Three Rivers District Council v Governor and Company of the Bank of England (No. 3)
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 01 April 1996 |
| Date | 01 April 1996 |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division (Commercial Court) |
Commercial Court of the Queen's Bench Division
Before Mr Justice Clarke
Tort - misfeasance in public office - requirements
A plaintiff had a sufficient interest to maintain an action of misfeasance in public office at common law where it was established (i) that the defendant was a public officer who intended to injure him and knew he had no power to do what he did and that the plaintiff would probably suffer loss and (ii) that the plaintiff had suffered loss as a result of the wrongful act.
Mr Justice Clarke so stated on a preliminary issue in the Commercial Court of the Queen's Bench Division.
The plaintiffs, Three Rivers District Council and others, were certain named depositors in Bank of Credit and Commerce International SA (in liquidation). BCCI was named as plaintiff as the assignee of the claims of the plaintiff depositors against the Bank of England.
Three questions arose: (i) was the defendant capable of being liable to the plaintiffs for the tort of misfeasance in public office; (ii) were the plaintiffs' alleged losses capable of being caused in law by the acts or omissions of the defendant; (iii) were the plaintiffs entitled to recover for the tort of misfeasance in public office as existing depositors or potential depositors?
Sir Patrick Neill, QC, Mr David Vaughan, QC, Mr Dominic Dowley and Mr Robin Dicker for the plaintiffs; Mr Nicholas Stadlen, QC, Mr Paul Lasok, QC, Mr Michael Phillips, Mr Bankim Thanki and Mr Rhodri Thompson for the defendant.
MR JUSTICE CLARK was referred to a number of authorities in considering the scope of the tort of misfeasance in public office. On the requisite mental element see Bourgoin SA v Ministry of AgricultureELR ([1986] 1 QB 716).
That decision was not binding authority for the proposition that the tort might not be committed where the plaintiff could not prove that the public officer concerned knew his act was unlawful and that it would cause damage to the plaintiff. There were other lesser tests, although there was nothing in Bourgoin which suggested they were sufficient or might be. Assistance came from Jones v Swansea City CouncilWLR ([1990] 1 WLR 54, 71) which recognised there were two alternative ingredients or limbs to the tort, either an intent to injure another or knowledge of acting ultra vires, and Northern Territory v MengelUNK ((1995) 64 ALJR 527) which...
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