Greville Healey and Philip Sissons consider the future for proprietary estoppel in commercial cases
The higher courts have had to grapple with the boundaries of the doctrines of proprietary estoppel and constructive trusts on a number of occasions in recent years. In particular, there have been important cases on the role these principles play in the case of joint ownership of property, generally in a family context, for example the recent House of Lords' decision in Stack v Dowden [2007] 2 AC 432, [2007] 2 All ER 929. The flexible potential of both proprietary estoppel and constructive trusts to provide a route to redress in cases of informal or otherwise inchoate agreements is well known. However, the possibility of establishing such a claim in the commercial context must now be considered in the light of the principles set out in the important decision of Yeoman's Row Management Ltd v Cobbe [2008] UKHL 55.
The facts of that case were as follows:
● The respondent, Mr Cobbe, entered into an agreement with the appellant company with the intention of realising the development value in the appellant's
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