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sealed containers are not chargeable to purchase tax under
Group 29 of Schedule 1 to the Purchase Tax Act, 1963.
[Indoor Gardening Ltd. v Commissioners of Customs and
Excise; Ch. Div.; 25/11/1971.]
Notice of an expression of dissatisfaction at the determination of
an appeal communicated by the inspector of taxes to the general
commissioners thirteen days after the determination, was held to
have been made "immediately after the determination" within
the meaning of Section 64 of the Income Tax Act, 1952, in the
circumstances of the case. But in any event the statutory
requirement in Section 64 that notice should be given immedi-
ately was a directory and not a mandatory provision.
[Regina v H.M. Inspector of Taxes ex parte Clarke; C. of
A.; (1972) 1 AER 545.]
A "dividend stripping" transaction, though carried out by
dealers in stocks and shares, which, viewed as a whole, was
entered into and carried out in order to recover tax as a loss
under Section 341 of the Income Tax Act, 1952, was not a
valid transaction in the course o ftrade but "the planning and
execution of a raid on the Treasury, using the technacalities of
revenue and company law as the necessary weapons".
[F.A.&A.B. Ltd. v Lupton (Inspector of Taxes); H. of L.
21/10/1971.]
The court dismissed an appeal by Mr C. M. Owen, county
surveyor for Denbighshire, from the decision of Mr. Justice
Plowman (
The Times,
March 23rd) that the expenses he
incurred when he went to Tokyo to attend a world road
conference were not incurred wholly, necessarily and exclusi-
vely in the performance of his duties and accordingly were not
allowable deductions against income tax.
[Owen v Burden (Inspector o{ Taxes; C. of A.; 21/10/71.]
His Lordship, giving a reserved judgment on a summons by the
Royal Bank of Canada of Lothbury, London, held that on the
true construction of Section 414 of the Income Tax Act, 1952,
the bank was bound to furnish all the particulars required by
the Inland Revenue Commissioners by a notice dated 11th
September 1969.
Section 414 (1) provides that the commissioners may, by
notice in writing, require any person to furnish them within a
specified time with such particulars as they think necessary for
the purposes of Chapter IV of the Act, headed: "Trans-
actions resulting in transfer of income to persons abroad".
[Royal Bank of Canada v Inland Revenue Commissioners;
Ch. D.; 15/11/1971.]
Mr. Justice Megarry, in the Chancery Division, decided that a
taxpayer against whom a penalty had been awarded summarily
by general commissioners under Section 53 of the Taxes
Management Act, 1970, was not liable to the further penalty
of up to £10 a day under Section 98 (1) (ii) because the
hearing when the summary award was made did not constitute
"proceedings" for a penalty. His Lordship held that for the
further penalty to apply there must be "proceedings" within
Section 100.
[Script and Play Productions Ltd. v General Commissioners
(Income Tax); Ch. D.; 25/11/1971.]
Payments by a company to a trust set up to acquire shares in
the company for the benefit of the employees and to prevent
outside interference were held to be deductible for the purposes
of corporation tax. The payments were held to be payments of
a revenue nature made wholly and exclusively for the purposes
of the company's trade. An appeal by the Crown against a
decision of the special commissioners in favour of P-E Con-
sulting Group Ltd. was dismissed with costs.
[Heather (Inspector of Taxes) v P-E Consulting Group Ltd.;
Ch: D.; 14/12/1971.]
Trade Unions
In giving directions to delegates to the Trades Union Con-
gress next week as to how to vote on the question of Britain's
entry into the Common Market, the national executive council
of the National Association of Local Government Officers was
held to have exceeded its powers and the mandate or direction
to delegates made pursuant to an executive council motion was
ordered to be withdrawn.
[Hodgson and Others v NALGO and Others; Vacation
Court; 3/9/1971.]
Tribunals
His Lordship held that the inspectors appointed by the Depart-
ment of Trade and Industry to report on Pergamon Press Ltd.
and International Learning Systems Corporation probably
erred in the procedure they adopted for their inquiry by failing
to put the substance of their tentative conclusions to Mr.
Robert Maxwell, the former chairman, and give him an oppor-
tunity to rebut their criticisms of him. The error amounted to
a denial of natural justice, which might invalidate their
interim report.
[Maxwell v Stable and Others; Vacation Court; 30/9/71.]
The court issued'an order of prohibition to prohibit Dr. R. C.
Brown, chief medical officer to Kent Constabulary, from deter-
mining whether Chief Inspector D. G. Godden was perman-
ently disabled within the Police Pension Regulations, and an
order of mandamus to Kent Police Authority that if at any
time an inquiry was being made as to whether Mr. Godden
was permanently disabled within the regulations, they should
supply to his medical consultant all reports, letters, and other
documentary material used by them or any other doctors
concerned
[Regina v Kent Police Authority and Others ex parte
Godden; C. of A.; 17/6/1971.]
The court dismissed an appeal by landlords, Frey Investments
Ltd., against the Divisional Court's refusal of an order of
prohibition to prevent Barnet and Camden Rent Tribunal
from considering 22 tenancy agreements referred to them by
Camden London Borough in the exercise of their powers under
Section 72 of the Rent Act, 1968, on the ground that they had
exceeded their powers ([1971] 3 All ER 759).
Their Lordships held that unless it could be shown that the
council had acted frivolously or vexatiously or with mala fides,
it was impossible to say that the matter was ultra vires, and
that the council's power to refer a contract of letting to a
rent tribunal could not be inhibited by the fact that the
tenants themselves did not want the references to be made.
[Frey Investments Ltd. v Camden London Borough;
C. of A.]
See under
Social Welfare;
Jones v Secretary of State for
Social Services; H. of L.; 20/12/1971; ante.
Trusts
Where by a deed of appointment the appointor directed
trustees to hold a fund for such of the children of his two
sons "whenever born as being a son or sons shall attain the
age of 21 or being a daughter or daughters shall attain that
age or marry as a single class and if more than one in equal
shares", the words "whenever born" were held to exclude the
rule in
Andrews v Partington
([1791] 3 Bro CC 401) so that
children born after the first child who became entitled to his
share were not excluded.
,
[In re Edmondson's Will Trusts; C. of A.; 22/11/1971.]
Vendor and Purchaser
Brightman J. held that specific performance of an agreement
for the transfer of certain shares ought not to be granted
unless the transferor's equitable lien as unpaid vendor was
duly safeguarded.
TLangen and Wind Ltd. and Others v Bell; Ch. Div.;
(1972) 2 WLR 170.]
-»
A prospective purchaser who pays a deposit to an estate
agent, who accepts it "as stakeholder", for a sale which subse-
quently falls through cannot, if he obtains an unsatisfied
judgment against the agent for the unreturned deposit, subse-
quently obtain judgment for the amount of the deposit against
the prospective vendor.
[Barrington v Lee; C. of A.; (1971) 3 AER 1231.]
Words and Phrases
An employer of dock labour who applies for an employer's
licence under the Docks and Harbours Act, 1966—one purpose
of which was to regulate the employment of dock workers-
may withdraw his application at any time before it is deter-
mined; but once it has been withdrawn it ceases to exist and
there is thereafter no power in the licensing authority or the
Minister to grant or refuse a licence and no right in the
applicant to compensation under the Act.
Their Lordships so held in dismissing an interlocutory
appeal by Boal Quay Wharfingers Ltd., of Felixstowe,
from the decision of Mr. Justice Ackner in March that on the
facts found by an arbitrator in a consultative case and on the
true construction of the Act, there had not been a "refusal
of their application for a licence originally made to the Kings
Lynn Conservancy Board, the licensing authority under the
Act, because they had withdrawn it before the Minister of
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