Milroy v Lord


Milroy v Lord is an English trusts law case that held trusts should not be used to save gifts from being defeated. It purported to follow one of the maxims of equity that "Equity will not assist a volunteer".

Facts

Thomas Medley held shares in a company called the Bank of Louisiana, and wished to transfer them. The bank required the shares be transferred according to regulations in the company constitution. He wanted to give them to his niece, Eleanor Milroy. He signed a deed in Louisiana with Samuel Lord, for Lord to hold 50 shares on trust for Eleanor. He also gave Lord a power of attorney to receive dividends on the shares and to comply with the company constitution's formalities. Lord did not actually do it. Thomas Medley lived for three years after signing the deed with Samuel Lord, in which Samuel Lord was receiving dividends and passing them on. When Thomas Medley died the shares still remained in his name. Eleanor Milroy claimed that the shares belonged to her.
Stuart VC held that a trust had been created for Eleanor, and the decision was appealed.

Judgment

The Court of Appeal in Chancery held the attempted transfer failed. An ineffective outright transfer could not be regarded as an effective declaration of trust.
Knight Bruce LJ said the following.
Turner LJ concurred. Three ways to give something were legal transfer of title to recipient transfer of title to a trustee for a beneficiary a self-declaration of trust. He continued.

Significance

There were subsequently a host of exceptions to the Milroy v Lord rule. One, almost immediately from Strong v Bird was that if a debtor appointed to an estate as executor will have his debt forgiven if, and only if, the testator manifested an intention to forgive the debt and this intention continued until death. A second, set out in Re Rose, is that the gift will be an effective transfer where the donor has done everything he is obliged to do to make the gift valid. Particularly after T Choithram [International SA v Pagarani], it is not clear that Milroy v Lord would be decided in the same way.