Choithram (T) International SA v Pagarani
A gift to a charitable foundation of which the donor was one of the trustees was complete, because equity would not allow a donor who was also a trustee to resile from the gift.
Facts
Mr Pagarani, a wealthy businessman, was dying. On his deathbed, he signed a deed setting up a charitable foundation, of which he was one of the trustees, and said that he gave all his wealth to the foundation. He did not transfer his assets, which included shares and deposits, to all the trustees before he died. His family argued that the gift was incomplete, because the property had not been transferred to the trustees.
Legal principle
The Privy Council held that the gift was effective. Lord Browne-Wilkinson said that, although equity will not aid a volunteer or perfect an imperfect gift, it will not strive officiously to defeat a gift. Because Mr Pagarani was one of the trustees, the property was already vested in one of the trustees, and the words of gift showed an intention to make a gift on trust for the foundation. It would be unconscionable for him, as a trustee, to resile from the gift, and he and the other trustees were bound to give effect to it.
Related cases on formalities and constitution of trusts
- Re Brooks' Settlement Trusts [1939] Ch 993
- Cannon v Hartley [1949] Ch 213
- Fletcher v Fletcher (1844) 4 Hare 67
- Grey v IRC [1960] AC 1
- Hodgson v Marks [1971] Ch 892
- King v Dubrey [2015] EWCA Civ 581, [2016] Ch 221
- Mascall v Mascall (1984) 50 P & CR 119
- Milroy v Lord (1862) 4 De GF & J 264
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