avoid being faced with an obligation to meet the claim for commission of more than one agent who each introduced the tenant. However, in this case there is virtually no danger of this happening because of the words ‘with whom we have not been in previous communication.’

Judges:

Woolf LJ

Citations:

[1987] EGLR 18

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – The County Homesearch Company (Thames and Chilterns) Ltd v Cowham CA 31-Jan-2008
The defendants contracted to pay estate agents to find them a house. They completed the purchase of a property mentioned to them three times by the agent, but now appealed from a finding that they were obliged to pay his commission. The judge found . .
Cited – Foxtons Ltd v Pelkey Bicknell and Another CA 23-Apr-2008
The defendant appealed against a finding that she was liable to pay her estate agent, appointed as sole agent, on the sale of her property. The eventual purchasers had visited but rejected the property. The agency was later terminated, and the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Agency, Contract

Updated: 23 March 2022; Ref: scu.264094

Mercantile Credit Co Ltd v Hamblin: CA 1964

Pearson LJ said: ‘There is no rule of law that in a hire purchase transaction the dealer never is, or always is, acting as agent for the finance company or as agent for the customer.Nevertheless, the dealer is to some extent an intermediary between the customer and the finance company, and he may well have in a particular case some ad hoc agencies to do particular things on behalf of one or the other or, it may be, both of those two parties.’ and ‘In a typical hire purchase transaction the dealer is a party in his own right, selling his car to the finance company, and he is acting primarily on his own behalf and not as general agent for either of the other two parties. There is no need to attribute to him an agency in order to account for his participation in the transaction. Nevertheless the dealer is to some extent an intermediary between the customer and the finance company, and he may well have in a particular case some ad-hoc agencies to do particular things on behalf of one or other or it may be both of those two parties.’
An advocate should draw the attention of the court to the fact that an act relied on by a party is unlawful, if that is the case.

Judges:

Pearson LJ

Citations:

[1965] 2 QB 242, [1964] 1 WLR 423

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Approved – Branwhite v Worcester Works Finance Ltd HL 1969
A dealer may for some ad hoc purpose be the agent of a finance company. In relation to a purchase of a motor vehicle through a motor dealer, where the prospective purchaser completes an application for hire purchase in the office of the motor . .
Cited – Norman Hudson v Shogun Finance Ltd CA 28-Jun-2001
A rogue had purchased a car, using a false name to obtain finance. He had then sold it to the defendant. The finance company claimed the car back.
Held: The dealer had not taken all the steps he might have done to check the identity of the . .
Cited – London Borough of Lewisham v Malcolm and Disability Rights Commission CA 25-Jul-2007
The court was asked, whether asked to grant possession against a disabled tenant where the grounds for possession were mandatory. The defendant was a secure tenant with a history of psychiatric disability. He had set out to buy his flat, but the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Contract, Agency

Updated: 23 March 2022; Ref: scu.188420

Collins v Associated Greyhound Racecourses Ltd: CA 1930

An undisclosed principal cannot intervene where the nature of the contract shows that the contract was intended to be with the agent personally.

Citations:

[1930] 1 Ch 1

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Shogun Finance Limited v Hudson HL 19-Nov-2003
Thief acquired no title and could not sell
A purchaser used a stolen driving licence to obtain credit for and purchase a car. He then purported to sell it to the respondent, and then disappeared. The finance company sought return of the car.
Held: (Lords Nicholls and Millett . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Agency

Updated: 23 March 2022; Ref: scu.188453

Henderson v Merrett Syndicates Ltd: HL 25 Jul 1994

Lloyds Agents Owe Care Duty to Member; no Contract

Managing agents conducted the financial affairs of the Lloyds Names belonging to the syndicates under their charge. It was alleged that they managed these affairs with a lack of due careleading to enormous losses.
Held: The assumption of responsibility principle enunciated in Hedley is not confined to statements but may apply to any assumption of responsibility for the provision of services. This extended Hedley Byrne principle is the rationalisation or technique adopted to provide a remedy for the recovery of damages in respect of economic loss caused by the negligent performance of services. Once a case falls within the extended Hedley Byrne principle, there is no need to embark on any further inquiry whether it is ‘fair, just and reasonable’ to impose liability for economic loss. Further ‘reliance upon [the assumption of responsibility] by the other party will be necessary to establish a cause of action (because otherwise the negligence will have no causative effect).’ The existence of a contractual duty of care between the parties does not preclude the concurrence of a tort duty in the same respect.
Professional advisers may owe to the same client a duty to exercise reasonable care and skill derived from both contract and tort law.
Lord Browne-Wilkinson said: ‘The phrase ‘fiduciary duties’ is a dangerous one, giving rise to a mistaken assumption that all fiduciaries owe the same duties in all circumstances. That is not the case. Although, so far as I am aware, every fiduciary is under a duty not to make a profit from his position (unless such profit is authorised), the fiduciary duties owed, for example, by an express trustee are not the same as those owed by an agent. Moreover, and more relevantly, the extent and nature of the fiduciary duties owed in any particular case fall to be determined by reference to any underlying contractual relationship between the parties. Thus, in the case of an agent employed under a contract, the scope of his fiduciary duties is determined by the terms of the underlying contract. Although an agent is, in the absence of contractual provision, in breach of his fiduciary duties if he acts for another who is in competition with his principal, if the contract under which he is acting authorises him so to do, the normal fiduciary duties are modified accordingly: see Kelly v. Cooper [1993] A.C. 205, and the cases there cited. The existence of a contract does not exclude the co-existence of concurrent fiduciary duties (indeed, the contract may well be their source); but the contract can and does modify the extent and nature of the general duty that would otherwise arise.’

Judges:

Lord Goff of Chieveley, Lord Browne-Wilkinson

Citations:

[1995] 2 AC 145, [1994] 3 All ER 506, Times 26-Jul-1994, [1994] UKHL 5, [1994] 3 WLR 761

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Hedley Byrne and Co Ltd v Heller and Partners Ltd HL 28-May-1963
Banker’s Liability for Negligent Reference
The appellants were advertising agents. They were liable themselves for advertising space taken for a client, and had sought a financial reference from the defendant bankers to the client. The reference was negligent, but the bankers denied any . .
Appeal from – Arbuthnott v Feltrim; Deeny v Gooda Walker; Henderson v Merrett CA 14-Dec-1993
Underwriters owe a professional duty of care to Lloyds names in underwriting, even though they were acting as agents. . .

Cited by:

Cited – Bellefield Computer Services and others v E Turner and Sons Limited and others CA 18-Dec-2002
The defendants had carried out works of construction on the premises. They subcontracted the design, but not the supervision, of the works to architects. Years later there was a fire, which spread rapidly because of negligence in the design of a . .
Cited – DP Mann and others v Coutts and Co ComC 16-Sep-2003
The claimants were involved in litigation, They took certain steps on the understanding that the respondents had had deposited with them substantial sums in accounts under binding authorities. The bank had written a letter upon which they claim they . .
Cited – Silven Properties Limited, Chart Enterprises Incorporated v Royal Bank of Scotland Plc, Vooght, Harris CA 21-Oct-2003
The claimants sought damages from mortgagees who had sold their charged properties as receivers. They said they had failed to sell at a proper value. They asked whether the express appointment in the mortgage of receivers as agents of the mortgagor . .
Cited – Niru Battery Manufacturing Company, Bank Sepah Iran v Milestone Trading Limited CA 23-Oct-2003
The claimant had contracted to purchase lead from some of the defendants. There were delays in payment but when funds were made available they should have been repaid. An incorrect bill of lading was presented. The bill certified that the goods had . .
Cited – Oldham and others v Georgina Kyrris and Another CA 4-Nov-2003
The claimant sought to bring a claim against the administrators of a partnership alleging a duty of care to creditors.
Held: Such an administrator owed no greater duty to creditors than would a director. That duty was no different whether the . .
Cited – Commissioners of Customs and Excise v Barclays Bank Plc ComC 3-Feb-2004
The claimant had obtained orders against two companies who banked with the respondent. Asset freezing orders were served on the bank, but within a short time the customer used the bank’s Faxpay national service to transfer substantial sums outside . .
Cited – Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis v Lennon CA 20-Feb-2004
The claimant police officer considered being transferred to Northern Ireland. He asked and was incorrectly told that his housing allowance would not be affected by taking time off work.
Held: The break between employments had affected his . .
Cited – McLoughlin v Jones; McLoughlin v Grovers (a Firm) CA 2002
In deciding whether a duty of care is established the court must go to the ‘battery of tests which the House of Lords has taught us to use’, namely: ‘. . the ‘purpose’ test (Banque Bruxelles Lambert SA v Eagle Star Insurance Co Ltd); the ‘assumption . .
Cited – Phelps v Mayor and Burgesses London Borough of Hillingdon CA 4-Nov-1998
The plaintiff claimed damages for the negligent failure of an educational psychologist employed by a local authority to identify that the plaintiff was dyslexic.
Held: An educational psychologist has no duty of care to a child, as opposed to . .
Cited – Jane Marianne Sandhar, John Stuart Murray v Department of Transport, Environment and the Regions CA 5-Nov-2004
The claimant’s husband died when his car skidded on hoar frost. She claimed the respondent was liable under the Act and at common law for failing to keep it safe.
Held: The respondent had not assumed a general responsibility to all road users . .
Cited – Customs and Excise v Barclays Bank Plc CA 22-Nov-2004
The claimant had obtained judgment against customers of the defendant, and then freezing orders for the accounts. The defendants inadvertently or negligently allowed sums to be transferred from the accounts. The claimants sought repayment by the . .
Cited – First National Commercial Bank Plc v Loxleys (a Firm) CA 6-Nov-1996
The plaintiff claimed damages from the seller of land and from their solicitors for misrepresentation in the replies to enquiries before contract. He appealed a striking out of his claim.
Held: A lawyer’s disclaimer placed on his Replies to . .
Cited – Precis (521) Plc v William M Mercer Ltd CA 15-Feb-2005
Purchasers of a company sought to claim in negligence against the respondent actuaries in respect of a valuation of the company’s pension funds.
Held: There was a paucity of authority as to when a duty of care was assumed. The words used and . .
Cited – Regina v Lam and Others (T/a ‘Namesakes of Torbay’) and Borough of Torbay CA 30-Jul-1997
The claimant sought damages after the planning authority allowed the first defendant to conduct a manufacturing business in the course of which spraying activities took place which caused them personal injuries and loss of business.
Held: The . .
Cited – West Bromwich Albion Football Club Ltd v El-Safty QBD 14-Dec-2005
The claimant sought damages from the defendant surgeon alleging negligent care of a footballer. The defendant argued that he had no duty to the club as employer of his patient who was being treated through his BUPA membership. It would have created . .
Cited – HM Customs and Excise v Barclays Bank Plc HL 21-Jun-2006
The claimant had served an asset freezing order on the bank in respect of one of its customers. The bank paid out on a cheque inadvertently as to the order. The Commissioners claimed against the bank in negligence. The bank denied any duty of care. . .
Cited – B and B v A County Council CA 21-Nov-2006
The claimants sought damages from the defendant local authority after their identities had been wrongfully revealed to the natural parents of the adoptees leading to a claimed campaign of harassment. The adopters has specifically requested that . .
Cited – Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Group Plc v Inland Revenue and Another HL 25-Oct-2006
The tax payer had overpaid Advance Corporation Tax under an error of law. It sought repayment. The revenue contended that the claim was time barred.
Held: The claim was in restitution, and the limitation period began to run from the date when . .
Cited – Johnson v Gore Wood and Co HL 14-Dec-2000
Shareholder May Sue for Additional Personal Losses
A company brought a claim of negligence against its solicitors, and, after that claim was settled, the company’s owner brought a separate claim in respect of the same subject-matter.
Held: It need not be an abuse of the court for a shareholder . .
Cited – White and Another v Jones and Another HL 16-Feb-1995
Will Drafter liable in Negligence to Beneficiary
A solicitor drawing a will may be liable in negligence to a potential beneficiary, having unduly delayed in the drawing of the will. The Hedley Byrne principle was ‘founded upon an assumption of responsibility.’ Obligations may occasionally arise . .
Cited – Grosvenor Casinos Ltd v National Bank of Abu Dhabi ComC 17-Mar-2008
Banker’s reference no guarantee
An Arab businessman lost pounds 18m at the claimant casino, and wrote scrip cheques against his account with the defendant. The claimant obtained judgment, but being unable to enforce that judgment pursued his bank. The club had used a system where . .
Cited – Total Network Sl v Revenue and Customs HL 12-Mar-2008
The House was asked whether an action for unlawful means conspiracy was available against a participant in a missing trader intra-community, or carousel, fraud. The company appealed a finding of liability saying that the VAT Act and Regulations . .
Cited – Welton, Welton v North Cornwall District Council CA 17-Jul-1996
The defendant authority appealed a finding that it was liable in negligence from the conduct of one of its environmental health officers. The plaintiff had set out to refurbish and open a restaurant. He said the officer gave him a list of things he . .
Cited – O’Donnell v Shanahan and Another CA 22-Jul-2009
The claimant appealed against dismissal of her petition for an order for the defendants to purchase her shares at a fair value, saying that they had acted unfairly toward her. Her co-directors had acquired, for another company of which they were . .
Cited – Rossetti Marketing Ltd v Diamond Sofa Company Ltd and Another QBD 3-Oct-2011
The claimants sought compensation under the 1993 Rules. The defendants denied that the claimants were agents within the rules, since they also acted as agents for other furniture makers.
Held: Whether a party is a commercial agent within the . .
Cited – Glaister and Others v Appelby-In-Westmorland Town Council CA 9-Dec-2009
The claimant was injured when at a horse fair. A loose horse kicked him causing injury. They claimed in negligence against the council for licensing the fair without ensuring that public liability insurance. The Council now appealed agaiinst a . .
Cited – Aspect Contracts (Asbetos) Ltd v Higgins Construction Plc SC 17-Jun-2015
Aspect had claimed the return of funds paid by it to the appellant Higgins under an adjudication award in a construction contract disute. The claimant had been asked to prpare asbestos surveys and reports on maisonettes which Higgins was to acquire . .
Cited – Halton International Inc (Holding) and Another v Guernroy Ltd ChD 9-Sep-2005
Parties had entered into a shareholders’ agreement as to voting arrengemets within a company. Thay disputed whether votes had been used in reach of that agreement, particularly as to the issue of new shares and their allotment, but the court now . .
Cited – Steel and Another v NRAM Ltd (Formerly NRAM Plc) SC 28-Feb-2018
The appellant solicitor acted in a land transaction. The land was mortgaged to the respondent bank. She wrote to the bank stating her client’s intention to repay the whole loan. The letter was negligently mistaken and the bankers allowed the . .
Cited – Banca Nazionale Del Lavoro Spa v Playboy Club London Ltd and Others SC 26-Jul-2018
The Playboy casino required a reference for a customer, but asked for this through a third party. The bank was not aware of the agency but gave a good reference for a customer who had never deposited any money with them and nor to whom it had issued . .
Cited – Poole Borough Council v GN and Another SC 6-Jun-2019
This appeal is concerned with the liability of a local authority for what is alleged to have been a negligent failure to exercise its social services functions so as to protect children from harm caused by third parties. The principal question of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Professional Negligence, Damages, Agency

Leading Case

Updated: 11 February 2022; Ref: scu.180462

Agro Foreign Trade and Agency: ECJ 16 Feb 2017

ECJ (Judgment) Reference for a preliminary ruling – Self-employed commercial agents – Directive 86/653/EEC – Coordination of the laws of the Member States – Belgian transposition measure – Commercial agency contract – Principal established in Belgium and agent established in Turkey – Choice of Belgian law clause – Applicable law – EEC-Turkey Association Agreement – Compatibility

Citations:

ECLI:EU:C:2017:129, [2017] EUECJ C-507/15

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Directive 86/653/EEC

Jurisdiction:

European

Commercial, Agency

Updated: 31 January 2022; Ref: scu.575249

Rex v William Thomas: 1837

A forged letter, requesting a tradesman to deliver goods to A E on his credit, and vouching for his ability to pay, may be described as a request within II Geo IV and 1 Will IV. C 66i, s 1O, though the supposed writer have no authority over or interest in the goods, and AB only be looked to for payment,

Citations:

[1837] EngR 271, (1837) 2 Mood 16, (1837) 169 ER 7

Links:

Commonlii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Crime, Agency

Updated: 30 January 2022; Ref: scu.313388

Miles and Another v The Public Guardian: ChD 1 Jul 2015

The court was asked whether certain provisions in two lasting powers of attorney were effective.
Nugee J said: ‘It does seem to me that it is right that the Act should be construed in a way which gives as much flexibility to donors to set out how they wish their affairs to be dealt with as possible, the Act being intended to give autonomy to those who are in a position where they can foresee that they may in the future lack capacity . .’

Judges:

Nugee J

Citations:

[2015] EWHC 2960 (Ch)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Mental Capacity Act 2005 9

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Health, Agency

Updated: 29 January 2022; Ref: scu.573627

Petterson v Royal Oak Hotel Ltd: 22 Aug 1947

A barman had refused to serve a drunken customer with more alcohol. As the customer was on his way out of the premises, he threw a glass at the barman which broke in pieces at his feet. The barman picked up a piece of the broken glass and threw it back at the departing customer, but missed him and injured the eye of another customer, who sued for damages. At trial, the trial judge found that the barman threw the piece of glass ‘not in order to expedite the departure of the troublesome customer, but as an expression of his personal resentment at the glass being thrown at him’. He found for the claimant.
Held: His judgment was upheld by the Court of Appeal. The barman’s action was an improper mode of doing his job of keeping order in the bar and avoiding altercations, although at the time the customer was leaving.

Citations:

[1948] NZLR 136, [1947] NZGazLawRp 97, (1947) 49 GLR 397

Links:

NZGLR

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Mohamud v WM Morrison Supermarkets plc SC 2-Mar-2016
The claimant had been assaulted and racially abused as he left a kiosk at the respondent’s petrol station by a member of staff. A manager had tried to dissuade the assailant, and the claim for damages against the supermarket had failed at first . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Agency, Vicarious Liability

Updated: 28 January 2022; Ref: scu.606514

Yasuda Fire and Marine Insurance Company Europe Ltd v Orion Marine Insurance Underwriters Ltd: ChD 27 Oct 1994

An agent’s fiduciary duty to his principal survived the determination of his contract and he had a continuing duty to provide accounts. The court recognised the right of a principal to inspect and copy the content of both computerised and hard copy records of former underwriting agents as an incident of the agency relationship independent of any contractual term conferring a right to inspect and copy.

Times 27-Oct-1994, [1995] QB 174
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Fairstar Heavy Transport Nv v Adkins and Another CA 19-Jul-2013
The court was asked whether the appellant company was entitled to an order requiring its former Chief Executive Officer, after the termination of his appointment, to give it access to the content of emails relating to its business affairs, and . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Agency

Updated: 27 January 2022; Ref: scu.90656

Tamarind International Ltd and others v Eastern Natural Gas (Retail) Ltd and Another: QBD 27 Jun 2000

Where self employed agents had been taken on to market the respondent’s services, and those agencies were terminated, such activities were those of commercial agents within the Directive, and they were entitled to compensation. Whether he was a secondary agent or not was a question foreign to English law, and not to be gleaned other than through the Regulations and the facts. If the agents are not secondary, they are within the Regulations. Here the respondent would derive a long term benefit from their activities, and they were not secondary.
Morison J reviewed the genesis of the Directive and made reference to Law Commission Report No 84, 1977 which said: ‘The provisions of the Directive were clearly based upon the German Commercial Code and related to a special category of agent who acted for his principal ‘who must be his standing client’. In German law the commercial agent is ‘identifiable as a member of a particular social group with special social and economic needs’. Such an agent was a quasi employee requiring protection from exploitation’.

Morison J
Times 27-Jun-2000, Gazette 29-Jun-2000, [2000] EuLR 708, [2000] CLC 1397
Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993 No 3053
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Ingmar GB Ltd v Eaton Leonard Inc QBD 31-Jul-2001
The applicants sought damages as commercial agents following the termination of their exclusive agency for the sale of the respondents goods in the UK. The defendants claimed the contract was governed exclusively by Californian law. The European . .
Cited – Rossetti Marketing Ltd v Diamond Sofa Company Ltd and Another QBD 3-Oct-2011
The claimants sought compensation under the 1993 Rules. The defendants denied that the claimants were agents within the rules, since they also acted as agents for other furniture makers.
Held: Whether a party is a commercial agent within the . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Agency, Commercial

Updated: 26 January 2022; Ref: scu.89699

National Mercantile Bank Ltd v Rymill: CA 1881

The plaintiff was the owner of horses the subject of a bill of sale. The grantor of the bill sold the horses privately in the defendant’s auction yard and following the sale, on the grantor’s instructions, the auctioneer delivered the horses to the buyer. It was held that there had been no conversion.
Held: The auctioneer did not claim to transfer the title and did not purport to sell; all the dominion he exercised over the chattels was to redeliver them to the person to whom the man from whom he had received them had told him to redeliver them. On the evidence there had been no sale by the auctioneer. A bailee escapes liability for conversion, not only where he merely redelivers to his bailor, but where he delivers at the bailor’s directions to a third party without knowledge of any adverse claim, though with knowledge that such delivery is in pursuance of a sale or other disposition.

Bramwell LJ, Brett and Cotton LJJ
[1881] 44 LTNS 767
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Marcq v Christie, Manson and Woods Ltd CA 23-May-2003
The claimant’s stolen painting was put up for sale by the defendant. On being withdrawn, they returned it to the person who had brought it in. The claimant sought damages.
Held: There was no reported case in which a court has had to consider . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Agency, Torts – Other

Updated: 22 January 2022; Ref: scu.182754

The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple v Lloyds Bank plc and Another: QBD 8 Feb 1999

Where a cheque marked ‘a/c payee only’ had been stolen, and an English clearing bank collected it as agent for a foreign bank not acting for the payee, that bank was liable for the misrepresentation involved in the presentation. Where a bank asks its English agent for collection to collect English cheques crossed ‘a/c payee’ it is impliedly warranting that its customer is entitled to the proceeds. The court drew a distinction between an agent’s breach of duty as against his principal and an agent’s breach of duty to a third party. Where an agent for a collecting bank was negligent towards a third party payee, he would be indemnified by a collecting bank for any loss caused to a third party as a consequence of performing the collecting bank’s request. This was not so where the loss arose from the agent’s negligence in the actual performance of the collecting bank’s request.
Rix J: ‘When, however, the cheque emerges from that multitude and is referred by the clerical staff to management, albeit only as a result of an inquiry after fate, it seems to me that different considerations come into play. The cheque is no longer a mere item following a course in a factory-like process. It no longer becomes impracticable to give it individual attention, or the attention of management. It is referred for just such individual attention, even if the cause of referral is something collateral.’

Rix J
Times 08-Feb-1999, [1999] 1 All ER (Comm) 193
Cheques Act 1992
England and Wales
Cited by:
Approved – Linklaters (A Firm) v HSBC Bank Plc and and Banco Popular Espanol ComC 22-May-2003
A stolen cheque was endorsed in blank, and paid through an account opened for that purpose. It had been crossed ‘A/C PAYEE ONLY’ The cheques was paid in, and the money authorised for payment by HSBC. The banks had to apportion responsibility. The . .
Cited – Architects of Wine Ltd v Barclays Bank Plc CA 20-Mar-2007
The bank appealed summary judgement against it for conversion of cheques. The cheques had been obtained by a fraud.
Held: The court considered the question of neglience under section 4: ‘The section 4 qualified duty does not require an . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Banking, Agency

Updated: 21 January 2022; Ref: scu.89822

Bailey and Another v Angove’s Pty Ltd: SC 27 Jul 2016

The defendant had agreed to act as the claimant’s agent and distributor of the claimant’s wines in the UK. It acted both as agent and also bought wines on its own account. When the defendant went into litigation the parties disputed the right of the defedant to collect outstanding siums. The court was asked two questions: ‘The first is: in what circumstances will the law treat the authority of an agent as irrevocable. The other is whether the receipt of money at a time when the recipient knows that imminent insolvency will prevent him from performing the corresponding obligation, can give rise to liability to account as a constructive trustee.’ At first instance the court had decided that the authority to collect sums was revoked upon service of the notice terminaing the agreement, but the Court of Appeal decided in its favour.
Held: The appeal was allowed. The agent;s authority was determined imediately. It did not have sufficient interest under the contract to have authority to collect the unpaid sales invoices.

Lord Neuberger, President, Lord Clarke, Lord Sumption, Lord Carnwath, Lord Hodge
[2016] UKSC 47, UKSC 2014/0106, [2016] WLR(D) 455, [2016] 1 WLR 3179
Bailii, Bailii Summary, SC, SC Summary, SC Summ Vid, WLRD
Powers of Attorney Act 1971 4(1)
England and Wales
Citing:
At first instance – Bailey and Another v Angove’s PTY Limited ChD 2013
The liquidator of the company sought a declaration that sums received by the defendant sales agents on behalf of the insolvent company were to be paid out to the liquidators in full. The court was asked whether the payments by DWL and PLB made after . .
Cited – Walsh v Whitcomb 1797
Lord Kenyon said that powers of attorney are ‘revocable from their nature’. . .
Cited – Smart and another v Sandars and Others CCP 12-May-1848
A factor to whom goods have been consigned generally for sale, and who has subsequently made advances to his principal on the credit of the goods, has no right to sell them, contrary to the orders of his principal, on the latter neglecting, on . .
Cited – Gaussen And Others v W Morton And E Morton 7-May-1830
A. being indebted to B, in order to discharge the debt executed to B a power of attorney, authorising him to sell certain lands belonging to him, A.: Held, that this, being an authority coupled with an interest could not be revoked. . .
Cited – De Comas v Prost and Kohler PC 13-Mar-1865
New South Wales . .
Cited – Doward, Dickson and Co v Williams and Co 1890
Where an agent’s only interest is a commercial interest in being able to earn his commission, his power of attorney is not secured and is revocable, because the authority is not properly speaking a security at all. . .
Cited – (In re Hannan’s Empress Gold Mining and Development Co (Carmichael’s Case) 1896
A power of attorney was held to be irrevocable when conferred on the promoter of a public share offering to subscribe for shares . .
Cited – Van Praagh v Everidge ChD 1902
A power of attorney conferred by a bidder on an auctioneer of land to execute the memorandum of sale if it is knocked down to him was held to be irrevocable . .
Cited – Frith v Frith PC 21-Mar-1906
Turks and Caicos Islands – A manager sought to claim that the power of attorney, which authorised him to enter into possession of and manage an estate in the Turks and Caicos Islands, and to receive rents and profits and pay debts due by the owners, . .
Cited – Temple Legal Protection Ltd v QBE Insurance (Europe) Ltd CA 6-Apr-2009
‘In the present case the binder gives Temple certain valuable rights, including a right in Section 27.1 to ‘retain’ commission out of premiums, but they do not include any rights of a security or proprietary nature to which the authority can be . .
Appeal from – Bailey and Another v Angove’s Pty Ltd CA 7-Mar-2014
The parties disputed the payment out of sums held by the company’s liquidators under an undertaking given by them. Their case was that if DandD (agents for the insolvent company) acted in the relevant respects as agents, their authority to collect . .
Cited – Daly v Lime Street Underwriting Agencies 1987
A name at Lloyds confers an irrevocable power of attorney on his managing agent to underwrite business. . .
Cited – Society of Lloyd’s v D Leighs and Others; Society of Lloyd’s v D Wilkinson and Others ComC 20-Feb-1997
ComC Lloyd’s Litigation – issues relating to recovery from names.
Held: A name at Lloyd’s grants a power of attorney to the underwriting agent to execute that power which is irrevocable. . .
Cited – Barclays Bank Ltd v Quistclose Investments Ltd; etc HL 31-Oct-1968
R Ltd were in serious financial difficulties. The company’s overdraft with the appellant bank was almost twice its permitted limit. The company sought a loan of 1 million pounds from a financier, who was willing to lend the company that sum provided . .
Cited – Lord Napier and Ettrick and Another v Hunter and Others; Same v R F Kershaw Ltd HL 3-Mar-1993
Certain insureds sought recovery of a sum which was greater than the sum which had been paid to them by their insurers. The insureds had claimed first on the policies of insurance. Their claims had been met. The insureds then pursued an action in . .
Cited – Chase Manhattan Bank NA v Israel-British Bank (London) Ltd 1981
Goulding J approved the statement in Story’s Commentaries on Equity Jurisprudence: ‘the receiving of money which consistently with conscience cannot be retained is, in equity, sufficient to raise a trust in favour of the party for whom or on whose . .
Not justified – Neste Oy v Lloyd’s Bank Plc ChD 1983
A shipping agent (PSL), a client of the defendant, had become insolvent. The defendant sought to combine the accounts. PSL settled on behalf of their shipowner clients bills payable to harbour authorities, pilots, fuel merchants, and other providers . .
Cited – Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale v Islington London Borough Council HL 22-May-1996
Simple interest only on rate swap damages
The bank had paid money to the local authority under a contract which turned out to be ultra vires and void. The question was whether, in addition to ordering the repayment of the money to the bank on unjust enrichment principles, the court could . .
Wrongy decided – Japan Leasing (Europe) Plc v Shoa Leasing (Singapore) PTE Ltd ChD 30-Jul-1999
The court considered a hire purchase agreement for an aircraft between four leasing companies and Olympic Airways. The contract documentation provided for the payment of the price in instalments to designated accounts in various currencies of one of . .
Cited – Ibrahim v Barclays Bank Plc and Another CA 16-May-2012
The court was asked whether a debtor’s liability to his creditor is discharged when the creditor recovers an equivalent amount to the debt from a bank that has provided a standby letter of credit.
Held: they were entitled at common law to . .
Cited – FHR European Ventures Llp and Others v Cedar Capital Partners Llc SC 16-Jul-2014
Approprietary remedy against Fraudulent Agent
The Court was asked whether a bribe or secret commission received by an agent is held by the agent on trust for his principal, or whether the principal merely has a claim for equitable compensation in a sum equal to the value of the bribe or . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Agency, Commercial

Updated: 20 January 2022; Ref: scu.567604

The Northampton Regional Livestock Centre Co Ltd v Cowling and Another: QBD 23 Jan 2014

‘This case concerns the fiduciary and tortious duties of agents in relation to the sale of commercial property. In particular it concerns the duties of agents who act, or seek to act, for both the vendor and purchaser of commercial property in the same transaction and of company directors who instruct a firm in which they are a partner, to act for their company.’

Mr Justice Green
[2014] EWHC 30 (QB)
Bailii
England and Wales

Agency

Updated: 20 January 2022; Ref: scu.520721

JD Wetherspoon Plc v Harris and Others: ChD 1 May 2013

The chancellor gave reasons for refusing to strike out the claim. The claimant had alleged dishonest assistance in a breach of an agent’s duty by the defendants in two land transactions.

Sir Terence Etherton
[2013] EWHC 1088 (Ch), [2013] WLR(D) 159, [2013] 1 WLR 3296
Bailii, WLRD
England and Wales

Agency, Torts – Other

Updated: 20 January 2022; Ref: scu.491843

Lyell v Kennedy: HL 1 Aug 1889

The true owner may recover money which was rightfully his from a person to whom the money in question had been wrongly paid by the collector of the money. A fiduciary is one who has undertaken, whether on request or without request, of his own motion to act on behalf of another in circumstances in which equity will not allow him ‘to enter into engagements in which he has, or can have, a personal interest conflicting, or which possibly may conflict, with the interests of those whom he is bound to protect’.

(1889) 14 App Cas 437, [1889] UKLawRpAC 36
Commonlii
England and Wales
Citing:
See Also – Lyell v Kennedy (No 3) CA 8-Apr-1884
The plaintiff claimed to be entitled to land as purchaser from the heir-at-law of an intestate, who had died many years earlier. The land was in the possession of the defendant, and the central issue in the action was whether the defendant’s . .

Cited by:
Cited – Fisher v Brooker and Another ChD 20-Dec-2006
The claimant said that he had contributed to the copyright in the song ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ but had been denied royalties. He had played the organ and particularly the organ solo which had contrbuted significantly to the fame of the record.
Cited – Clarence House Ltd v National Westminster Bank Plc CA 8-Dec-2009
The defendant tenants, anticipating that the landlord might delay or refuse consent to a subletting entered into a ‘virtual assignment’ of the lease, an assignment in everything but the deed and with no registration. The lease contained a standard . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Equity, Agency

Updated: 20 January 2022; Ref: scu.247517

Hays v Hays: ChD 30 Dec 2015

In these proceedings, E seeks an order from the court that her mother be appointed as her agent to enter into a contract of sale of her interest in a French immovable, an apartment situated in the first arondissement of Paris, in France.

Master Matthews
[2015] EWHC 3825 (Ch)
Bailii
England and Wales

Agency

Updated: 19 January 2022; Ref: scu.566766

The Software Incubator Ltd v Computer Associates UK Ltd: QBD 1 Jul 2016

Claim for damages for repudiatory breach of agency agreement,and for damages for termination of sales agency agreement. The defendant argued that the 1993 Regulations did not apply since the supply of computer software under the contract was not a supply of goods as required by the Regulations.
As to whether the software was goods: ‘The Product is an application as opposed, simply, to data. More particularly, in this case, it is a program designed to give effect to the automatic deployment of or changes to other applications across a large computer network. Like other software it is itself intangible in the sense that it does not exist in three-dimensions and cannot be physically handled or transported. But its effects can be observed as with, for example, gas or electricity.
In common parlance, and without wishing to state the obvious, I believe that as a piece of sophisticated, commercial non-bespoke software, it would be regarded, at the very least as a ‘product’. It would not be regarded, nor is it, a ‘service’. Like other pieces of software, it is ‘commodified’ i.e. it is capable of transfer and commercial exploitation. Moreover, so far as ‘tangibility’ is concerned, while software itself is intangible and its method of delivery may be electronic, it can only operate in a tangible environment i.e. (a) being loaded onto a hard disk or server or some other permanent storage system, somewhere, and (b) when it runs, it will be run on a computer, tablet, reader mobile phone (depending on the software) and so on. In that sense it is akin to digital music. As Professor Clark of University College Dublin put it in an article called ‘The Legal Status of Software’ in March 2016, ‘Digital content . . possesses a functional equivalence to goods.’
Indeed, for the purposes of the Agreement, the Product is treated very much as tangible goods. Thus TSI was engaged to promote, market and sell it – there was clearly no difficulty foreseen in referring to sales and commission on those sales. Moreover, and although hardly determinative, the purported release of CA by TSI of any claims under the Regulations set out in Clause 10.2, rather suggests, objectively, that absent such a release, the Regulations would have applied.
While there is copyright in the Product owned by CA, it would be wrong to describe the Product as simply intellectual property in my view. Rather, the property rights associated with it are simply intellectual as opposed to real or personal. In that sense it is like other products, for example, music downloaded on MP3 files or books downloaded in electronically readable form. The fact that there are detailed provisions as to the use of the Product and the terms of the licence (see, for example, the master agreement made between CA and Tesco at D5/p3839 – ‘the Tesco Agreement’) does not alter this. In the case of the Product, the agreements with CA usually provide for the grant of a perpetual licence. Although it is possible to supply it on a lesser licence, it was not suggested to me by CA that perpetual licences were not the usual commercial aim and indeed Mr Dainty said that they were the most popular. I proceed on that basis.
Finally, the Product can be delivered either on tangible media or electronically. See in this regard, for example, paragraph 11 (f) of the Tesco Agreement. These days I would suggest that the essential characteristics of a piece of software like the Product cannot depend on its mode of delivery any more than the nature of tangible goods depends on whether they are transported by rail, sea or air.
Working from first principles, therefore, I would consider that the Product would today, be regarded as ‘goods’ albeit that it is not tangible.

Waksman QC HHJ
[2016] EWHC 1587 (QB), [2017] Bus LR 245
Bailii
Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993 17(2)
England and Wales

Contract, Agency

Updated: 18 January 2022; Ref: scu.566574

Rossetti Marketing Ltd v Diamond Sofa Company Ltd and Another: QBD 3 Oct 2011

The claimants sought compensation under the 1993 Rules. The defendants denied that the claimants were agents within the rules, since they also acted as agents for other furniture makers.
Held: Whether a party is a commercial agent within the meaning of the Directive or the Regulations is a straightforward matter, to be determined by reference to the terms and the context of the agreement at the date it is concluded. The Regulations envisaged two types of Agent, but ‘None of this means that the non-derogable obligations of the commercial agent under article 3.1 and regulation 3(1), to look after the interests of the principal, and to act dutifully and in good faith, are to be imported into the definition of a commercial agent so that an agent acting for multiple principals does not fall within it.’ The correspondence indicated an implied term allowing the claimants to conduct additional competing agencies. The agreement was subject to the 1993 Regulations.

Cranston J
[2011] EWHC 2482 (QB)
Bailii
Commercial Agents Regulations 1993, Council Directive 86/653/EEC of 18 December 1986 on the coordination of the laws of the Member States relating to self-employed commercial agents
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Crane T/A Indigital Satellite Services v Sky In-Home Service Ltd and Another ChD 26-Jan-2007
The Directive’s substantive provisions were modelled primarily on the provisions of German domestic law. . .
Cited – Sagal (T/A Bunz UK) v Atelier Bunz Gmbh CA 3-Jul-2009
The court was asked whether the the appellant was a commercial agent of the defendant within the regulations, and so would be entitled to compensation on termination of the agency.
Longmore LJ said: ‘It does not follow that every agent acting . .
Cited – Tamarind International Ltd and others v Eastern Natural Gas (Retail) Ltd and Another QBD 27-Jun-2000
Where self employed agents had been taken on to market the respondent’s services, and those agencies were terminated, such activities were those of commercial agents within the Directive, and they were entitled to compensation. Whether he was a . .
Cited – Marleasing SA v La Comercial Internacional de Alimentacion SA ECJ 13-Nov-1990
Sympathetic construction of national legislation
LMA OVIEDO sought a declaration that the contracts setting up Commercial International were void (a nullity) since they had been drawn up in order to defraud creditors. Commercial International relied on an EC . .
Cited – Ingmar Gb Ltd v Eaton Leonard Technologies Inc ECJ 16-Nov-2000
When a commercial agency was terminated in circumstances which under community law would entitle the agent to compensation, that compensation was payable even though the contract expressed itself to be governed by the law of California, and the . .
Cited – Director General of Fair Trading v First National Bank HL 25-Oct-2001
The House was asked whether a contractual provision for interest to run after judgment as well as before in a consumer credit contract led to an unfair relationship.
Held: The term was not covered by the Act, and was not unfair under the . .
Cited – Crane (T/A Indigital Satelite Services) v Sky In-Home Ltd and Another CA 3-Jul-2008
Arden LJ considered the principles to be applied when considering whether a party to civil litigation should be allowed to appeal a trial judge’s decision on the basis that a claim, which could have been brought before him but was not, would have . .
Cited – Crane T/A Indigital Satellite Services v Sky In-Home Service Ltd and Another ChD 26-Jan-2007
The Directive’s substantive provisions were modelled primarily on the provisions of German domestic law. . .
Cited – Kelly v Cooper and Another PC 25-Nov-1992
There was a dispute between a client and an estate agent in Bermuda. The client sued the estate agent for damages for breach of duty in failing to disclose material information to him and for putting himself in a position where his duty and his . .
Cited – Henderson v Merrett Syndicates Ltd HL 25-Jul-1994
Lloyds Agents Owe Care Duty to Member; no Contract
Managing agents conducted the financial affairs of the Lloyds Names belonging to the syndicates under their charge. It was alleged that they managed these affairs with a lack of due careleading to enormous losses.
Held: The assumption of . .
Cited – Tolhurst v Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers (1900) Ltd HL 1903
Tolhurst had contracted to sell a quantity of chalk from his quarries to the Imperial Company for fifty years. The Imperial Company afterwards assigned the Contract and sold its land, works and business to the Associated Company, and went into . .
Cited – AMB Imballaggi Plastici Srl v Pacflex Ltd CA 18-Jun-1999
A party who chose to contract as principal for the purpose of reselling the goods of the vendor on a speculative basis and for a profit, was not to be deemed to be a commercial agent of the first vendor, and so was not entitled to compensation on . .
Cited – Linden Gardens Trust Ltd v Lenesta Sludge Disposals Ltd and Others; St. Martins Property Corporation Ltd v Sir Robert McAlpine HL 8-Dec-1993
A contractor had done defective work in breach of a building contract with the developer but the loss was suffered by a third party who had by then purchased the development. The developer recovered the loss suffered by the purchaser.
Held: . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Agency, Commercial

Updated: 12 January 2022; Ref: scu.444873

Robot Arenas Ltd and Another v Waterfield and Another: QBD 8 Feb 2010

The tenant company had defaulted under the lease, and the landlord had retaken possession. The landlord discarded the tenant’s possessions, and the tenant now sued, saying that the landlords as involuntary bailees owed duties to the proper owner.
Held: In the context of commercial goods, the purpose of which is to earn profit, the assessment of what the Claimant has lost and of the damages that would be reasonable as between the Claimant and the Defendant must take into account the commercial usefulness of the goods to the Claimant. If the reality is that what was destroyed was commercially useless to the Claimant, that cannot be ignored in the assessment of damages.
The defendants had not discharged the burden on them of proving abandonment. Liability was not strict, and it had to be shown that the defendants knew or ought to have known that the goods belonged to a third party. That could not be shown in this particular case, and the claim failed.

Edelman QC J
[2010] EWHC 115 (QB)
Bailii
Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – AVX v EGM Solders Ltd QBD 1-Jul-1982
The defendants had agreed to the return of defective spheres of solder which they had manufactured for the plaintiffs. By mistake, as well as returning the defective solder in one box, the plaintiffs returned twenty-one boxes of capacitors which . .
Cited – Marcq v Christie, Manson and Woods Ltd CA 23-May-2003
The claimant’s stolen painting was put up for sale by the defendant. On being withdrawn, they returned it to the person who had brought it in. The claimant sought damages.
Held: There was no reported case in which a court has had to consider . .
Cited – The Harmonides 1903
The measure of damages for the loss of a profitable ship is to include its economic value: ‘So that the real test, where there is no market is, as counsel on both sides agree, what is the value to the owners as a going concern, at the time the . .
Cited – Voaden v Champion ( ‘Baltic Surveyor’ ) CA 31-Jan-2002
The ‘Baltic Surveyor’ was lost at its moorings in a storm. A neighbouring ship had been negligently secured, and freed itself and sank the Baltic Surveyor. The owner appealed findings as to the value of the boat, and securing pontoon. She asserted . .
Cited – The Harmonides 1903
The measure of damages for the loss of a profitable ship is to include its economic value: ‘So that the real test, where there is no market is, as counsel on both sides agree, what is the value to the owners as a going concern, at the time the . .
Cited – Sealce Shipping Company Limited v Oceanvoice Limited CA 1991
The parties contracted for the sale of a ship, including a spare propeller. When the ship was delivered there was no spare propeller. It was common ground that there was no market for second-hand propellers. So the only way of providing a spare . .
Cited – Dominion Mosaics Limited v Trafalgar Trucking Co Limited CA 1990
The claimant’s building was destroyed by fire as a result of the defendant’s negligence. It was impracticable to rebuild and so, to keep its business going the claimant bought a 36 year lease of another building with 20% more floor space. In the . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, Agency, Torts – Other

Updated: 12 January 2022; Ref: scu.401924

Consolidated Co v Curtis and Son: QBD 10 Nov 1891

An auctioneer who sold and delivered goods the subject of a bill of sale. An auctioneer who sells and delivers is liable in conversion because he is acting as more than a mere broker or intermediary.
Held: It is not easy to draw the line at the precise point where a dealing with goods by an intermediary becomes a conversion. The difficulty is diminished by remembering that in trover the original possession was by a fiction deemed to be lawful . . and some act had therefore to be shown constituting a conversion by the defendant of the chattel to his own use, some act incompatible with a recognition on his part of the continuous right of the true owner to the dominion over it. All acts which are consistent with the duty of a mere finder such as the safeguarding by warehousing or asportation for the like purpose, may well be looked upon as entirely compatible with the right of the true owner, and, therefore, as not constituting a conversion by the defendant. The test may be whether there is an intent to interfere in any manner with the title of or ownership in the chattel, not merely with the possession. The difficulty is rather in drawing the true inference from facts in particular cases than in grasping the principle. There can be no conversion by a mere bargain and sale without a transfer of possession. The act, unless in market overt, is merely void, and does not change the property or the possession: Lancashire Wagon Co. v Fitzhugh A fortiori, mere intervention as broker or intermediary in a sale by others is not a conversion.

Collins J
(1892) 1 QB 495, [1891] UKLawRpKQB 183
Commonlii
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Hollins v Fowler HL 1875
One who deals with goods at the request of the person who has the actual custody of them, in the bona fide belief that the custodier is the true owner, or has the authority of the true owner, should be excused for what he does if the act is of such . .

Cited by:
Cited – Marcq v Christie, Manson and Woods Ltd CA 23-May-2003
The claimant’s stolen painting was put up for sale by the defendant. On being withdrawn, they returned it to the person who had brought it in. The claimant sought damages.
Held: There was no reported case in which a court has had to consider . .
Cited – Willis v British Car Auctions CA 1978
A car on hire purchase was sold and delivered by auctioneers on the instructions of the hirer. The main issue was whether the auctioneers’ liability was affected by the fact that the car had been sold under their provisional bid procedure.
Torts – Other, Agency

Updated: 12 January 2022; Ref: scu.182756

Charania v Harbour Estates Ltd: CA 27 Oct 2009

The defendant appealed against the award of the estate agent’s fees, acting under a sole agency agreement. The agreement had been terminated. A buyer who had seen the property first under the agency later returned and negotiated a purchase.
Held: It was not enough that the agents had introduced the purchaser to the property, they must introduce him to the purchase. However the judge had concluded that the purchaser had acted deliberately to await the loss of involvement of the agent before seeking a lower price to reflect the saving to the seller. That conclusion of fact was capable of support on the facts, and an appeal court should not intervene. The appeal failed.

Leveson, Wilson, Ward LJJ
[2009] EWCA Civ 1123
Bailii
Estate Agents (Provision of Information) Regulations 1991 (SI 1991/859) 5(1)(b), Estate Agents Act 1999 9
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Millar Son and Co v Radford CA 1903
For an estate agent to recover his commission, it was ‘necessary’ to show that the agent’s introduction was an ‘efficient’ (namely effective) cause in bringing about the transaction. . .
Cited – Foxtons Ltd v Pelkey Bicknell and Another CA 23-Apr-2008
The defendant appealed against a finding that she was liable to pay her estate agent, appointed as sole agent, on the sale of her property. The eventual purchasers had visited but rejected the property. The agency was later terminated, and the . .
Cited – Subesh, Suthan, Nagulananthan and Vanniyasingam v Secretary of State for the Home Department CA 17-Mar-2004
The Immigration Appeal Tribunal should not interfere with an adjudicator’s decision unless it concludes that it is not merely able but is required to adopt a different view.
Laws LJ discussed the caution required of an appellate court: ‘The . .
Cited – Assicurazioni Generali Spa v Arab Insurance Group (BSC) CA 13-Nov-2002
Rehearing/Review – Little Difference on Appeal
The appellant asked the Court to reverse a decision on the facts reached in the lower court.
Held: The appeal failed (Majority decision). The court’s approach should be the same whether the case was dealt with as a rehearing or as a review. . .
Cited – Nightingale and others v Parsons CA 9-Mar-1914
In 1908 the plaintiff, who was a house agent, was employed by the defendant to find a tenant for a house at a rent of 120 pounds a year or a purchaser for 2500 pounds. The plaintiff found a tenant who took the house for a term of three years with . .
Cited – Biogen Plc v Medeva Plc HL 31-Oct-1996
The claim patented sought to protect a genetic molecule rather than a whole mouse namely that the molecule would, if inserted into a suitable host cell, cause the cell to make antigens of the Hepatitis B virus. A recombinant method of making the . .
Cited – Benmax v Austin Motor Co Ltd HL 1955
Except for cases which are expressly limited to questions of law, an appellant is entitled to appeal from the Court of Session to the House against any finding, whether it be a finding of law, a finding of fact or a finding involving both law and . .
Cited – Wood (John D) and Co v Dantata; Beauchamp Estates v Dantata CA 1987
The purchaser liked inspecting houses and the vendor had appointed ten firms to act for him as estate agents. Each of the estate agents was approached by this purchaser and each of the estate agents took the would be purchaser over the property of . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Contract, Agency

Updated: 10 January 2022; Ref: scu.377230

Wells v Devani: SC 13 Feb 2019

Mr W was selling apartments in a block of flats. Mr D, an estate agent, sought commission. W argued that D had not had signed his terms, and that therefore no contract existed. The court considered whether a contract had come into being when a major term remained unresolved.
Held: Mr D’s appeal succeeded. Whether a contract was in place was an objective question. That was established. The courts are reluctant to find an agreement is too vague or uncertain to be enforced where it is found that the parties had the intention of being contractually bound and have acted on their agreement. The parties would have intended that commission be paid on the sale. W had found the Housing Association through the contact and had gone on to complete the sale to it.
D having failed to comply with his obligations under the 1979 Act, his award was reduced accordingly.

Lord Wilson, Lord Sumption, Lord Carnwath, Lord Briggs, Lord Kitchin
[2019] UKSC 4, UKSC 2016/0223
Bailii, Bailii Summary, SC, SC Summary, SC Summary video, SC 20181011 am Video
Estate Agents Act 1979 18(1)
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Wells v Devani CA 15-Nov-2016
Claim for agent’s commission on sale of flats. The defendant developer had entered into a sole agency agreement with W. Unsold flats were eventually sold to an Housing association on an introduction by a third party agent., the claimant, who now . .
Cited – Nightingale and others v Parsons CA 9-Mar-1914
In 1908 the plaintiff, who was a house agent, was employed by the defendant to find a tenant for a house at a rent of 120 pounds a year or a purchaser for 2500 pounds. The plaintiff found a tenant who took the house for a term of three years with . .
Cited – James v Smith CA 1931
The defendant, the owner of a hotel, wrote a letter to the plaintiff, an estate agent, saying that it would sell the property at a specified price and would pay a commission if the property was sold at that price. The plaintiff introduced a . .
Cited – Marks and Spencer Plc v BNP Paribas Securities Services Trust Company (Jersey) Ltd and Another SC 2-Dec-2015
The Court considered whether, on exercising a break clause in a lease, the tenant was entitled to recover rent paid in advance.
Held: The appeal failed. The Court of Appeal had imposed what was established law. The test for whether a clause . .
Cited – RTS Flexible Systems Ltd v Molkerei Alois Muller Gmbh and Company Kg (UK Production) No 2 – Order and Costs SC 21-Jul-2010
The main judgment had not attempted to settle all issues between the parties, and much remained to be done. Any order would not be a final one. As to costs, each party had succeeded in one respect or another, but ‘at the end of this whole process . .
Cited – Little v Courage Ltd CA 6-Jan-1995
The tenancy contained an option for the tenant to renew, subject to agreement being reached with the brewer on a business plan. The tenant said he wished to renew, but the brewer did not present a business plan or agreement, and then the landlord . .
Cited – Fowler v Bratt CA 1950
the plaintiff, a house agent, was instructed by the defendant to find a purchaser of his house and agreed to pay a commission on the price. Subsequently the defendant decided not to go through with the sale and the plaintiff brought proceedings for . .
Cited – Dennis Reed Ltd v Goody CA 1950
Two home owners instructed the plaintiff agents to ‘find a person ready, willing and able’ to purchase their property and agreed to pay the agents a commission upon them introducing such a person. The agents found a prospective purchaser but he . .
Cited – Scammell and Nephew Ltd v HJ and JG Ouston HL 1941
There was an agreement for a purchase on ‘hire-purchase terms’ It was challenged as being too uncertain.
Held: There were many possible forms of such an agreement. The agreement was void for uncertainty. Lord Wright: ‘There are in my opinion . .
Cited – Luxor (Eastbourne) v Cooper HL 1941
The vendor company had instructed agents to sell properties on its behalf and had agreed to pay commission on completion of the sale. The sale was agreed with a prospective purchaser introduced by the agents. Before the sale was completed, the . .
Cited – Midgley Estates v Hand CA 1952
An estate agent’s commission is normally payable upon completion of the sale, but that does not prevent parties from agreeing that it should be payable upon a different event. The question depends on the construction of the particular contract.
Contract, Agency

Updated: 10 January 2022; Ref: scu.633294

Wells v Devani: CA 15 Nov 2016

Claim for agent’s commission on sale of flats. The defendant developer had entered into a sole agency agreement with W. Unsold flats were eventually sold to an Housing association on an introduction by a third party agent., the claimant, who now sought commission. The parties disputed whether a contract had been created.
Held: The developer’s appeal succeeded (Arden LJ Dissenting). A court might imply terms into a concluded contract, but not where the very existence of the contract remained at issue. It was not permissible first to assume a contract in order then to decide its terms. The terms of the event triggering an obligation to pay were a precondition to the finding that a contract had been concluded.

Arden, Lewison, McCombe LJJ
[2016] EWCA Civ 1106, [2016] WLR(D) 604, [2017] 2 WLR 1391, [2017] QB 959
Bailii, WLRD
Estate Agents Act 1979
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal from – Wells v Devani SC 13-Feb-2019
Mr W was selling apartments in a block of flats. Mr D, an estate agent, sought commission. W argued that D had not had signed his terms, and that therefore no contract existed. The court considered whether a contract had come into being when a major . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Agency, Contract

Updated: 10 January 2022; Ref: scu.571238

Nightingale and others v Parsons: CA 9 Mar 1914

In 1908 the plaintiff, who was a house agent, was employed by the defendant to find a tenant for a house at a rent of 120 pounds a year or a purchaser for 2500 pounds. The plaintiff found a tenant who took the house for a term of three years with the option of continuing the tenancy for five or seven years at the rent of 110 pounds a year, and he was paid commission on the letting. At the end of the three years the tenant, as a condition of his continuing the tenancy for a further term, required the defendant to build an addition to the house. The defendant refused to do so, and thereupon the question of purchasing the house arose, and the defendant agreed to sell it to the tenant’s wife for 1900 pounds. The plaintiff, after the original letting, had nothing to do with the negotiations which led up to the sale. The plaintiff sued the defendant in the county court to recover commission on the sale. The county court judge found that, though the plaintiff introduced the property to the tenant and his wife, that introduction was not the effective cause of the subsequent sale, and he. gave judgment for the defendant.
Held: The county court judge had applied the proper test, and had found against the plaintiff’s claim upon evidence which entitled him so to find, and that his decision must be affirmed.

[1914] 2 KB 621, [1914] UKLawRpKQB 66
Commonlii
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Charania v Harbour Estates Ltd CA 27-Oct-2009
The defendant appealed against the award of the estate agent’s fees, acting under a sole agency agreement. The agreement had been terminated. A buyer who had seen the property first under the agency later returned and negotiated a purchase.
Cited – Wells v Devani SC 13-Feb-2019
Mr W was selling apartments in a block of flats. Mr D, an estate agent, sought commission. W argued that D had not had signed his terms, and that therefore no contract existed. The court considered whether a contract had come into being when a major . .
Cited – Dennis Reed Ltd v Goody CA 1950
Two home owners instructed the plaintiff agents to ‘find a person ready, willing and able’ to purchase their property and agreed to pay the agents a commission upon them introducing such a person. The agents found a prospective purchaser but he . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Contract, Agency

Updated: 10 January 2022; Ref: scu.377316

Fowler v Bratt: CA 1950

the plaintiff, a house agent, was instructed by the defendant to find a purchaser of his house and agreed to pay a commission on the price. Subsequently the defendant decided not to go through with the sale and the plaintiff brought proceedings for his commission. Held In order to earn his commission, the plaintiff had at least to find a purchaser who was bound in law to buy, and that he had done. The case is of particular relevance to this appeal in light of this passage in the judgment of Denning LJ: ‘I confess that I approach claims by estate agents from the point of view, which I am sure is the common understanding of men, namely, that, in the absence of express terms to the contrary, the commission of the agents is to be paid out of the proceeds of sale. If the sale does not go through, the presumption is that no commission is payable. But in point of law if an agent succeeds in finding a person who actually enters into a binding and enforceable contract to purchase, and if that contract afterwards goes off by the vendor’s default, the vendor is liable to pay commission.’It is open to a vendor of a property to withdraw the property from sale and from the estate agent at any time prior to exchange of contracts.

Denning LJ
[1950] 2 KB 96
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – John D Wood and Co (Residential and Agricultural Ltd) v Craze QBD 30-Nov-2007
The claimant estate agents sought payment of its commission. The defendant appealed refusal of his request for the claim to be struck out. The agency said that the agency’s standard terms applied under which commission was payable on exchange. The . .
Cited – Wells v Devani SC 13-Feb-2019
Mr W was selling apartments in a block of flats. Mr D, an estate agent, sought commission. W argued that D had not had signed his terms, and that therefore no contract existed. The court considered whether a contract had come into being when a major . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Agency

Updated: 10 January 2022; Ref: scu.263805

PK Airfinance Sarl and Another v Alpstream Ag and Others: CA 21 Dec 2015

The court was asked whether the mortgagee of the seven aircraft owed a duty to the ultimate recipient of the balance of the proceeds of the three aircraft to take reasonable steps to obtain best value when selling the seven and, if so, whether it was in breach of that duty.

Underhill, Christopher Clarke LJJ, Sir Bernard Rix
[2015] EWCA Civ 1318
Bailii
England and Wales

Agency, Contract

Updated: 09 January 2022; Ref: scu.558059

Willis v British Car Auctions: CA 1978

A car on hire purchase was sold and delivered by auctioneers on the instructions of the hirer. The main issue was whether the auctioneers’ liability was affected by the fact that the car had been sold under their provisional bid procedure.
Held: The auctioneers were liable. It is well established that if an auctioneer sells goods by knocking down with his hammer at an auction and thereafter delivers them to the purchaser – then although he is only an agent – then if the vendor has no title to the goods, both the auctioneer and the purchaser are liable in conversion to the true owner, no matter how innocent the auctioneer may have been in handling the goods or the purchaser in acquiring them.

Denning LJ
[1978] 1 WLR 438
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Barker v Furlong 1891
The executor plaintiffs were entitled to furniture which was sent to auction without their knowledge or consent. Some of the furniture was returned unsold to the would-be seller and no claim was made against the defendant auctioneer in respect of . .
Cited – Consolidated Co v Curtis and Son QBD 10-Nov-1891
An auctioneer who sold and delivered goods the subject of a bill of sale. An auctioneer who sells and delivers is liable in conversion because he is acting as more than a mere broker or intermediary.
Held: It is not easy to draw the line at . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Agency

Updated: 08 January 2022; Ref: scu.182757

Hollins v Fowler: HL 1875

One who deals with goods at the request of the person who has the actual custody of them, in the bona fide belief that the custodier is the true owner, or has the authority of the true owner, should be excused for what he does if the act is of such a nature as would be excused if done by the authority of the person in possession if he was a finder of the goods or intrusted with their custody. Thus a warehouseman with whom goods had been deposited is guilty of no conversion by keeping them or restoring them to the person who deposited them with him, though that person turns out to have had no authority from the true owner. The same principle applies to persons ‘acting in a subsidiary character, like that of a person who has the goods of a person employing him to carry them, or a caretaker, such as a wharfinger’. Blackburn J (Advising the House): ‘If, as is quite possible, the changes in the course of business since the principles of law were established make them cause great hardships or inconvenience, it is the province of the Legislature to alter the law.’

Blackburn J, Brett J
(1875) LR 7 HL 757
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Fowler v Hollins 1872
The plaintiff claimed in conversion of bales of cotton bought in good faith through a broker in Liverpool.
Held: The purchasers were strictly liable.
Cleasby J said: ‘the liability under it is founded upon what has been regarded as a . .

Cited by:
Cited – Marcq v Christe Manson and Woods (t/a Christies) QBD 29-Oct-2002
The claimant sought damages for conversion from the respondent auctioneers as bailees. The painting had been registered as stolen. It failed to achieve its reserve and had been returned.
Held: It was for a bailee to prove that he had acted in . .
Cited – Marcq v Christie, Manson and Woods Ltd CA 23-May-2003
The claimant’s stolen painting was put up for sale by the defendant. On being withdrawn, they returned it to the person who had brought it in. The claimant sought damages.
Held: There was no reported case in which a court has had to consider . .
Cited – Consolidated Co v Curtis and Son QBD 10-Nov-1891
An auctioneer who sold and delivered goods the subject of a bill of sale. An auctioneer who sells and delivers is liable in conversion because he is acting as more than a mere broker or intermediary.
Held: It is not easy to draw the line at . .
Cited – Douglas and others v Hello! Ltd and others; similar HL 2-May-2007
In Douglas, the claimants said that the defendants had interfered with their contract to provide exclusive photographs of their wedding to a competing magazine, by arranging for a third party to infiltrate and take and sell unauthorised photographs. . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Agency

Updated: 08 January 2022; Ref: scu.182751

Jones v Phipps: QBD 1868

For many years, an agent had, with the authority of his principals, dealt with an estate as his own and negotiated with the tenant as to the terms and continuance of the holding.
Held: It was incidental to that authority that he should determine the tenancy by notice to quit. The tenant was not aware of the existence of the agent’s principals and considered the agent to be the landlord.

[1868] LR 2 QB 567
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Dun and Bradstreet Software Services (England) Ltd; Dun and Bradstreet Software Services Ltd v Provident Mutual Life Assurance Association and General Accident Linked Life Assurance CA 9-Jun-1997
Break clauses had been exercised on behalf of the plaintiffs. The defendant landlords appealed a decision upholding the notices. A penalty rent had been sought.
Held: There had been no sufficient agency established to validate the notice. The . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, Agency

Updated: 08 January 2022; Ref: scu.188160

Marcq v Christie, Manson and Woods Ltd: CA 23 May 2003

The claimant’s stolen painting was put up for sale by the defendant. On being withdrawn, they returned it to the person who had brought it in. The claimant sought damages.
Held: There was no reported case in which a court has had to consider the liability of an auctioneer who had simply put goods up for auction and then returned them unsold to the would-be seller. It is interference with the title or ownership of the chattel which counts for conversion. The assertion of a lien might have been a conversion, but the mere presence of an asserted right was not enough. The appeal failed.

Lord Justice Peter Gibson, Lord Justice Tuckey and Lord Justice Keene
[2003] EWCA Civ 731, Times 30-May-2003, Gazette 10-Jul-2003, [2004] QB 286, [2004] QB 286, [2003] 3 WLR 980
Bailii
Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977 11(2)
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Hollins v Fowler HL 1875
One who deals with goods at the request of the person who has the actual custody of them, in the bona fide belief that the custodier is the true owner, or has the authority of the true owner, should be excused for what he does if the act is of such . .
Cited – National Mercantile Bank Ltd v Rymill CA 1881
The plaintiff was the owner of horses the subject of a bill of sale. The grantor of the bill sold the horses privately in the defendant’s auction yard and following the sale, on the grantor’s instructions, the auctioneer delivered the horses to the . .
Cited – Barker v Furlong 1891
The executor plaintiffs were entitled to furniture which was sent to auction without their knowledge or consent. Some of the furniture was returned unsold to the would-be seller and no claim was made against the defendant auctioneer in respect of . .
Cited – Consolidated Co v Curtis and Son QBD 10-Nov-1891
An auctioneer who sold and delivered goods the subject of a bill of sale. An auctioneer who sells and delivers is liable in conversion because he is acting as more than a mere broker or intermediary.
Held: It is not easy to draw the line at . .
Appeal from – Marcq v Christe Manson and Woods (t/a Christies) QBD 29-Oct-2002
The claimant sought damages for conversion from the respondent auctioneers as bailees. The painting had been registered as stolen. It failed to achieve its reserve and had been returned.
Held: It was for a bailee to prove that he had acted in . .
Distinguished – Saleh Farid v Theodorou CA 30-Jan-1992
The first defendant had entered into an unauthorised sale and leaseback of the claimant’s car to secure a loan. The second defendant finance company admitted that they had converted the car even though they had not physically possessed it. Their . .
Cited – Smith (Administrator of Cosslett (Contractors) Limited) v Bridgend County Borough Council; In re Cosslett (Contractors) Ltd HL 8-Nov-2001
The standard building contract allowed a contractor to take plant and equipment from a site and sell it in payment of sums due under the contract, upon the other contractor becoming insolvent. It was said that this power amounted to a charge over . .
Distinguished – Michael Gerson (Leasing) Limited v Michael Wilkinson and State Securities Limited CA 31-Jul-2000
Where goods were subject to a financing arrangement involving a sale and leaseback with a finance company, the goods were to be treated as constructively delivered to the finance company on the sale. Delivery required a voluntary act by the person . .
Cited – Mercantile Business Finance Ltd v Sibec Developments Ltd QBD 1992
The court considered what was required to establish the tort of conversion.
Held: Demand is not an essential precondition of the tort: what is required is an overt act of withholding possession from the true owner. Such an act may consist of a . .
Cited – Loeschman v Machin 1818
If a hirer of the goods sends them to an auctioneer to be sold, he is guilty of a conversion of the goods; and if the auctioneer afterwards refuses to deliver them to the owner, unless he will pay a sum of money which he claims, he is also guilty of . .
Distinguished – Tear v Freebody 1858
The surveyor to a parish was found to have taken possession of the plaintiff’s materials so as to obtain an unfounded lien over them. . .

Cited by:
Cited – Robot Arenas Ltd and Another v Waterfield and Another QBD 8-Feb-2010
robot_waterfieldQBD2010
The tenant company had defaulted under the lease, and the landlord had retaken possession. The landlord discarded the tenant’s possessions, and the tenant now sued, saying that the landlords as involuntary bailees owed duties to the proper owner. . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Agency

Updated: 08 January 2022; Ref: scu.182591

Quenon K SPRL v Beobank SA, formerly Citibank Belgium SA, Metlife Insurance SA, formerly Citilife SA: ECJ 3 Dec 2015

Judgment – Reference for a preliminary ruling – Self-employed commercial agents – Directive 86/653/EEC – Article 17(2) – Termination of the agency contract by the principal- Compensation of the agent- Prohibition of the simultaneous operation of the indemnity for customers scheme and compensation for damage scheme – Entitlement of the agent to damages additional to the indemnity for customers – Conditions

C-338/14, [2015] EUECJ C-338/14
Bailii
Directive 86/653/EEC 17(2)

European, Agency

Updated: 07 January 2022; Ref: scu.556338

Re HNL: CoP 19 Nov 2015

Application regarding the payment of a gratuitous care allowance, a payment towards the cost of maintenance of a close relative, who provides care and case management services to someone who is severely incapacitated because of an impairment of, or a disturbance in the functioning of, the mind or brain.

Jush SJ
[2015] EWCOP 77
Bailii

Health, Agency

Updated: 06 January 2022; Ref: scu.554993

Re RG: CoP 13 Oct 2015

Application by Northamptonshire County Council for the court to revoke an Enduring Power of Attorney and to appoint a professional deputy to manage the donor’s property and affairs in place of the attorney.

Lush SJ
[2015] EWCOP 66
Bailii

Health, Agency

Updated: 06 January 2022; Ref: scu.554597

One Money Mail Ltd v RIA Financial Services and Another: CA 29 Oct 2015

This appeal raises the question whether an agreement, made by an agent, to procure clients in and around Hereford for the claimantm a company which carries on the business of transferring money between the United Kingdom and Poland, has clauses which are in restraint of trade and thus prevented the agent from working for a competitor during the currency of the contract and for six months after termination.

Longmore, Lloyd Jones, Briggs LJJ
[2015] EWCA Civ 1084
Bailii
England and Wales

Contract, Agency

Updated: 05 January 2022; Ref: scu.554107

Re OL: CoP 24 Jun 2015

Application by the Public Guardian for the court to revoke a Lasting Power of Attorney (‘LPA’) for property and financial affairs because the attorneys have used their power carelessly and irresponsibly.

Lush J
[2015] EWCOP 41
Bailii
England and Wales

Agency

Updated: 01 January 2022; Ref: scu.549435

Townsends Carriers Ltd v Pfizer Ltd: 1977

A break notice had been served not by the tenant company but by an associated company, the service not being on the landlord company but an associated company.
Held: Because the tenant and the landlord had allowed their respective associated companies to deal with the property as if they were landlord and tenant respectively in respect of matters such as an increase in the rent and variations of the lease, the break notice had been validly served.
The Vice-Chancellor also noted but rejected an argument that the relevant clause required the tenant to ‘give’ notice to the landlord, and that, although the landlord had ultimately received the notice, ‘no notice had ever been given to the landlord as such’: ‘I do not think that a requirement to ‘give’ notice is one that excludes the indirect giving of notice. The question is whether the notice has been given, not whether it has been given directly. If the notice emanates from the giver and reaches the ultimate recipient, I do not think that it matters if it has passed through more hands than one in transit.’

Sir Robert Megarry VC
[1977] 33 P and CR 361
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Dun and Bradstreet Software Services (England) Ltd; Dun and Bradstreet Software Services Ltd v Provident Mutual Life Assurance Association and General Accident Linked Life Assurance CA 9-Jun-1997
Break clauses had been exercised on behalf of the plaintiffs. The defendant landlords appealed a decision upholding the notices. A penalty rent had been sought.
Held: There had been no sufficient agency established to validate the notice. The . .
Cited – MW Trustees Ltd and Others v Telular Corporation ChD 31-Jan-2011
The claimants sought a declaration that its tenants had not served an effective notice to break the lease. The lease contained mandatory provisions for service of any notice, and the tenant’s break notice had been served, it said, on the wrong . .
Cited – UKI (Kingsway) Ltd v Westminster City Council SC 17-Dec-2018
Short issue as to the requirements for valid ‘service’ of a completion notice so as to bring a newly completed building within liability for non-domestic rates. The notice had been served by email where no statutory authority existed for this.
Landlord and Tenant, Agency

Updated: 31 December 2021; Ref: scu.188161

Mahesan v Malaysia Government Officers Co-operative Housing Society: PC 1978

The appellant, the director and employee of a housing society was bribed by a real estate agent, one Manickam, and the appellant then caused the society to buy land at an overvalue. The agent was sued for money had and received (for the amount of the bribe paid in breach of the agent’s fiduciary duty) as well as in tort (for the loss suffered by the society for the overvalued land because of the agent’s fraud).
Held: The profit made by an intermediate purchaser, due to the fraud of the agent, was awarded as compensation on the basis that the principal had lost the opportunity to purchase at the lower price.
Bribery and corruption are torts. A defrauded principal has alternative remedies against both the briber and the agent for money had and received where he can recover the amount of the bribe, or for damages for fraud where he can recover the amount of any actual loss sustained by entering into the transaction in respect of which the bribe was given. The plaintiffs need not elect between these alternatives before the time has come for judgment to be entered in their favour in one or other of those causes of action.
The existence of the tort of fraud/bribery and the basis for a claim of monies had and received was identified: ‘(1) for money had and received under which he can recover the amount of the bribe as money had and received or, (2) for damages for fraud, under which he can recover the amount of the actual loss sustained in consequence of his entering into the transaction in respect of which the bribe was given, but he cannot recover both.’

[1979] AC 374, [1978] 2 All ER 405
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Islamic Republic of Pakistan v Zardari and others ComC 6-Oct-2006
The claimant alleged that the defendants had funded the purchase of various properties by secret and unlawful commissions taken by them whilst in power in Pakistan. They sought to recover the proceeds. They now sought permission to serve proceedings . .
Cited – Wilson and Another v Hurstanger Ltd CA 4-Apr-2007
The company sought to enforce its loan agreement and charge over the defendants’ property. The defendants appealed saying that the agreement was unenforceable under the Act, since a commission had been paid to the introducing broker, and his fee had . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Agency, Damages

Updated: 30 December 2021; Ref: scu.245212

re HC: CoP 23 Apr 2015

Application by the Public Guardian for an order under section 16(8) of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 revoking the appointment of a deputy because he has behaved in a way that contravenes the authority conferred on him by the court or is not in the best interests of the person for whom he acts as deputy.

Lush SJ
[2015] EWCOP 29
Bailii

Health, Agency

Updated: 30 December 2021; Ref: scu.546279

Re CJ: CoP 25 Mar 2015

Reconsideration of a decision made on the papers: (a) revoking the respondent’s appointment as his partner’s deputy for property and affairs; and (b) inviting a panel deputy to apply to be appointed as deputy in his place.

Lush SJ
[2015] EWCOP 21
Bailii
England and Wales

Agency, Health

Updated: 29 December 2021; Ref: scu.544724

Coggs v Bernard: 1795

Pawnee robbed

[1795] EngR 838, (1795) 3 Salk 268, (1795) 91 ER 817
Commonlii
England and Wales
Citing:
See Also – Coggs v Bernard ER 235 1738
A pawnee of any pawn or pledge hath a property in it ; for the thing deposited is a security to him, that he shall be repaid the money lent on it. Arid if things will riot be the worse, as jewels, and co he may use them ; but then it must be at his . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Agency

Updated: 29 December 2021; Ref: scu.353183

Coggs v Bernard 840: 1795

Common Carrier

[1795] EngR 840, (1795) 3 Salk 11, (1795) 91 ER 660
Commonlii
England and Wales
Citing:
See Also – Coggs v Bernard ER 235 1738
A pawnee of any pawn or pledge hath a property in it ; for the thing deposited is a security to him, that he shall be repaid the money lent on it. Arid if things will riot be the worse, as jewels, and co he may use them ; but then it must be at his . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Agency

Updated: 29 December 2021; Ref: scu.353185

Re SB: CoP 12 Feb 2015

Application to revoke a Lasting Power of Attorney for property and financial affairs (‘LPA’) because the attorneys have behaved in a way that contravenes their authority and is not in the donor’s best interests.

Lush SJ
[2015] EWCOP
Bailii

Health, Agency

Updated: 27 December 2021; Ref: scu.542508

Re EG: CoP 11 Feb 2015

Application by the Public Guardian to revoke a Lasting Power of Attorney for property and financial affairs (‘LPA’) because the attorneys have behaved in a way that contravenes their authority and is not in the donor’s best interests.

Lush SJ
[2015] EWCOP 6
Bailii

Agency, Trusts

Updated: 27 December 2021; Ref: scu.542478

Ex parte Moore: 1881

The rule that a company director may not have an interest in a contract with the company applies even if if he is only acting as an agent for another.

(1881) 30 WR 123
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Newgate Stud Company, Newgate Stud Farm Llc v Penfold, Penfold Bloodstock Limited ChD 21-Dec-2004
The claimants sought damages from the defendant. He had been employed to manage their horse-racing activities, and it was alleged that he had made secret profits. The defendant denied any dishonesty, saying all matters were known to the deceased . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Company, Agency

Updated: 27 December 2021; Ref: scu.220727

Coggs v Bernard ER 233: 1738

A common carrier by custom or usage may lawfully claim a reward : and where a man carrying goods is of a public employment, as a carrier, hoyman, etc. he must answer for all events, excepting the acts of God, and the enemies of the King ; and this is a political establishment, for the safety of all persons concerned, and whose affairs necessitate them to intrust such carriers. For by this means all private combinations between them and highwaymen and other robbers, are prevented, which cannot easily be discovered. But he held, if a bailiff or factor carries goods, and is robbed, he is not answerable to the owner, tho’ he hath a premium ; because ’tis only a particular office, and private trust, and he doth the best he can, as the nature of the thing puts it in his power to perform it.

[1738] EngR 233, (1688-1710, 1738) Holt KB 131, (1738) 90 ER 971 (B)
Commonlii
England and Wales
Citing:
See Also – Coggs v Bernard ER 235 1738
A pawnee of any pawn or pledge hath a property in it ; for the thing deposited is a security to him, that he shall be repaid the money lent on it. Arid if things will riot be the worse, as jewels, and co he may use them ; but then it must be at his . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Agency

Updated: 25 December 2021; Ref: scu.385626