Lady Mary Topham v The Duke Of Portland: 30 Jun 1862

The donee of a trust power cannot execute it for an object foreign to purposes for which it was intended, and therefore an ordinary power in a marriage settlement of appointment amongst the children cannot be made subservient to the accomplishment of any particular fancies or inclinations which the donee of the power may have as to the profession in life which a child may choose to adopt, nor can it be exercised in such a mode as to prevent a child marrying a particular person.
An appointment was made to A. (an object of a power) with trusts in favor of B (another object), but intended to accomplish a purpose not warranted by the power. Held, that it could not be treated as an absolute appointment of B. discharged of the void purpose. An appointment, under a previous agreement, that the appointee will deal with the appointed fund in a manner foreign to the purposes for which the power was intended is void, and so is such an appointment where the agreement is subsequent, if accomplished by the inevitable influence possessed by the appointor over the appointee. A parent, having by his settlement an exclusive power of appointment of a fund to his children, was desirous of preventing a daughter marrying a particular gentleman. For that purpose, he appointed part of the fund to his son, who, about a month afterWards, settled it on discretionary trusts in favor of the daughter, the object being to prevent that marriage. Held, that this was one transaction, that the object aimed at was foreign to the purposes for which the power was intended, and that the appointment was altogether void in equity.

Citations:

[1862] EngR 870, (1862) 31 Beav 525, (1862) 54 ER 1242

Links:

Commonlii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

See alsoLady Mary Topham v Duke Of Portland 20-Jun-1863
Commonlii The costs of an application to stay the execution of a decree pending an appeal to the House of Lords were to be paid by the applicant. . .
See AlsoDuke of Portland v Topham CA 1864
Commonlii The donee of a power of appointing portions among his younger children appointed a double share to a younger child without previous communication with him. But it appeared from the instructions for the . .
See AlsoThe Duke Of Portland And Others v Lady Mary E Topham And Others HL 6-Apr-1864
A power, to be validly executed, must be executed without any indirect object. The donee of the power must give the property which is the subject of it, as property, to the person to whom he affects to give it.
A created a power to appoint a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Trusts

Updated: 07 May 2022; Ref: scu.287036