The Gazette 1972

CURRENT LAW DIGEST SELECTED In reading these cases note should be taken of the differences in English and Irish Statute Law.

The court allowed an appeal by the defendants from the refusal of Mister Justice Megarry ([1971] 3 WLR 309] to grant them i njunctions restraining Margolis and Co., the present solicitors of Mrs. D. M. Caldwell, from paying to her or to any third party on her behalf £1,250 now held by them and restraining her from causing or allowing them to do so. [Caldwell v Sumpters (a firm) and Another; C. of A.; (Salmon and Scamal J.J.); (1972) 1 AER 567.] Succession The principle that a wife is entitled to share with her husband in property or the proceeds of property bought out of the profits of a business which she helped him to build up without receiving wages applies also where the husband has died and the wife claims a like share in the assets standing in the husband's name immediately before his death, even though the claim is against the estate of a dead man who had left a will. [In re Cummins (deceased); C. of A.; 13/7/1971.] Tax Law A transfer of shares worth £7,000 by a controlling shareholder as consideration for the taxpayer's agreement to enter into service with the company was held not to he a taxable emolu- ment. Megarry J. upheld a decision by the special commis- sioners in favour of Mr. C. L. Arundale, joint managing director of Kenneth Lowe (Holdings) Ltd. rPritchard (Inspector of Taxes) v Arundale; Ch. Div.; (1971) 3 AER 1011.] Schemes of "forward dividend stripping" entered into by the appellant taxpayers, Mr. H. Greenberg and Mr. W. A. Tunni- cliffe, failed in that instalments of the purchase price of shares paid to them by finance companies after 5th April 1960 were liable to tax. Their Lordships dismissed appeals by the taxpayers from deci- sions of the Court of Appeal in November 1969 ([1971] Ch. 286) allowing appeals by the Inland Revenue Commissioners from decisions of Mr. Justice Buckley. TGreenberg v Inland Revenue Commissioners; Tunnicliffe v Inland Revenue Commissioners; House of Lords; (1971) 3 AER 136.] The Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales, which published the Law Reports and the Weekly Law Reports, is a charity within the Charities Act, 1960. Their Lordships, in reserved judgments, dismissed an appeal by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue from a decision of Mr. Justice Foster (The Times, 4th December 1970; [1971] Ch. 626) granting a declaration that the Council was entitled to registration as a charity under Section 4 of the Act. Leave to appeal to the House of Lords was refused. [Incorporated Council of Law Reporting v Attorney-General; G. of A.; (1971) 3 AER 1029.] All civil servants employed abroad, apart from those whose duties have no public content such as ambassadors' valets, are prima facie liable to United Kingdom income tax on their emolumets even though not remitted. His Lordship dismissed an appeal by Mr. W. Graham against assessments to income tax in respect of years when he was a civil servant employed wholly abroad. For part of the time he was working in Brunei, where there was no tax. [Graham v White (Inspector of Taxes); Ch. Div.; 7/12/71.] A mortgage of property followed by a conveyance of the equity of redemption to the mortgagee in consideration of the release of the mortgagor from the obligation to repay the mortgage amounted to a disposal of the property giving rise to a charge- able gain for the purposes of Case VII of Schedule D (short- term capital gains tax). His Lordship so held in allowing an appeal by the Crown from a determination of the General Commissioners for Central Birmingham that the taxpayer, Mohammed Salah, was not liable to pay tax under Case VII in respect of a gain realised by his wife as a result of such transactions. [Thompson (Inspector of Taxes) v Salah; Ch. Div.; 30/11/1971.] Flowers dried to last indefinitely and artistically arranged in 85

Shipping L-lause 13 in the Baltic charterparty, stated to have been in general commercial use since at least 1909, which exempts ship- owners from liability for "damage or delay whatsoever and howsoever caused, even if caused by the neglect or default of their servants" was held to protect shipowners against claims by charterers for financial losses sutsained as a result of the ship's "faster wrongfully refusing to take the vessel into a Nicaraguan Port during the currency of the charterparty. The word "dam- age" in the context of that clause, the court held, was not hmited to physical damage or loss. [The Charalambos A Pateres; C. of A.; 13/10/1971.] Social Welfare Where the officers and tribunals appointed under the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Acts to decide whether an insured person is entitled to injury benefit, because of injury through accident at work, decide the nature of the injury, that decision is "final" and binds the medical authorities who have u nder the Acts to decide whether the injured person is entitled to disablement benefit. [Jones v Secretary of State for Social Services; Hudson v Same; H. of L.; 20/12/1971.] An inspector appointed by the Minister under Section 90 of the National Insurance Act, 1965, has power to require an insured Person to furnish information as to the name and address of his employer when such a person claims to be employed under a contract of service. [Smith v Hawkins; Q.B.D.; 15/11/1971.] Solicitors A solicitor's lien on his client's deeds is based on possession, and jt there is a voluntary parting with possession, not brought about b y any wrongdoing, the lien will be lost unless the parting with Possession is accompanied by some effective arrangement which Preserves possession for the solicitor, such as an agreement to hold the deeds on his behalf. . Megarry J. in a > reserved judgment, refused to grant ln .tcrlocutory injunctions restraining the solicitors for the Plaintiff in the action from paying to Mrs. Caldwell any third party on her behalf £1,250 now held by the solici- ors and representing part of the proceeds of sale of a house in Brighton. The motion was issued by the defendants, Sumpters la firm). His Lordship said that the matter arose out of the proposed •ale of a house in Brighton owned by Mrs. Caldwell. She iriten- oed Sumpters to act for her and left the title deeds with them j°r the purpose. The sale was delayed by difficulties in obtain- «8 vacant possession and in the end Mrs. Caldwell instructed D er present solicitors in place of Sumpters. They pressed oumpters for the title deeds, but Sumpters claimed a solicitor's «en on them. The auestion of lien turned on a single sentence in a letter J^ted 15th January 1970 from Sumpters to Mrs. Caldwell's solicitors enclosing the deeds. The sentence was: "These deeds nd documents are being sent to you on the understanding that ou w ;jj h^d them to our order, pending the payment of our *® es and your undertakings which we have given on behalf of ^rs- Caldwell, on her instructions, and the payment of fees, «c-.of other professional firms who have acted on Mrs. Cald- Vr S instructions and have not yet been paid by her." I97n Caldwell's solicitors replied promptly on 20th January (cl • referring to the fact that the writ had already been issued of j n B deeds and damages for their retention, an account 1 ^arious rents and profits, and payment of what was due). The to w e n t on: "In the circumstances we are unable to accede . your request eithert o hold the deeds to your order or to our undertakings as mentioned by you." 982] dwe11 V S u m p t e r s ( a fintl L Ch - D i v ' U971) 3 AER had a lien over deeds belonging to a former client not lose it by sending them to her new solicitors under cover " I a - i - i! il i .1 M ..1 1 * 1! t , a letter stating that they were sent "on the understanding at you will hold them to our order". dif!' C ' t0rs