swarb.co.uk - law index
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Stamp Duty - From: 1849 To: 1899
This page lists 4 cases, and was prepared on 02 April 2018.
In The Matter Of The Stamp Duty On A Conveyance From Earl Mount Edgrcumbe And Thomas Gill To The Plymouth Great Western Dock Company [1853] EngR 192; (1853) 8 Exch 376; (1853) 155 ER 1393
29 Jan 1853
Stamp Duty
[ Commonlii ]
Commissioners for Inland Revenue v Angus; CA 14-Jun-1881 - [1889] 23 QBD 579
Inland Revenue Commissioners v G Angus and Co (1889) 23 QBD 579
1889
CA
Lindley LJ, Lord Esher MR
Land, Contract, Stamp Duty
Lord Esher MR rejected an argument that a specifically enforceable contract or agreement for the sale of land is in truth a conveyance: "And it is said that, when an agreement is such that equity will grant specific performance of it, it is to be considered as a conveyance in equity, or an 'equitable conveyance.' If that were true, it would be an equitable conveyance of a legal property or a legal right. But let us consider what the doctrine of specific performance is. If the instrument is a 'conveyance' in itself, why do you want a decree for specific performance? If the instrument has conveyed the property to the purchaser, he does not require specific performance of an agreement with reference to his own property which has been already conveyed to him. The fact that the instrument is one of which equity will decree specific performance, fixes it at once as an 'agreement,' and not as a 'conveyance.' It would be a contradiction of terms to say that that which requires a decree for specific performance is in itself a 'conveyance' which has conveyed the property to the purchaser. If there has been a 'conveyance' of the property, you do not require specific performance. If property sold is conveyed by an instrument to the purchaser, and after that conveyance the vendor keeps it, the purchaser's remedy would not be by way of specific performance, but, if the property be personal property, by an action of trover; or, if it be real property, by an action of ejectment. In my opinion, therefore, however clear it may be that an instrument is an agreement of which a Court of Equity would instantly decree specific performance, if it were not performed by the vendor, such an instrument is not a 'conveyance on sale' within the meaning of the Act, but is only an 'agreement'."
Stamp Act 1870 70
1 Cites
1 Citers
Hooper v Western Counties and South Wales Telephone Co Ltd (1892) 68 LT 78
1892
Chitty J
Stamp Duty
The court placed a restrictive meaning on the idea of a company reconstruction. The new company is to consist of the old shareholders.
1 Citers