Midleton (Earl) v Cottesloe (Baron)
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Lord Simonds,Lord du Parcq,Lord Normand,Lord Morton of Henryton |
| Judgment Date | 08 April 1949 |
| Judgment citation (vLex) | [1949] UKHL J0408-3 |
| Court | House of Lords |
[1949] UKHL J0408-3
House of Lords
Lord Simonds
Lord du Parcq
Lord Normand
Lord Morton of Henryton
Lord Reid
Upon Report from the Appellate Committee, to whom was referred the Cause Earl of Midleton against Lord Cottesloe and others, that the Committee had heard Counsel for the Appellant as well on Monday the 21st, as on Tuesday the 22d days of February last, upon the Petition and Appeal of the Right Honourable George St. John Earl of Midleton, of Chesham House, Chesham Place, in the County of London, praying, That the matter of the Order set forth in the Schedule thereto, namely, an Order of His Majesty's Court of Appeal of the 10th of June 1947, might be reviewed before His Majesty the King, in His Court of Parliament, and that the said Order might be reversed, varied or altered, and that the Petitioner might have the relief prayed for in the Appeal, or such other relief in the premises as to His Majesty the King, in His Court of Parliament, might seem meet; as also upon the printed Case of His Majesty's Attorney-General, lodged in answer to the said Appeal (in which said Appeal the Right Honourable Thomas Francis Baron Cottesloe and Sir Henry Charles Loyd called as Respondents, were stated in the case of the said Respondent His Majesty's Attorney-General to be the Trustees of the Settlement for the purposes of the Settled Land Acts, 1882 to 1890, of the Irish estates of the said Appellant, and did not lodge a separate printed Case in answer thereto): and due consideration being had this day of what was offered for the said Appellant:
It is Ordered and Adjudged, by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in the Court of Parliament of His Majesty the King assembled, That the said Order of His Majesty's Court of Appeal, of the 10th day of June 1947, complained of in the said Appeal, be, and the same is hereby, Affirmed, and that the said Petition and Appeal be, and the same is hereby, dismissed this House: And it is further Ordered, That the Appellant do pay, or cause to be paid, to the Respondents the Costs incurred by them in respect of the said Appeal, the amount thereof to be certified by the Clerk of the Parliaments.
My Lords,
This appeal raises a question which is said to be of general importance and to affect other cases than that which your Lordships have to consider. It concerns the right of the Crown to levy estate duty upon English investments which represent the proceeds of sale of Irish land settled by an admittedly Irish Settlement. This right which has been established by the decision of Roxburgh J. and the Court of Appeal is challenged on this appeal.
The relevant facts are simple and not in dispute.
By an Indenture dated the 15th May, 1909, and made between the late Earl of Midleton of the first part, the Appellant, the present Earl of Midleton, of the second part, The Right Honourable Madeleine Cecilia Carlyle Viscountess Midleton of the third part, and The Honourable Arthur Grenville Brodrick and The Honourable Thomas Francis Fremantle (now Lord Cottesloe) of the fourth part certain mansion houses and lands at Midleton in the County of Cork and other lands and hereditaments in that part of Ireland which is now known as Eire over which the late Earl of Midleton and the Appellant had a general power of appointment were appointed and settled to the use of the Trustees thereof for a term of 1,500 years upon trust to raise a certain capital sum (which does not affect the investments now in question) and subject thereto upon trust that the said Trustees might during the joint lives of the late Earl and the Appellant receive a rentcharge of the amount (in an event which happened before the death of the late Earl) of £700 per annum upon trusts thereby declared for the benefit of the Appellant and subject thereto to the use of the late Earl during his life with remainder (subject to certain family charges) to uses under which the Appellant is now tenant for life in possession (such life estate being determinable in the events therein mentioned) with remainders over.
The Respondents, The Right Honourable Thomas Francis Baron Cottesloe and Sir Henry Charles Loyd, are the present Trustees of the Settlement for the purposes of the Settled Land Acts, 1882-1890, having been appointed by a deed dated 1st November, 1935.
Since the date of the Settlement and in the lifetime of the late Earl various sales of lands comprised in the Settlement were effected both under the Settled Land Acts, 1882-1890, and under the Irish Land Purchase Acts.
Parts of the proceeds of such sales were invested by the Trustees of the Settlement in the purchase in their names of inscribed or registered stocks or shares transferable in the books of the Bank of England or on registers kept in England. They were of an approximate value of £90,000.
The late Earl died on the 13th February, 1942, domiciled in England. The Appellant was also then and still is domiciled in England.
On the death of the late Earl a conflict of opinion arose between the Revenue Authorities of England and Eire respectively. The English Authorities claimed Estate Duty on the investments as being property situate in England...
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