ONLINE LECTURE OUTLINE – SEMINAR 5
JOINT LEGAL OWNERS
PART A: JOINT LEGAL OWNERS IN THE FAMILY HOME
Gissing v Gissing [1971] AC 866:
o Common intention constructive trust case
o Involved a married couple
o Husband fought in WW2 and upon demobilisation he obtained
a job because of his wife’s help at the printers where she
worked & he was sufcientlt remunerated so that he could
aford to but a house
o Bought a house together – sole legal ownership case (husband
had the legal title)
o Wife contributed to some fnancials – bought her clothes,
bought her son’s clothes and paid for some furniture and for
the lawn to be turfed
o Question for the court was – could tou infer some form of
agreement between the couple wherebt the wife had come to
a position where she had a benefcial interest?
Was her activitt sufcient to show that she had acted to
her detriment on the reliance that her husband would
respect that activitt and give her a stake in the house
and she would therefore have a benefcial interest?
o At First Instance (Mr Justice Bucklet) – NO; the wife’s activitt
was insufcient (no agreement that was express or that one
could infer from their relationship)
o Court of Appeal (Lord Denning) – wife had a benefcial interest
This case came about just before Eves v Eves so it is
probablt to be expected that Denning would have
operated in this wat
o House of Lords (most expansive judgment Lord Diplock)
Outlines the idea that a common intention constructive
trust is something that can give an interest to a spouse
in the joint matrimonial home, other than using statutes
that have been provided for married couples
The couple’s activities were not sufcient to infer a
common intention constructive trust so as to be able to
give Violet (wife) a benefcial interest
First Instance decision is reinstated
Cooke v Head [1972] 1 WLR 518:
o One of the frst instances from the Court of Appeal of the new
model constructive trust
o Sole legal owner case – Dennis Head
Non-legal owner – Jacqueline Cooke (Head’s mistress)
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