The applicant sought a declaration that the defendant had acted in breach of the Act, in accepting sums by way of deposit, without being authorised, and had made prohibited statements to attract such deposits. Could a civil court make such a finding which would be equivalent to a finding of guilt of a criminal offence? The Civil Procedure Rules provided: ‘The court may make binding declarations whether or not any other remedy is claimed.’ This power is wide, and indeed wide enough. In this case no criminal proceedings were pending, and a criminal court could if necessary assess the fairness of any subsequent proceedings. ‘when deciding whether to grant a declaration or not, the court should take into account justice to the claimant, justice to the defendant, whether the declaration would serve a useful purpose and whether there are any other special reasons why or why not the court should grant the declaration’.
Judges:
Mr Justice Neuberger
Citations:
Times 12-Nov-2001, Gazette 29-Nov-2001, [2002] CP Rep 14, [2001] EWHC 704 (Ch)
Links:
Statutes:
Banking Act 1987 3 35, Civil Procedures Rules 40.20
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Patten v Burke Publishing Ltd ChD 1991
The publisher to whom the plaintiff author had sold the rights to his book became insolvent. He sought a declaration that it would be in breach of the contract.
Held: The guiding principle which determines how the discretion is to be exercised . .
Cited – Messier-Dowty Ltd and Another v Sabena Sa and Others CA 21-Feb-2000
The defendants sought a declaration that they would not be liable in respect of their potential involvement in a pending action. The appellants asserted that such a declaration could not be granted since no proceedings were yet in issue. The court . .
Cited – Imperial Tobacco Ltd v Attorney-General HL 1980
The applicant sought a declaration as to the lawfulness of a lottery scheme whilst criminal proceedings were pending against it for the same scheme.
Held: It was not necessary to decide whether a declaration as to the criminality or otherwise . .
Cited by:
Cited – Point Solutions Ltd v Focus Business Solutions Ltd and Another ChD 16-Dec-2005
It was claimed that the defendant’s computer software infringed the copyright in software owned by the claimant. A declaration was sought beacause of allegations that assertions about infringement had been made to third parties.
Held: The . .
Cited – Lloyd v Svenby QBD 27-Feb-2006
The two claimants sought title to a car registration plate and to a chassis number. They were to be applied to historic racing cars.
Held: The power to assign registration marks lay with the Secretary of State. Any legal rights rested not with . .
Approved – Padden v Arbuthnot Pensions and Investments Ltd CA 14-May-2004
. .
Cited – Office of Fair Trading v Foxtons Ltd ChD 17-Jul-2008
Complaint was made that the Foxtons standard terms of acting in residential lettings were unfair. Foxtons objected to the jurisdiction of the Claimant to intervene.
Held: On a challenge to an individual contract, the court would be able to see . .
Cited – Sheeran and Others v Chokri and Others ChD 6-Apr-2022
Insufficient Evidence to say Song was Copied
S sought a declaration that he had not copied the defendant’s song with his own. The court examined the musical details of both songs.
Held: The song was not copied. The defendant had not shown that the claimant knew anything of the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Banking, Civil Procedure Rules
Updated: 07 April 2022; Ref: scu.166772