Barnes v Addy

Barnes v Addy
Barnes v Addy
Court	Court of Appeal in Chancery
Decided	12 February 1874
Citation(s)	(1870) B 92; (1874) LR 9 Ch App 244
Court membership
Judge(s) sitting	Lord Selborne LC, Sir W M James LJ, Sir G Mellish LJ
Case opinions
	Lord Selborne LC
Keywords
	Breach of trust, accessory liability, knowing receipt, knowing assistance

Barnes v Addy (1874) LR 9 Ch App 244^[1] was a decision of the Court of Appeal in Chancery. It established that, in English trusts law, third parties could be liable for a breach of trust in two circumstances, referred to as the two 'limbs' of Barnes v Addy: knowing receipt and knowing assistance.^[2]

Although the decision remains historically significant in common law countries, the House of Lords significantly revised the relevant equitable principles in cases such as Royal Brunei Airlines v Tan (1995) and Dubai Aluminium Co Ltd v Salaam (2002).

^ ^a ^b The year is sometimes given as 1873–74 as both years are covered in this volume of the Chancery Appeal Cases, but this citation is used in later volumes of the Law Reports: Royal Brunei Airlines v Tan [1995] 2 AC 378, 382.
^ Royal Brunei Airlines v Tan [1995] 2 AC 378, 382.