Strong v Bird
An imperfect gift can be completed if the donor appoints the donee as executor, the donor's intention having continued until death.
Facts
Mr Bird borrowed £1,100 from his stepmother, who lived in his house and paid him for her board. They agreed that the debt would be repaid by deducting £100 from each quarter's payment of board. After two quarters, the stepmother decided to forgive the rest of the debt and paid the full amount of board thereafter, but did not release the debt by deed. When she died, she appointed Mr Bird as her executor. Her other relatives argued that he must repay the debt to her estate.
Legal principle
Jessel MR held that Mr Bird did not have to repay the debt. The stepmother had intended to forgive the debt, and that intention continued until her death. When she appointed him as her executor, the debt was released at law, because the executor could not sue himself. Since equity would not require him to collect the debt from himself, given that she had intended him to have the benefit of the release, the imperfect gift was perfected. The rule was later extended to gifts of property, and to administrators.
Related cases on formalities and constitution of trusts
- Re Brooks' Settlement Trusts [1939] Ch 993
- Cannon v Hartley [1949] Ch 213
- Choithram (T) International SA v Pagarani [2001] 1 WLR 1
- 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
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