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I've just got a copy of Fea v Roberts, 9/9/05. An executor mistakenly (and foolishly) paid a legacy of over £100,000 to a namesake of the legatee, and sought to recover it. The namesake thought it odd (he didn't know the testator), but didn't think further and proceeded to live a life of Reilly (or so he alleged). Two nice issues:

(1) Limitation . If a payer is foolish, does time start running under s.32 Limitation Act before the payment (on the basis that ex hypothesi he could have discovered it)? No: limitation can't run till you have a cause of action in the first place.

(2) Change of position: was the payee in good faith a la Niru? No, even though he wasn't dishonest.

All the best

Andrew

Andrew Tettenborn MA LLB
Bracton Professor of Law

Tel: 01392-263189 / +44-392-263189 (international)
Cellphone: 07729-266200 / +44-7729-266200 (international)
Fax: 01392-263196 / +44-392-263196 (international)

Snailmail: School of Law,
University of Exeter,
Amory Building,
Rennes Drive,
Exeter EX4 4RJ
England

Exeter Law School homepage: http://www.law.ex.ac.uk
My homepage: http://www.law.ex.ac.uk/staff/tettenborn.shtml

LAWYER, n. One skilled in circumvention of the law. (Ambrose Bierce, 1906).