SICCL is pleased to host Dr Magda Raczynska, Associate Professor at UCL. Magda will be presenting a talk on her paper 'Contractual Creation of Equitable Interests' . 

Date of event: Wednesday 6 March 2024

Event time: 12 to 1.15 pm

Speaker: Magda Raczynska (UCL)

Event Location: Hybrid

• Online - Joining links will be sent to visitors the day before the event. 
• On campus - Arts Tower, LT02, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN

This paper develops a new analysis of how contracts create consensual equitable interests. It is argued that where parties agree for valuable consideration to assign or charge a subject matter, an assignment or a charge arise not because an order for specific performance is available or ‘equity sees as done what ought to be done’, but rather because the contract evinces a party’s irrevocable intention to confer a benefit on another (wholly or in part) to an identifiable subject matter. This analysis has certain practical and conceptual implications. At a practical level, it leads to the identification of the factors that the courts should take into account when distinguishing between contracts creating equitable interests and mere agreements, which is helpful when dealing with contracts relating to expectant interests or conditional contracts. Conceptually, it suggests that the true basis for the creation of consensual equitable interests is a person’s freedom to dispose of one’s assets, which is coextensive with, but different from, the freedom of contract.