Features

Some while ago in these columns, I wrote about the Chancery Master, Richard Wakeford, whose valiant acts took place during the Second World War and for which he was awarded the highest Military decoration, the Victoria Cross.   

With the centenary of the commencement of the First World War, it is appropriate to remember another Chancery Master and his gallantry during that earlier conflict. 

Celebrating an independent judiciary.  

This week saw me chugging along by train out of Victoria to the southern confines of my circuit. I was covering, by part time judging as a Recorder, one of those inevitable periods in the life of a publicly funded Silk that actors call “resting” and we call “working on papers”. Unwisely, I travelled First Class. My efforts to balance a fi le on a Formica table the size of a postage stamp had nearly succeeded when an evil smelling creature boarded the train together with an emaciated whippet. Both stared at me. 

That is the trouble with Lord Mansfield: you don’t hear about the guy for decades and suddenly two of him turn up at once. First, the true version in the recent biography (reviewed on page 26) and now the fictional version in the film Belle, in which Tom Wilkinson plays the great Lord Chief Justice with his customary blend of authority and rough but genuine kindness.   

It centres round a short period in the life of his great-niece, Dido Belle Murray, the illegitimate daughter of his nephew and of a black slave and who was brought up as part of the family with his legitimate niece, Elizabeth. This being 2014, there is a warning that the film contains “a brief sexual assault and discrimination theme”, a warning indeed that 21st century sensibilities may conflict with 18th century reality. 

The Bar Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Vice Chairman-Elect with their favourite books for the summer.  

Summer is designed for cricket, and it is a truth universally acknowledged that the best book about cricket is Beyond a Boundary by CLR James. The book takes in race, class, colonialism and so much more, as befits the Leninist, Trinidadian nationalist author of the line: “What do they know of cricket, who only cricket know?” 

Tom Cockroft explores the need for a new offence of failure to prevent fraud.  

“A British bank is run with precision/ A British home requires nothing less/ Tradition, discipline, and rules must be the tools/ Without them – disorder! Chaos! Moral disintegration!/In short, we have a ghastly mess!” 

(“The Life I Lead”, Mary Poppins) 

Zoe Saunders on how she makes the most of her time away from court and unwinds.  

As I was leaving court recently, one of the local district judges said to me: “I understand you’ve taken up some kind of extreme sport, sky diving or something.” As someone who is terrified of heights and not much of an extreme sports fan I had no idea what he was talking about; after some discussion of other extreme sports that I would never contemplate, I tentatively offered “Do you mean freediving, Judge?” To which he replied, “oh yes, that’s the one". 

Jalil Asif QC explains how to manage your digital estate after death.  

Death and taxes have been said to be the constants in life. Barristers are always receiving offers of free tax advice so, for a change, this article is about death and its consequences. 

Rupert Butler returned to the Bar in 2003, after a three year hiatus from practice. A barrister since 1988,  he specialises in various areas of law, including commercial, sports, and media. He spent two years working in a solicitors’ firm and it was here that he honed his litigation skills. At the time, he says, “I was always frustrated and held back by the limits on barristers [who wanted to undertake litigation]. It meant you could offer a service, but not a complete service...”  

That all changed in January 2014. The new Handbook was introduced by the Bar Standards Board (BSB). Previous rules preventing self-employed barristers from applying for authorisation to conduct litigation were removed. Butler is enthusiastic about the change – confident that it will help him adapt the way he delivers services to meet the needs of his clients. “I’m now a genuine one-stop-shop. I will now be able to handle [clients’] needs without the intervention of a solicitor.” 

Elspeth Talbot Rice QC and Andrew Holden ask who is a “trustee” for limitation purposes?  

Section 21(1) of the Limitation Act 1980 provides for there to be no period of limitation for claims by benefi ciaries under a trust in respect of a fraudulent breach of trust to which the trustee was party or privy, or to recover trust property in his hands. But who is a trustee for this purpose? In Williams v Central Bank of Nigeria, the Supreme Court decided that third party accessories to a breach of trust are not. In this article, we explore who is. In particular, we look at company directors, liquidators, and trustees in bankruptcy. 

Stephen Moverley Smith QC and Harry Sharpe ask when does coercion of a group to accept a proposal constitute oppression of the minority?  

This article compares the decisions in Assénagon v Irish Bank Resolution Corporation  and Azevedo v Imcopa Importacao  and asks what conclusions can be drawn about the application of minority oppression principles from the divergent treatment of two similar restructuring techniques.