Harrison (W F) & Company Ltd v Burke
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | LORD JUSTICE DENNING,LORD JUSTICE PARKER |
| Judgment Date | 15 March 1956 |
| Judgment citation (vLex) | [1956] EWCA Civ J0315-4 |
| Court | Court of Appeal |
| Date | 15 March 1956 |
[1956] EWCA Civ J0315-4
Lord Justice Denning
Lord Justice Morris and
Lord Justice Parker
In The Supreme Court of Judicature.
Court of Appeal
Mr. WILLIAM MORGAN (instructed by Messrs. Goldrein & Co., Liverpool) appeared on behalf of the Appellants, Plaintiffs.
The Respondent, Mrs. Burke, did not appear and was not represented.
Mrs. Burke carries on a convectioner's business in Wigan, and she arranged with dealers called Harrisons to suply her with a refrigerated counter. She could not pay the money down. So it was arranged on hire purchase terms. The hire purchase company was the Woodcock Hire Purchase Company. In the result, Woodcooks let to her a refrigerated counter on a payment of £30 down and 24 instalments of £8. 9s.6d. a month until a total of £233. 8s.0d. would be paid; and her husband guaranteed the payments. The first £30 was paid, but no more, because there was a dispute as to the quality of article. Nothing now turns on that. That hire purchase agreement was dated the 19th August, 1954. By an assignment of the 7th December, 1954, the Woodcock Company purported to assign to the Harrison Company "All those the several debts or sums of money now legally due and owing to 'to the Vendor'" – that was to the Woodcock Company – "by the persons whose names and addresses and amounts of their respective debts are set forth in the Schedule hereunder written"; and in the schedule was put the names of Mr. and Mrs. Burke, and the amount £203. 8s.0d. That is the date of the assignment. The date when it was executed, as appears from the document, was the 7th December. 1954. But apparently the day before that, on the 6th December, 1954, a letter, purporting to be a notice of assignment, was drawn up by Harrisons, dated that 6th December, 1954, and addressed to "Mrs. A.V. Burke." "Dear Madam, We hereby give you notice that by an indenture dated December 6th 1954 th edebt a mounting to £203. 8s.0d. owing by you to Woodcock Hire Purchase Company of Woodcock Street; Wigan, has been assigned to us absolutely and the debt is now due and owing to us. Also take notice that if you pay the amount or any part thereof, to any person other than ourselves or our authorised agent after receipt of this notice, you will still be liable to us for the amount. Yours faithfully, for W.F. Harrison & Co., Limited." That letter was not despatched to Mrs. Burke on the 6th December. It was sent by Harrisons to their solicitors,who sent if off to her on the 8th December, and it reached bar on the 9th December.
The whole question in this case, as it comes before us, is whether that is a valid notice of assignment such as to transfer to Harrisons the legal right to due for the debt, I ought to point out at once that the sun owing at that date of the 7th December, 1954. was not £203. 8s.0d, as stated in the assignment, but only the instalments which had then accrued due - £33. 18s.0d., and so the notice of assignment did not give the right figure for the debt. Further,...
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Van Lynn Developments Ltd v Pelias Construction Company Ltd (formerly Jason Construction Company Ltd)
...Ltd, ( (1899) 68 Law Journal, Q.B., N.S. 839) which was accepted and applied by this Court in ( W. F. Harrison & Co. Ltd v. Burke 1956 2 A.E.R, 169), Those cases show that, if a notice of assignment purports to identify the assignment by giving the date of the assignment - and that date Is ......
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Ian George Nicoll v Promontoria (Ram 2) Ltd
...conclusively that Mr Nicoll has no legitimate interest in the terms of the assignment. Mr Darbyshire relied on W F Harrison v Burke [1956] 1 WLR 419 in support of his submission that the conditions for assignment were not fulfilled. He submitted that that case held that a notice of assignm......
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Promontoria (Oak) Ltd v Nicholas Michael Emanuel
...for the Henrico Assignment executed on 5 June 2015 to effect a legal assignment on 4 June 2015. Mr Pugh referred to Harrison v Burke [1956] 1 WLR 419 at 421 per Morris LJ for the proposition that it was not possible for a notice given on 6 December of a purported assignment on that day to ......
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Dry Bulk Handy Holding Inc. (a company incorporated in Panama) & Compania Sud Americana de Vapores SA v Fayette International Holdings Ltd (a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands) & Metinvest International SA
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The impact of the Personal Property Securities Act on assignments of accounts.
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