Snippets from The Reduced Law Dictionary, by Roderick Ramage
Bona vacantia
Bona vacantia are ownerless goods or goods, whether real or personal property, with no known owner, typically gifts that fail and cannot be distributed under an intestacy or trust or the undistributed assets of a dissolved company or unincorporated body. The goods vest the Crown, the Duchy of Lancaster or the Duke of Cornwall. Only in the case of intestacy is there a statutory power to make ex gratia grants: Administration of Estates Act 1925, s46. In other cases of bona vacantia grants may be made under common law. Claims are dealt with by the Government Legal Department, Bona Vacantia Division.
Quistclose trusts
Rolls Razor had exceeded its overdraft limit, so borrowed money from Quistclose and paid it to Barclays to be used only for the payment of a dividend. RR went into liquidation before the dividend was paid, and Barclays set off the credit against the overdraft. In Barclays v Quistclose (1968), the HL held: the money was provided on trust for RR to pay a dividend and not for RR’s own use, there
