Ratio Decidendi
Where executors distribute estate funds to persons not entitled under the will, the rightful beneficiaries have both a personal claim against the wrongly paid recipients and a proprietary claim to trace the money in equity.
Facts
Caleb Diplock's will left residuary estate for charitable or benevolent purposes. The gift was void for uncertainty but executors had already distributed funds to 139 charities.
Judgment Summary
The Court of Appeal held beneficiaries could trace in equity and recover from the charities, subject to certain limitations on the tracing remedy.
Key Quotes
"A person who has received money paid to him under a mistake of law or fact is bound to restore it."
— Lord Greene MR
Subsequent Treatment
Good law
Leading authority on equitable tracing and personal claims in mistaken distribution.