SQE1 flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Separate legal personality

The principle, established in Salomon v Salomon, that a company is a legal person distinct from its shareholders and directors, so members are generally not liable for its debts.

Wrongful trading

Insolvency Act 1986 s.214: a director who knew or ought to have concluded that insolvent liquidation was inevitable may be ordered by the court to contribute to the company's assets.

Special resolution

A resolution of the members passed by at least 75% of votes cast, required for matters such as altering the articles of association or commencing a voluntary winding up.

Part 36 offer

A formal settlement offer under CPR Part 36 which carries costs, interest and damages consequences where it is not accepted and the offeror achieves a better outcome at trial.

Summary judgment

A CPR Part 24 procedure allowing the court to decide a claim or issue without trial where a party has no real prospect of success and there is no other compelling reason for trial.

Standard disclosure

The CPR Part 31 duty to disclose documents on which a party relies, documents adversely affecting its own case or supporting another party's case, and documents required by a practice direction.

Postal rule

The rule that acceptance of an offer by post takes effect when the letter is posted rather than when it is received, provided it is properly addressed (Adams v Lindsell).

Promissory estoppel

An equitable doctrine preventing a party from going back on a clear promise that was relied upon, where resiling would be inequitable; it usually suspends rather than extinguishes rights.

Hadley v Baxendale test

Contractual damages recover only losses arising naturally from the breach, or those within the contemplation of both parties when the contract was made.

Caparo test

A three-stage test for the existence of a duty of care: reasonable foreseeability of damage, proximity between the parties, and whether it is fair, just and reasonable to impose a duty.

Vicarious liability

Liability of an employer for a tort committed by an employee in the course of employment, where an employment relationship or one akin to employment exists.

Private nuisance

An unlawful, substantial and unreasonable interference with another person's use and enjoyment of land, actionable only by a person with a proprietary interest in the affected land.

Ratio decidendi

The legal reasoning essential to a court's decision, which binds courts lower in the hierarchy in later cases involving materially similar facts.

Young v Bristol Aeroplane

The three exceptions permitting the Court of Appeal to depart from its own earlier decision: conflicting Court of Appeal decisions, later Supreme Court authority, and decisions made per incuriam.

Parliamentary sovereignty

The constitutional principle that Parliament can make or unmake any law, and that later legislation impliedly repeals earlier inconsistent legislation.

Wednesbury unreasonableness

A ground of judicial review: a decision so unreasonable that no reasonable decision-maker, properly directing themselves on the relevant law and facts, could have reached it.

Direct effect

The principle from Van Gend en Loos that sufficiently clear and unconditional provisions of EU law confer rights enforceable by individuals before national courts.

Theft

Section 1 Theft Act 1968: the dishonest appropriation of property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it.

Loss of control

A partial defence under s.54 Coroners and Justice Act 2009 which reduces murder to voluntary manslaughter where the defendant's loss of self-control had a qualifying trigger.

Malice aforethought

The mens rea for murder: an intention to kill or an intention to cause grievous bodily harm, whether direct or oblique.

Exchange of contracts

The point at which a contract for the sale of land becomes binding; the buyer usually pays a 10% deposit and completion follows on the agreed completion date.

Exclusive possession

The hallmark of a lease; where an occupier has exclusive possession for a term at a rent, the arrangement is generally a lease (Street v Mountford).

CPSE enquiries

Standard pre-contract enquiries of the seller used in conveyancing, covering title, boundaries, disputes, alterations, services and planning matters.

Banks v Goodfellow test

Testamentary capacity requires the testator to understand the nature of making a will, the extent of the estate, and the claims of those reasonably expected to benefit.

Statutory legacy

Under s.46 Administration of Estates Act 1925, the fixed sum (currently £322,000) plus interest that a surviving spouse or civil partner receives on intestacy where there are children.

Residence nil rate band

An additional inheritance tax allowance of up to £175,000 where a main residence passes to direct descendants, tapering away for estates valued over £2 million.

Client account

A bank or building society account, designated under the SRA Accounts Rules 2019, used to hold money belonging to clients rather than to the practice.

Costs received into client account

Money received for fees must be transferred from client account to business account within 14 days of a bill, and no later than five weeks after receipt.

Joint tenancy

Co-ownership without distinct shares, carrying the right of survivorship so that on death a joint tenant's interest passes to the remaining joint tenants rather than under the will.

Re Ellenborough Park criteria

The four characteristics of an easement: a dominant and servient tenement, diversity of ownership, benefit to the dominant land, and a right capable of forming the subject matter of a grant.

Three certainties

The requirements for a valid trust: certainty of intention to create it, certainty of the subject matter, and certainty of the objects or beneficiaries (Knight v Knight).

Milroy v Lord rule

Equity will not perfect an imperfect gift; the settlor must do everything necessary to constitute the trust, either by transferring the property or by declaring themselves a trustee.