
“Equity will not permit a statute to be an instrument of fraud” is no mere mantra, and the law of secret trusts and the law of constructive trusts in all its manifestations are just two examples of the many ways in which the tension can be resolved.


huntingross wrote:An excellent first post girlgye.
You're not surprised that we fucked up because you would have done it better
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In former times, the King of England possessed, besides private property, the right to receive for his own use duties of excise, and what are styled in the Hereditary Revenues Act, Casual Revenues, including, among other things, droits or rights of Admiralty, droits of the Crown, West India duties, and surplus revenues of British Possessions abroad; but latterly it has been the custom, at the commencement of every reign, to make an agreement with the new Sovereign, that all these revenues shall be collected by departments of the State, and paid into the National Exchequer or Consolidated Fund; and that the Sovereign should receive out of the Consolidated Fund a fixed sum yearly to meet the expenses of the Royal Household as distinguished from the expenses of public Government. This sum is called the Civil List. At the commencement of the reign of Queen Victoria, the Civil List, settled upon Her Majesty, amounted to £385,000 per year. Of this, £60,000 was to go to Her Majesty’s Privy, or private Purse; £131,260 for the salaries of Her Majesty’s Household and Retired Allowances; £172,500 for the expenses of Her Majesty’s household; £18,200 for the Royal Bounty, Choirs and Special Services; and £8,040 for other purposes not specified by the Act, except that Her Majesty was empowered by it to grant pensions out of this £8,040, amounting altogether to £1,200 per annum, to persons who had distinguished themselves in some way to the advantage of the country without enriching themselves. These pensions usually amount to £100 each. The Sovereign, however, does not sacrifice any of his rights of citizenship by this arrangement. We may state, as a general principle, that the Sovereign can hold private property by inheritance or purchase in the same manner and to the same extent as any subject, and, as a matter of fact, does hold property as a private person. This is as it should be, for while it is only right the Sovereign should not appropriate taxes and duties which are levied for the benefit of the country at large neither should he forfeit any of he rights which his meanest subjects possess.

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