Open AccessUnderstanding Tracing Rules
Author(s) -
The Hon J Edelman
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
qut law review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2205-0507
pISSN - 2201-7275
DOI - 10.5204/qutlr.v16i2.672
Subject(s) - equity (law) , subrogation , supreme court , law , tracing , context (archaeology) , high court , political science , law and economics , sociology , history , computer science , archaeology , operating system
This year is the 200 th anniversary of one of the leading decisions concerning the law of tracing in equity. Celebrations have not been widely held. Two centuries after this decision, the rules of tracing in equity remain very difficult to understand and very difficult to justify. But they are of immense practical importance including to the law of trusts, claims based on fraud, and claims against remote recipients of property. This year, the United Kingdom Supreme Court has also returned to the topic in the context of a claim based on non-contractual subrogation. This article explains some of the persistent problems in the law of tracing and shows how to understand the operation of equitable tracing rules.