CPLC Work in Progress/Guest Seminar: 'Intention in Property Law'

Speaker: Mr Astron Douglas, University of Cambridge

Most questions in contract and property law are resolved by appeals to intention. Intention creates legal rights and gives them content. But while intention has been thoroughly analysed in the context of wrongs as a criterion of wrongdoing, it has received less explicit attention in private law and property law where its function is as a creative force. This paper will look at the concept of intention as used in contract and property law. It will look at the variety of legal uses of intention, assumptions about intentions, complexity and limitations in intentions and the structure of intentions. The paper will then attempt to apply these insights into two mildly unsettled areas of the law: rectification and resulting trusts. It will argue that a consideration of the intention under consideration in rectification supports a subjective approach, and that when properly analysed resulting trusts (both presumed and automatic) should be viewed as arising in response to the intentions of the parties.

This seminar is open to all LLM, MCL and PhD students, Faculty members and Faculty visitors.