Thellusson v Woodford


Thellusson v Woodford 4 Ves 227 is an English trusts law case. It was a lawsuit resulting from the will of Peter Thellusson, an English merchant.

Facts

Peter Thellusson directed the income of his property, consisting of real estate of the annual value of about £5,000 and personal estate amounting to over £600,000, to be accumulated during the lives of his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, living at the time of his death, and the survivor of them. The property so accumulated, which, it is estimated, would have amounted to over £14,000,000, was to be divided among such descendants as might be alive on the death of the survivor of those lives during which the accumulation was to continue.

Judgment

The bequest was held valid. In 1856, there was a protracted lawsuit as to who were the actual heirs. It was decided by the House of Lords in favour of Lord Rendlesham and Charles Sabine Augustus Thellusson. Owing, however, to the heavy expenses, the amount inherited was not much larger than that originally bequeathed.

Significance

To prevent such a disposition of property in the future, the , also as the Thellusson Act, was passed, by which it was enacted that no property should be accumulated for any longer term than either
  1. the life of the grantor; or
  2. the term of twenty-one years from his death; or
  3. the minority of any person living or en ventre sa mere at the time of the death of the grantor; or
  4. the minority of any person who, if of full age, would be entitled to the income directed to be accumulated.
The Act, however, did not extend to any provision for payment of the debts of the grantor or of any other person, to any provision for raising portions for the children of the settlor, to any person interested under the settlement or any direction touching the produce of timber or wood upon any lands or tenements. The Act was extended to heritable property in Scotland by the Entail Amendment Act 1848 but does not apply to property in Ireland.
The Act was further amended by the Accumulations Act 1892, which forbids accumulations for the purpose of the purchase of land for any longer period than during the minority of any person or persons who, if of full age, would be entitled to receive the income.
Following a 1998 report of the Law Commission, the rule against accumulations was abolished for England and Wales by section 13 of the Perpetuities and Accumulations Act 2009. In Scotland, following a similar recommendation by the Scottish Law Commission, the rule against accumulations will be abolished when section 45 of the Trusts and Succession Act 2024 comes into force.
It is believed that the Thellusson Will case provided the basis for the fictional case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce in Charles Dickens' novel Bleak House.