Don King Productions Inc. v Warren

JurisdictionEngland & Wales
Judgment Date27 March 1998
Date27 March 1998
CourtChancery Division

Chancery Division

Before Mr Justice Lightman

Don King Productions Inc
and
Warren and Others

Equity - contracts to be assigned to partnership - incapable of performance at law - equity will give effect to agreement

Equity will recognise agreement

A partnership agreement providing that all contracts to which each partner was party be assigned to the partnership, which was incapable of performance at law because the contracts in question, being contracts for personal services and containing provisions expressly forbidding assignment, were non-assignable, could nevertheless be given effect in equity as a declaration of trust of those contracts, provided that there was no express provision in the contracts also prohibiting such declaration of trust.

The partner who was party to such a contract accordingly held the benefit of that contract as trustee for the benefit of the partnership absolutely, and both the contract and the fruits of the contract formed part of the partnership assets.

Mr Justice Lightman so held in a reserved judgment in the Chancery Division, in determining a number of preliminary issues relating to an action between the plaintiff, Don King Productions Inc and the defendants, Mr Frank Warren, Mr Christopher Roberts, Centurion Promotions Ltd, Sports Network USA Inc and Time Warner Entertainment Company LP, arising out of successive partnership agreements entered into by, inter alia, Mr King and Mr Warren, which, inter alia, purported to provide for the assignment to the partnership by Mr Warren and his company Sports Network Ltd the full benefit and burden of all existing boxing promotion, management and associated agreements to which he was a party.

The preliminary issues included the question of the effect of a purported assignment of, or agreement to assign, for valuable consideration, a non-assignable chose in action.

Mr Michael Briggs QC, Mr Nicholas Le Poidevin and Mr Douglas Close for the plaintiff; Mr Jonathan Sumption, QC, Mr Charles Hollander, Mr Antony Zacaroli and Mr Andrew Thomas for the first, second, third and fourth defendants; Mr Kenneth MacLean for the fifth defendant.

MR JUSTICE LIGHTMAN said that as a matter of general principle, it was quite clear that a trust might exist of a contract, and that might extend, not merely to the benefit of the rights conferred, but also the benefit of being a contracting party.

The question arose whether a purported assignment for valuable consideration, ineffective as an...

To continue reading

Request your trial
14 cases
  • Clarke v Colorman (Ireland) Ltd
    • Ireland
    • High Court
    • 11 July 2019
    ...arising as to who should be appointed as expert to resolve that dispute. As Lightman J. said in Don King Productions v. Warren [1998] 2 All Er 608 at p. 624 (in a passage cited by the authors of McDermott ‘ Contract Law’, 2nd ed., 2017, at para. 10.118);- ‘The essential task of constructio......
  • Australian Olympic Committee Inc. v the Big Fights Inc.
    • Australia
    • Federal Court
    • Invalid date
  • Associated Alloys Pty Ltd v Acn 001 452 106 Pty Ltd (The Associated Alloys Case)
    • Australia
    • High Court
    • 11 May 2000
    ...the consequences of breach of such a provision, see Devefi Pty Ltd v Mateffy Pearl Nagy Pty Ltd (1993) 113 ALR 225 at 234–237; Don King Productions Inc v Warren [1998] RPC 817 at 827–828; [1998] 2 All ER 608 at 632–633; affd [1999] 3 WLR 276 at 314–316; [1999] 2 All ER 218 at 233–234. 18......
  • Don King Productions Inc. v Warren
    • United Kingdom
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 21 December 1998
  • Request a trial to view additional results
1 books & journal articles
  • A Subaltern Theory of Equity
    • United Kingdom
    • African Journal of International and Comparative Law No. , February 2016
    • 1 February 2016
    ...the subject matter of trusts. An interesting illustration of this point is the recent case of Don King Productions Inc. v Warren.7272[1998] 2 All ER 608. In this case, the Court of Appeal affirmed the decision of the High Court that contracts which were expressed to be non-assignable consti......

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT