Belmont Finance Corporation v Williams Furniture Ltd (No 2)
[1980] 1 All ER 393
Ratio Decidendi
A person who knowingly receives trust property transferred in breach of trust is liable as a constructive trustee, even if they are a company. Knowledge in this context includes actual knowledge, wilful blindness, and knowledge of circumstances that would put an honest person on inquiry.
Fapte
Company assets were used in a transaction designed to provide financial assistance for the purchase of the company's own shares, in breach of the predecessor to s 678 Companies Act 2006.
Rezumatul hotărârii
The Court of Appeal held the recipients were liable as constructive trustees for knowing receipt. The transaction was unlawful financial assistance, and the recipients had sufficient knowledge of the breach.
Citate cheie
"A stranger to the trust who receives trust property with knowledge that it has been transferred in breach of trust is liable as a constructive trustee."
— Buckley LJ
Tratament ulterior
Important authority on knowing receipt and financial assistance, though the categories of knowledge were refined in BCCI v Akindele.