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Home > Law > Law glossary > Law glossary
Bona vacantia
Last modified: Thu Feb 23 16:37:37 2006
Ownerless goods. Under English law the general principle is that any property (of any
type, including land) that is
genuinely ownerless reverts to the Crown. In practice, the courts rarely determine property
to be ownerless, and a number of devices (such as a ResultingTrust) can be employed to
find an owner where otherwise there would be none. The problem of bona vacantia seems to
arise most commonly in the context of public fund-raising drives. If funds are raised
for a particular purpose, and there is a surplus of funds when the purpose is fulfilled, then
the surplus may be deemed ownerless. Although a resulting trust could (theoretically)
arise in favour of the contributors, such a trust would most likely be unworkable.
See, in particular, ReWestSussexConstabularyWidowsFund1971. However, in AirJamaicaVCharlton1999,
it was ruled (in line with West Sussex and perhaps out of line with the leading authority
of WestdeutscheVIslington1996) that a resulting trust would arise where the number of
contributors was small and readily ascertainable.
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