LAW SUMMARIES

The following notes of cases were prepared by reporters of the All England Law Reports.

Law Reports:

Bankruptcy

Re Dennis (a bankrupt); CA (Sir Thomas Bingham MR, Kennedy, Millett LJJ); 4 April 1995.

Where a joint tenant of property was adjudicated bankrupt under the Bankruptcy Act 1914, the joint tenancy was severed at the date of the act of bankruptcy and not at the date of adjudication.

Stephen Acton (Bowling & Co) for the appellant; Stephen Moverley-Smith (Denton Hall) for the respondent.

Consumer credit

Moorgate Services Ltd v Kabir; CA (Staughton, Beldam, Peter Gibson LLJ); 29 March 1995.

For the purposes of s 67 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (under which a regulated agreement could be cancelled by the debtor if the antecedent negotiations included oral representations made in the debtor's presence by an individual acting as or on behalf of the negotiator) a "representation" was a statement of fact or opinion or an undertaking as to the future which was capable of inducing the proposed borrower to enter into the agreement. It need not be shown that it did so induce him or that the negotiator intended it so to do so.

Jonathan Katan (Morgan Edwards & Kay, Thornton Heath) for the appellant; Richard King (Paul K Pitts, Croydon) for the respondent.

Tax

De Rothschild v Lawrenson (Insp of Taxes); CA (Nourse, Farquharson, Henry LJJ); 5 April 1995.

In making a capital gains tax computation pursuant to s 80 of the Finance Act 1981, the provisions of Sch 10, para 1(2) of the Finance Act 1988 were to be ignored. Where capital payments were made to a beneficiary who was also the settlor by the trustees of an offshore trust, capital gains defined as "trust gains" were taxable in the hands of the beneficiary under s 80 of the Finance Act 1981. The taxpayer unsuccessfully claimed that by s 80(2) the foreign trustees were treated as if they were resident in the UK and therefore the anti-avoidance provisions of s 88, Sch 10 of the 1988 Act, which applied to UK resident trustees, operated to exclude the taxpayer from liability.

Andrew Park QC, Felicity Cullen (Freshfields) for the taxpayer; Christopher McCall QC, Launcelot Henderson (Inland Revenue) for the Crown.

Griffin (Insp of Taxes) v Standish; ChD (Sir John Vinelott) 7 April 1995.

A bonus paid to an employee was taxable in the year of assessment in respect of which it was awarded. The lower tax rates applicable in a later year could not be taken advantage of simply by the employer postponing the payment until after the end of the tax year.

Launcelot Henderson (Inland Revenue) for the Crown; David Ewart (Castle & Co, Hurstpierrepoint) for the taxpayer.

Tenancy

Hynes v Twinsectra Ltd; CA (Leggatt, Aldous, Hutchison LJJ); 2 March 1995.

Where a writ for forfeiture was served on the tenant of a house but the landlord's action for forfeiture was subsequently dismissed by consent, the lease continued in existence, so the tenant was entitled to acquire the freehold under Part I of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967.

Romie Tager (Wallace & Partners) for the appellant; Bruce Speller (Armstrong & Co) for the respondent.

Wandsworth London Borough Council v Atwell; CA (Glidewell, Waite LJJ); 7 April 1995.

Section 196(3) of the Law of Property Act 1925, under which certain notices could be served by leaving them at a person's last known place of abode, did not apply to service of a notice to quit on a periodic tenant whose tenancy agreement made no express provision for service of a notice to quit, since in those circumstances the notice was not "required to be served" by the agreement within s 196(5).

Stephen Fletcher (Ceres & Co, Brixton) for the tenant; David Daly (Martin Walker, Wandsworth) for the council.

Theft

R v Fernandez; CA (Cr Div) (Auld LJ, Mantell, Sachs JJ) 12 April 1995.

Section 6(1) of the Theft Act 1968 was not expressed in general terms but could apply where, on a charge of procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception, the defendant intended to treat the thing as his own to dispose of regardless of the owner's rights.

J S Coward QC (Registrar of Criminal Appeals) for the appellant; B R Escott-Cox QC, A R Malik (CPS) for the Crown.