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International aspects of capacity and authority: a need for reappraisal of Haugesund v Depfa?

13 June 2024 / Author(s): Andrew Fulton KC
Issue: July-August 2021 / Categories: Feature

The effect upon private law contractual rights of public law illegality has long been a source of confusion and controversy, particularly in the context of disputes between banks and public bodies over complex derivatives. The issue divided the Court of Appeal in Credit Suisse v Allerdale [1997] QB 306 and although the view of Hobhouse LJ in that case has been endorsed in Charles Terence Estates Ltd v Cornwall Council [2012] EWCA Civ 1439, this was only obiter. Foxton J in School Facility Management Ltd v Governors of Body of Christ the King [2020] EWHC 1118 (Comm) has now decided how far public law illegality can provide a defence of incapacity but his logic when applied to a foreign entity is more consistent with Etherton LJ’s dissent in Haugesund v Depfa [2010] EWCA Civ 579 than with the majority decision.

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