Prichard v Westminster Bank Ltd
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | THE MASTER OF THE ROLLS |
| Judgment Date | 12 February 1969 |
| Judgment citation (vLex) | [1969] EWCA Civ J0212-1 |
| Date | 12 February 1969 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
[1969] EWCA Civ J0212-1
The Master of the Rolls (Lord Donning),
Lord Justice Edmund Davies and
Lord Justice Phillimorz.
In The Supreme Court of Judicature
Court of Appeal
Appeal by defendants and judgment debtors from the order of the Exeter District Registrar on 9th January, 1969.
Mr. IAN MaCULLOCH (instructed by Messrs. Church Adams Tathatm & Co., agents for Mr. D.P. Eggar, Alton, Hants) appeared on behalf of Defendants and Judgment Debtors, Appellants.
Mr. A. WHITFIELD (instructed by Messrs. Ashford Penny & Harwood, Exeter) appeared on behalf of the Plaintiff and Judgment Creditor, Respondent.
Mr. KOSS (instructed by Messrs Bayliss Pearce & Co.) appeared on behalf of the Garnishees.
In March 1963 Captain Ivor Smith employed an architect to convert his farmhouse at Allshire Farm, East Anstey in Devon. He owed the architect a sum of £144. 16s. 0d. Nearly for years later he fell sick and died on the 25th January, 1967 not having paid the architect anything. It appeared as if he was well off. The gross value of his assets at the time he died was said to be £27,530, and his estate was in the hands of the Westminster Bank Ltd., as executors. But when the bank looked into the matter, they found there were not enough assets to pay off all the debts and the expenses. They managed by November 1968 to pay a dividend to the creditors of 15/- in the £, but they kept in hand a sum of £2,500 to meet some of the debts which had not been ascertained, such as capital gains tax, and also to meet administration expenses.
Mr. Prichard, the architect, was not content to receive a dividend. He decided to go against the bank for the full amount of his fees. On the 24th October, 1968, he issued a writ against the bank as executors for the sum of £144. 16s.0d. The bank did not enter an appearance. So he got Judgment. In November 1968 he received the dividend of 15/- in the £ He gave credit for it. That reduced the Judgment debt to £ 47. 12s, 3d. Then on the 18th December, 1968, Mr. Prichard, by his solicitor, obtained a garnishee order nisi against the executors' account at the bank. (This was against the bank as banker and not as executor.) On the 9th January, 1969 he asked for the garnishee order to be made absolute. The bank as executors submitted to the Registrar that as the estate was Insolvent, all the creditors should rank equally, and that Mr. Prichard should not get an advantage by garnisheeing the bank for the full amount. But, nevertheless, the Registrar held that Mr. Prichard could get this advantage. He made the order absolute.
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Infront Partners spa v Media Partners & Silva Ltd; Re Media Partners and Silva Ltd
...George Lee & Sons (Builders) Ltd v Olink [1972] WLR 216, where Russell LJ followed the decision in Prichard v Westminster Bank Ltd [1969] 1 WLR 547. The dicta of Prichard was essentially that where an estate is insolvent, regardless as to the provision which such insolvency comes under, an......
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Burston Finance Ltd v Godfrey
...and that also isnot disputed". 39 That principle, as a general principle, is affirmed by dicta in other cases two of which, Pritchard v. Westminster Bank Ltd. (1969) 1 Weekly Law Reports 547, pay Lord Denning, Master of the Rolls, at page 549, and George Lee & Sons (Builders) Ltd. v. Olink ......
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Insolvency Law
...an equitable remedy and will not be given if its effect will be to prefer one creditor over another (Pritchard v Westminster Bank, Ltd[1969] 1 All ER 999). 14.10 However, useful guidance may be obtained from cases dealing with the exercise of the court”s discretion to allow a judgment credi......