Woolwich Building Society V Inland Revenue Commissioners
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Woolwich Building Society V Inland Revenue Commissioners
''Woolwich Equitable Building Society v Inland Revenue Commissioners'' 993AC 70 is an English unjust enrichment law case, concerning to what extent enrichment of the defendant must be at the expense of the claimant. It related to the payment of tax which was subsequent held not to have been due as a result of the invalidity of the law under which the tax had been assessed. The Inland Revenue repaid the tax, but disputed their liability to pay interest on the money during the time which they had held it. Facts The Woolwich Building Society was charged £57 million in tax that it objected to as being assessed under a tax law which it alleged was '' ultra vires''. It paid the sums on a " without prejudice" basis, and then sought judicial review with a view to reclaiming the tax. The House of Lords agreed with Woolwich. The revenue repaid the tax, but refused to pay any interest, which was agreed to be in the amount of £6.73 million. Under section 35A of the Supreme Court Act 198 ...
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Judicial Functions Of The House Of Lords
Whilst the House of Lords of the United Kingdom is the upper chamber of Parliament and has government ministers, it for many centuries had a judicial function. It functioned as a court of first instance for the trials of peers, for impeachments, and as a court of last resort in the United Kingdom and prior, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of England. Appeals were technically not to the House of Lords, but rather to the King-in-Parliament. In 1876, the Appellate Jurisdiction Act devolved the appellate functions of the House to an Appellate Committee, composed of Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (informally referred to as Law Lords). They were then appointed by the Lord Chancellor in the same manner as other judges. During the 20th and early 21st century, the judicial functions were gradually removed. Its final trial of a peer was in 1935, and in 1948, the use of special courts for such trials was abolished. The procedure of impeachment became seen as obsolete. In 2009, t ...
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Lord Goff
Robert Lionel Archibald Goff, Baron Goff of Chieveley, (12 November 1926 – 14 August 2016) was an English barrister and judge who was Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, the equivalent of today's President of the Supreme Court. Best known for establishing unjust enrichment as a branch of English law, he has been described by Andrew Burrows as "the greatest judge of modern times". Goff was the original co-author of ''Goff & Jones'', the leading English law textbook on restitution and unjust enrichment, first published in 1966. He practised as a commercial barrister from 1951 to 1975, following which he began his career as a judge. He was appointed to the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords in 1986. Goff was born in his mother's family home in Perthshire, Scotland, and was raised in Hampshire, England. He obtained a place at New College, Oxford, but was called up in December 1944 and served in the Scots Guards in Italy until going to Oxford in October 1948. He earned a firs ...
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Lord Browne-Wilkinson
Nicolas Christopher Henry Browne-Wilkinson, Baron Browne-Wilkinson, PC (30 March 1930 – 25 July 2018) was a British judge who served as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary from 1991 to 2000, and Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary from 1998 to 2000. Life and career Browne-Wilkinson was the sixth child and only son of the Rev Canon Arthur Browne-Wilkinson, MC, and of Mary Abraham, daughter of Charles Abraham, Bishop of Derby. He was educated at Lancing and at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he took a First in Jurisprudence in 1952. He was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1953 and took silk in 1972. He was a judge of the Court of Appeal of Jersey and of Guernsey from 1976 to 1977. In 1977, Browne-Wilkinson was appointed a Justice of the High Court of Justice and assigned to the Chancery division, receiving the customary knighthood. He was promoted as a Lord Justice of Appeal in 1983, and was of sworn of the Privy Council. From 1985 to 1991 he was Vice-Chancellor, the ''de fac ...
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Lord Slynn
Gordon Slynn, Baron Slynn of Hadley (17 February 1930 – 7 April 2009) was a British judge and Advocate General of the European Court of Justice. He particularly specialised in European law. He was a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary. Early life Slynn was born on 17 February 1930 to John and Edith Slynn and educated at Sandbach School, Goldsmiths, University of London, and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1956 before moving to One Hare Court alongside Fisher, Neil, Parker, and Richard Southwell QC, becoming a bencher in 1970 and Treasurer in 1988. He served as Junior Counsel to the Ministry of Labour between 1967 and 1968. He was the First Junior Treasury Counsel (Common Law), or "Treasury Devil", from 1968 to 1974. Lord Denning said about Slynn in his capacity as such: "He was outstanding. The best I have ever known. He will go far." His successful application to take silk in 1974 coincided with his becoming the first Leading Counsel to the ...
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Lord Keith Of Kinkel
Henry Shanks Keith, Baron Keith of Kinkel, (7 February 1920 – 21 June 2002) was a British judge. The son of James Keith, Baron Keith of Avonholm, Harry Keith was educated in the Edinburgh Academy, at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he graduated with a Master of Arts and the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Law. In the Second World War, he was an officer in the Scots Guards and was mentioned in dispatches, reaching the rank of Captain. He was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1950, and was made a Queen's Counsel in 1962. In 1951, he had been called to the English Bar from Gray's Inn, where he became a bencher in 1976. He appointed as Sheriff of Roxburgh, Berwick and Selkirk in 1970, succeeding David Brand. He was appointed a Senator of the College of Justice with the judicial title Lord Keith in 1971. On 10 January 1977, he was appointed Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and was made additionally a life peer with the title Baron Keith of Kink ...
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Lord Jauncey
Charles Eliot Jauncey, Baron Jauncey of Tullichettle, PC (8 May 1925 – 18 July 2007) was a British judge and advocate. He was often praised as one of the finest legal minds of his generation in Scotland, and his legal opinions - both as a practising advocate and as a judge - commanded immense respect. Early life and career Jauncey was the son of Captain John Henry Jauncey, who came out of retirement to command destroyers in the Second World War, and Muriel Dundas, daughter of Admiral Sir Charles Dundas. He was educated at Radley College, leaving in 1943 to join the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. He served in Egypt and India in the Second World War, from 1943 to 1946, reaching the rank of Sub-Lieutenant. He contracted polio in Ceylon and was invalided home, being left with a slight limp for the rest of his life. He read law at Christ Church, Oxford, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in jurisprudence in 1947, and at the University of Glasgow, where he received a Bachelor ...
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English Unjust Enrichment Law
The English law of unjust enrichment is part of the English law of obligations, along with the law of contract, tort, and trusts. The law of unjust enrichment deals with circumstances in which one person is required to make restitution of a benefit acquired at the expense of another in circumstances which are unjust. The modern law of unjust enrichment encompasses what was once known as the law of quasi-contract. Its precise scope remains a matter of controversy. Beyond quasi-contract, it is sometimes said to encompass the law relating to subrogation, contribution, recoupment, and claims to the traceable substitutes of misapplied property. English courts have recognised that there are four steps required to establish a claim in unjust enrichment. If the following elements are satisfied, a claimant has a prima facie right to restitution: # the defendant has been ''enriched''; # this enrichment is ''at the claimant's expense''; # this enrichment at the claimant's expense is ''unjus ...
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HM Revenue And Customs
HM Revenue and Customs (His Majesty's Revenue and Customs, or HMRC) is a non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial Departments of the United Kingdom Government, department of the His Majesty's Government, UK Government responsible for the tax collection, collection of Taxation in the United Kingdom, taxes, the payment of some forms of Welfare state in the United Kingdom, state support, the administration of other regulatory Regime#Politics, regimes including the national minimum wage and the issuance of national insurance numbers. HMRC was formed by the merger of the Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise, which took effect on 18 April 2005. The department's logo is the St Edward's Crown enclosed within a circle. Prior to the Elizabeth II, Queen's death on 8 September 2022, the department was known as ''Her'' Majesty's Revenue and Customs and has since been amended to reflect the change of monarch. Departmental responsibilities The department is responsible for the ...
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Woolwich Building Society
The Woolwich Equitable Building Society (later Woolwich Building Society or The Woolwich) was founded in Woolwich in 1847 and remained a local institution until after WWI when it began a modest regional expansion. This accelerated after WWII and the period from 1960 was notable for its acquisitions. Following deregulation, the Society diversified and became one of the largest national building societies. In 1997 it demutualised and became Woolwich PLC. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by Barclays in 2000. History Early history The origins of the Woolwich lay in an earlier terminating society, based in the local Castle Inn and chaired by the publican. In 1847 a breakaway group met to form the Woolwich Equitable Benefit Building and Investment Society (later reduced to the Woolwich Equitable Building Society). That the active founders of the new society included the pastor of the Salem Chapel ...
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Ultra Vires
('beyond the powers') is a Latin phrase used in law to describe an act which requires legal authority but is done without it. Its opposite, an act done under proper authority, is ('within the powers'). Acts that are may equivalently be termed "valid", and those that are termed "invalid". Legal issues relating to can arise in a variety of contexts: * Companies and other legal persons sometimes have limited legal capacity to act, and attempts to engage in activities beyond their legal capacities may be . Most countries have restricted the doctrine of in relation to companies by statute. * Similarly, statutory and governmental bodies may have limits upon the acts and activities which they legally engage in. * Subordinate legislation which is purported passed without the proper legal authority may be invalid as beyond the powers of the authority which issued it. Corporate law In corporate law, describes acts attempted by a corporation that are beyond the scope of powers ...
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Without Prejudice
Prejudice is a legal term with different meanings, which depend on whether it is used in criminal, civil, or common law. In legal context, "prejudice" differs from the more common use of the word and so the term has specific technical meanings. Two of the most common applications of the word are as part of the terms "with prejudice" and "without prejudice." In general, an action taken ''with prejudice'' is final. For example, "dismissal with prejudice" forbids a party to refile the case and might occur because of misconduct on the part of the party that filed the claim or criminal complaint or also as the result of an out-of-court agreement or settlement. Dismissal "without prejudice" (Latin: ''salvis iuribus'') allows the party the option to refile and is often a response to procedural or technical problems with the filing that the party may correct by filing again. With prejudice and without prejudice Criminal law Depending on the country, a criminal proceeding which ends prem ...
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Supreme Court Act 1981
The Senior Courts Act 1981 (c.54), originally named the Supreme Court Act 1981, is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act prescribes the structure and jurisdictions of the Senior Courts of England and Wales (previously known as the "Superior Courts"). These Senior Courts comprise: the Court of Appeal, High Court of Justice, The Employment Appeal Tribunal, and the Crown Court. Change of name The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 established a new Supreme Court which, on 1 October 2009, replaced the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords. To avoid confusion, the Supreme Court Act 1981 was renamed the Senior Courts Act 1981, and all statutory references to the Supreme Court of England and Wales were amended to refer to the Senior Courts of England and Wales. The former term "Supreme Court" did not mean the 2009 Supreme Court (which, of course, did not exist in 1981), but was shorthand for the "Supreme Court of England and Wales", called before 1981 the "Supreme ...
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