In re Leslie; Leslie v French: ChD 1883

The court gave guidance as to the circumstances in which an individual who had paid a premium on a policy belonging to someone else could claim an interest in the policy: ‘In my opinion a lien may be created upon the moneys secured by a policy by payment of premiums in the following cases: First. By contract with the beneficial owner of the policy. Secondly. By reasons of the right of trustees to an indemnity out of their trust property for money expended by them in its preservation. Thirdly. By subrogation to this right of trustees of some person who may at their request have advanced money for the preservation of the property. Fourthly. By reason of the right vested in mortgagees, or other persons having a charge upon the policy, to add to their charge any moneys which have been paid by them to preserve the property . .’ And ‘except under the circumstances to which I have referred, no lien is created by the payment of the premiums by a mere stranger or by a part owner’.

Justice Fry
(1883) 23 ChD 552
England and Wales
Cited by:
CitedFoskett v McKeown and Others CA 27-Jun-1997
Various people had paid money with the promise of acquiring an interest in land in Portugal. The scheme was fraudulent. The funds had been used to purchase a life/investment policy. The policy was held in trust for the fraudster’s mother but he had . .
CitedStrutt v Tippett CA 1890
The list set out in re Leslie for the ways in which one person might claim an interest in an insurance policy in another’s name, was not exhaustive. . .
CitedFoskett v McKeown and Others HL 18-May-2000
A property developer using monies which he held on trust to carry out a development instead had mixed those monies with his own in his bank account, and subsequently used those mixed monies to pay premiums on a life assurance policy on his own life, . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Insurance, Equity

Updated: 20 January 2022; Ref: scu.187411