What is it about?

Courts will sometimes make fiduciaries (trustees, solicitors and people in a position of trust or loyalty) give back bribes made wrongfully. Sometimes they will even make the fiduciary give back property bought with the bribe money. The basis for making someone give up property purchased with bribe money is not clear. It is suggested here that the basis is distributive justice - the person who deserves the property most is the person who had the duty of trust or loyalty owed to them.

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Why is it important?

This publication is important because it may affect what happens to property when a wrongdoer becomes insolvent. It suggests that the rules are not hard and fast, and that the approach of courts should be discretionary, depending upon the the circumstances of the case. Needs, desert and equality are all factors that should guide the court. This is contrary to recent English cases, which have either suggested that property purchased with bribes should never be available, or that it should always be available.

Perspectives

I undertook the research for this paper while on the Melbourne-Oxford Faculty Exchange at Brasenose College in 2013. I hope that it will be of interest to people who feel passionate about stopping bribery, but like a more considered approach.

Dr Katy E Barnett
University of Melbourne

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Distributive justice and proprietary remedies over bribes, Legal Studies, June 2015, Cambridge University Press,
DOI: 10.1111/lest.12062.
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