De Mattos v Gibson
| De Mattos v Gibson | |
|---|---|
| Citation(s) | (1858) 4 De G&J 276 |
| Keywords | |
| Licence | |
De Mattos v Gibson (1858) 4 De G&J 276 is an English case, concerning covenants over movable property.
Facts
In 1857 the plaintiff had chartered a ship (The Allerton) to carry coal from the Tyne to Suez. In the Channel it suffered damage and put in for repairs. Gibson, who held a mortgage over the ship granted in January 1858, paid for repairs and effectively took possession of the ship in October 1858 with a view to securing its return to Newcastle so that he could exercise his power of sale. The plaintiff applied for an injunction to restrain Gibson’s threatened action on the ground that it would be inconsistent with the performance of the charter-party of which Gibson had known when he had taken his mortgage.
Judgment
Knight Bruce LJ said the following.[1]
| “ | Reason and justice seem to prescribe that, at least as a general rule, where a man, by gift or purchase, acquires property from another, with knowledge of a previous contract, lawfully and for valuable consideration made by him with a third person, to use and employ the property for a particular purpose in a specified manner, the acquirer shall not, to the material damage of the third person, in opposition to the contract and inconsistently with it, use and employ the property in a manner not allowable to the giver or seller. This rule, applicable alike in general as I conceive to moveable and immoveable property, and recognised and adopted, as I apprehend, by the English law, may, like other general rules, be liable to exceptions arising from special circumstances; but I see at present no room for any exception in the instance before us. | ” |
See also
Notes
- ↑ (1858) 4 De G&J 276, 282