Mr Reed held a bond for pounds 500 given by Mr Jones, who had also guaranteed some loans to Mr Reed by third parties. Mr Reed died insolvent and Mr Jones was called to pay pounds 377 to the lenders under the guarantees. When Mr Reed’s assignee Mr Mossop sued Mr Jones on the bond, he brought proceedings in equity claiming to be entitled to set off the pounds 377 he had paid.
Held: Because Mr Reed had never actually been made bankrupt, the insolvency rules did not apply and the court C gave relief under general equitable principles, saying ‘if Richard Reed had been bankrupt, I should have had no difficulty in deciding this case.’
Judges:
Sir James Wigram V-C
Citations:
(1844) 3 Hare 568
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – In re Charge Card Services Ltd ChD 1987
The court discussed the historic availability of set-off in an insolvency: ‘By the turn of the [20th] century, therefore, the authorities showed that debts whose existence and amount were alike contingent at the date of the receiving order, and . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Insolvency, Equity
Updated: 24 November 2022; Ref: scu.196876