Private Law Theory

ABSTRACT
In Byers v Saudi National Bank, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom delivered judgment in perhaps the last episode in the Akers v Samba saga. While the conclusion might be sound, the path to the conclusion is questionable. The reasoning proves too much, and there is a danger that some labels – particularly of ‘equitable proprietary claims’ – might lead unsuspecting counsel into error in later cases. What emerges from Byers is a view of knowing receipt as contingent on the equity to obtain specific restitution of an asset – a conclusion which could have more readily been reached through the construction of the statute at hand, and which sits ill with the Australian preference to see knowing receipt as fault-based, rather than as a vindication of pre-existing ‘property rights’ and without sufficient interrogation of what we mean by ‘trust property’ for the purposes of Barnes v Addy liability.

Mohseni, Aryan, Knowing Receipt and ‘Equitable Proprietary Rights’: Byers v Saudi National Bank (March 1, 2024), (2024) 98(12) (December) Australian Law Journal 879.