The Court of Appeal has handed down judgment in FHR European Ventures LLP v Mankarious [2013] EWCA Civ 17. http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2013/17.html The question at issue was whether a secret commission paid to an agent was held by the agent on constructive trust for the principal. The CA, applying one of the two exceptions to the ‘personal remedy only’ general rule laid down in Sinclair v Versailles, decided (overturning Simon J) that the secret commission was held on constructive trust. The short judgment of Etherton LJ (now The Chancellor) is particularly interesting in its examination of constructive trusts generally (albeit that he considers that it is for the Supreme Court, not the Court of Appeal, to sort out the many difficulties).  

Andrew Burrows

Professor Andrew Burrows QC, FBA,

Professor of the Law of England,

All Souls College,

Oxford,

OX1 4AL