English to Russian Law/Patents Law (general) покупка доверительной собственности

HOLDER v. HOLDER
Court of Appeal [1968] Ch. 353; [1968] 2 W.L.R. 237; [1968] 1 All E.R. 665
The plaintiff beneficiary sought to rescind the sale of trust property to the third defendant in circumstances sufficiently appearing below.
Harman L.F.: “The cross-appeal raises far more difficult questions, and they are broadly three. First, whether the actions of the third defendant before probate made his renunciation ineffective. Second, whether on that footing he was disentitled from bidding at the sale. Third, whether the plaintiff is disentitled from taking this point because of his acquiescence.
“It was admitted at the Bar in the court below that the acts of the third defendant were enough to constitute intermeddling with the estate and that his renunciation was ineffective. On this footing he remained a personal representative even after probate had been granted to his co-executors and could have been obliged by a creditor or a beneficiary to re-assume the duties of an executor. The judge decided in favour of the plaintiff on this point because the third defendant at the time of the sale was himself still in a fiduciary position and, like any other trustee, could not purchase the trust property. I feel the force of this argument, but doubt its validity in the very special circumstances of this case. The reason for rule is that a man may be not both vendor and purchaser; but the third defendant was never in that position here. He took no part in instructing the valuer who fixed the reserves or in the preparations for the auction. Everyone in the family knew that he was not a seller but a buyer. In this case the third defendant was never assumed the duties of an executor. It is true that he concurred in signing a few cheques for trivial sums and endorsing a few insurance policies, but he never so far as appears interfered in any way with the administration of the estate. It is true he managed the farms, but he did that as tenant and not as executor. He acquired no special knowledge as executor.