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Crantrave Ltd. v. Lloyds Bank plc [2000] 4 All ER 473 looks like a ringing endorsement of the rule that you can't pay someone else's debt without his consent. The plaintiff was judgment debtor to a third party, & the third party served a garnishee order nisi on the defendant, the plaintiff's banker. The defendant paid money to the solicitors for the third party, but the garnishee order was never made absolute. Now the plaintiff was in liquidation and the liquidator sued the bank. Summary judgment for the liquidator affirmed by the CA.

Of course in a liquidation you could hardly say that it was a matter of indifference to the plaintiff whether it had so much money in the bank or instead the same money was used to pay a creditor. Effectively it generates a preference. No simple subrogation allowed, which I don't think is a big surprise - however the case is classified under the key word "Subrogation."

Lionel