Restitution Discussion Group Archives
| Sender: |
Gordon Goldberg |
| Date: |
Mon, 16 Aug 1999 15:32:10 +0100 |
| Re: |
Payments under Protest |
I am gratified,
if I have been able to help. I myself should be grateful for the reassurance
of your student or, indeed, of anyone else concerning Atkin, L.J.'s dictum
in A.-G. v. United Wilts Dairies (1921) 37 T.L.R. 884 at 887 which, according
to the headnote, was applied in Woolwich Building Society v. I.R.C. [1993]
A.C. 70. I beg the pardon of those whom I irritate through my ignorance
of some publication which has dealt with the point. In my respectful submission,
neither payment under protest nor any other proof of compulsion can be necessary
to establish the constitutional ground on which the latter case was decided;
for the money in question had been extorted by the Crown under mere colour
of Parliamentary authority; and its retention would have been simply illegal.
After all, in no circumstances, can the subject retain money paid to him
by the Crown without the actual authority of Parliament (Auckland Harbour
Board v. R. [1924] A.C. 318); and surely, in this field above all, the rule
of law requires that there be but one rule for both the governed and the
government? I believe this submission to be that made by Counsel in [1993]
A.C. at 146B; but I cannot recall its being answered by any of the peers;
and in a quick skim of the speeches this morning I found Auckland Harbour
Board v. R. mentioned only by Lord Goff (ibid. at 177B). Apart from any
general restitutionary theory and as at present advised, I believe this
submission, if it has virtue at all, to apply only to the Crown and not
to any other authority.
----------
From: Hector MacQueen
To: Gordon Goldberg
Subject: Re: RDG: Re: Payments under Protest
Date: 16 August 1999 09:22
Dear Gordon
Many thanks for your helpful note, which I have passed on to my student.
Yours
Hector
Hector MacQueen
Professor of Private Law
University of Edinburgh
Edinburgh EH8 9YL
UK
Tel (UK)-0131-650-2060/4633
Fax (UK)-0131-662-4902
Editor Edinburgh Law Review
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