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THE MEANING AND SIGNIFICANCE OF CONSCIENCE IN PRIVATE LAW

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2018

Sinéad Agnew
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Abstract

This article argues that the idea of conscience can play a useful, albeit limited and highly general, explanatory role in private law, if we have regard to two distinctive contexts in which it is used. First, it tells us something about how equitable obligations arise and reminds us that they directly enforce moral duties. Second, it conveys the message that the courts are reluctant to impose primary liabilities which restrict the exercise of legal rights absent a past or prospective breach of moral duty by the defendant. Without further explanation, the indiscriminate invocation of conscience in both contexts can lead to confusion and uncertainty, but if the distinction between obligation and liability is observed, the explanatory force of conscience in relation to each becomes clearer, and it plays a valuable role in bolstering the authority of private law.

Keywords

conscienceunconscionabilityequitytrustsrestitutioncontractestoppel
Type
Articles
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The Cambridge Law Journal , Volume 77 , Issue 3 , November 2018 , pp. 479 - 505
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge Law Journal and Contributors 2018 

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Footnotes

*

Lecturer in Property Law, University College London.

I am very grateful to Professor Sarah Worthington, Dr. Charlie Webb, Professor Charles Mitchell, Professor Ben McFarlane, the participants in the New Work in Obligations Conference at UCL 2016, and this Journal's anonymous reviewers, for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this work. Due to lack of space, it is not possible to discuss all the doctrines in which the courts use the language of conscience here: doctrines such as relief against penalties, forfeiture and rectification for mistake will be considered elsewhere. For similar reasons, this article does not engage in a comparison of the concepts of conscience, good faith and fairness. All errors are my own.

References

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69 Vestergaard [2013] UKSC 31, [2013] 1 W.L.R. 1556.

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71 AIB Group (UK) Plc. v Mark Redler and Co. Solicitors [2014] UKSC 58, [2014] 3 W.L.R. 1367.

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88 Mitchell and Watterson, “Remedies for Knowing Receipt”; ibid., at p. 11.

89 E.g. Arthur [2012] UKPC 30, at [40].

90 Boardman v Phipps [1967] 2 A.C. 46 (HL).

91 Vestergaard [2013] UKSC 31, [2013] 1 W.L.R. 1556.

92 E.g. Moses v Macferlan (1760) 2 Burr. 1005, 97 E.R. 676; Kelly v Solari (1841) 9 M. and W. 54, 152 E.R. 24.

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103 Smith (ibid.) accepts that a duty of this kind may arise.

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119 Commercial Bank of Australia Ltd. v Amadio (1983) 151 C.L.R. 447 (H.C.A.), 474, 478, 479, per Deane J.

120 E.g. Alec Lobb (Garages) Ltd. v Total Oil (Great Britain) Ltd. [1985] 1 W.L.R. 173 (CA), 182, per Dillon L.J.

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122 R. Ahdar, “Contract Doctrine, Predictability and the Nebulous Exception” [2014] C.L.J. 39 doubts whether a threat to do something lawful will ever constitute illegitimate pressure absent previous unlawful conduct, but Tam Tak Chuen v Khairul bin Abdul Rahman [2009] 2 S.L.R. 240 (S.C.A.), at [57]–[59], suggests otherwise.

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125 Tam Tak Chuen [2009] 2 S.L.R. 240 (S.C.A.), at [57]–[59]; Borrelli v Ting [2010] UKPC 21, [2010] Bus. L.R. 1718, at [28]–[35]; Progress Bulk Carriers Ltd. v Tube City IMS LLC [2012] EWHC 273 (Comm), [2012] 1 C.L.C. 365, at [39]–[40], per Cooke J.

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129 Hart v Burbidge [2014] EWCA Civ 992, at [43], per Vos L.J.

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141 S. Smith, “Contracting Under Pressure: A Theory of Duress” [1997] C.L.J. 343, at 344.

142 Acknowledged by Birks, “The Role of Fault”, p. 262.

143 Barton v Armstrong [1976] A.C. 104 (HL), 121, per Lords Wilberforce and Simon.

144 E.g. Birks, “The Role of Fault”, p. 262; Virgo, “The Role of Fault”, p. 99.

145 Mothew [1998] Ch. 1 (CA).

146 Although the claimant's proprietary interest operates retrospectively: ibid., at p. 23.

147 Ibid.

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150 PW v Milton Gate Investments Ltd. [2003] EWHC 1994 (Ch), [2004] Ch. 142, at [38], per Neuberger J.

151 HM Revenue and Customs v Benchdollar Ltd. [2009] EWHC 1310 (Ch), [2010] 1 All E.R. 174, at [55], per Briggs J.

152 Ibid.

153 Amalgamated Investment and Property Co. Ltd. (in Liquidation) v Texas Commercial International Bank Ltd. [1982] Q.B. 84 (CA), 126, per Eveleigh L.J.

154 Cobbe v Yeoman's Row Management Ltd. [2008] UKHL 55, [2008] 1 W.L.R. 1752, at [98], per Lord Walker; Kim v Chasewood Park Residents Ltd. [2013] EWCA Civ 239, [2013] H.L.R. 24, at [41], per Patten L.J.

155 Verwayen (1990) 170 C.L.R. 394 (H.C.A.), 441, per Deane J.

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157 Suggitt v Suggitt [2012] EWCA Civ 1140.

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159 Ramsden v Dyson (1866) L.R. 1 H.C. 129, 140–41; Willmott v Barber (1880) 15 Ch. D. 96, 105–06.

160 Taylor's Fashions Ltd. v Liverpool Victoria Trustees Co. Ltd. [1982] Q.B. 133, 148, 151–52, per Oliver J.

161 The August Leonhardt [1985] 2 Lloyd's Rep. 28 (CA), 34–35; Benchdollar [2009] EWHC 1310 (Ch.), at [55].

162 E.g. Amalgamated Investment [1982] Q.B. 84 (CA).

163 Verwayen (1990) 170 C.L.R. 394 (H.C.A.), 440–45, per Deane J., 413, per Mason C.J.

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166 Ibid., at p. 153.

167 McFarlane, “Understanding Equitable Estoppel”, p. 287; McFarlane, B., “Equitable Estoppel as a Cause of Action: Neither One Thing Nor One Other” in Degeling, S., Edelman, J. and Goudkamp, J. (eds.), Contract in Commercial Law (Sydney 2016), 372Google Scholar.

168 McFarlane, “Understanding Equitable Estoppel”, pp. 293–94; McFarlane, “Equitable Estoppel as a Cause of Action”, p. 376.

169 McFarlane, “Equitable Estoppel as a Cause of Action”, pp. 369–75.

170 Ibid.

171 Cobbe [2008] UKHL 55, [2008] 1 W.L.R. 1752, at [92], per Lord Walker.

172 Such as a change in circumstances of the promisor: McFarlane, “Equitable Estoppel as a Cause of Action”, p. 373.

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174 Blue Haven Enterprises Ltd. v Tully [2006] UKPC 17, [25]–[28], per Lord Scott.

175 Taylor's Fashions [1982] Q.B. 133, 155–57, per Oliver J.

176 Ramsden (1866) L.R. 1 H.C. 129, 140–41, per Lord Cranworth; Willmott (1880) 15 Ch. D. 96, 105–06, per Fry J.; Taylor's Fashions [1982] Q.B. 133, 147, per Oliver J.

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178 Ibid., at pp. 185, 204.

179 Ibid., at p. 204.

180 Cane, P., Responsibility in Law and Morality (Oxford 2002), pp. 6–12Google Scholar.

181 Birks, “Equity in the Modern Law”, pp. 16–17; Birks, “Equity, Conscience and Unjust Enrichment”, pp. 14–15.

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194 R. Duff, “Legal Obligation and the Moral Nature of Law” [1980] Jurisprudence Review 61, at 85.