Mind the gap! Payment of price and transfer of title

• Author: S.A.A. Cooper
• Position: Visiting Professor of Law at Stetson University Dr. Cooper, formerly of the Cayman Islands Law School, is presently Reader in Law, Oxford Brooks University, United Kingdom
• Pages: 31-41

MIND

THE

GAP!

PAYMENT

OF

PRICE

AND

TRANSFER

OF

TITLE

Precision

Developments

Ltd

v.

Jeanette

Caribbean

Company

Ltd

S.A.A.

COOPER

*

*

Dr

S.A.A.

Cooper,

Visiting

Professor

of

Law

at

Stetson

University

Dr.

Cooper,

formerly

of

the

Cayman

Islands

Law

School,

is

presently

Reader

in

Law,

Oxford

Brooks

University,

United

Kingdom.

The

author

would

like

to

record

his

gratitude

to

the

Faculty

at

Stetson

for

their

kind

assistance

with

research

facilities.

1

Modern

Privy

Council

appeals

from

the

Caribbean

alone

include

Workers

Trust

and

Merchant

Bank.

Ltd

v

Dojap

Investments

Ltd

[1993]

2

WLR

702;

Racoon

Ltd

v

Turnbull

[1997)

AC

158;

Ho

Young

v

Bess

[1995]

1

WLR

350;

British

American

Cattle

Co

Ltd

v

Caribe

Farm

Industries

Ltd

[1998]

1

WLR

1529;

Gardener

v

Lewis

[1998]

1

WLR

1535.

2

Precision

Developments

Ltd

v

Jeanette

Caribbean

Company

Ltd

(Unreported,

Supreme

Court

of

thae

Turks

and

Caicos

Islands,

Christopher

Gardner

QC,

Chief

Justice,

22

February,

2007).

The

common

law

does

not

stop

at

the

borders

of

England

but

pervades

the

former

colonies

and

the

remaining

overseas

territories.

It

is

not

at

all

rare

to

find

stimulating

conveyancing

judgments

from

the

colonies,

1

particularly

because

their

divergent

practices

may

require

a

consideration

of

basic

legal

principles

that

are

not

so

common

in

England

under

its

regime

of

standardized

professional

protocols.

The

decision

in

Precision

Developments

Ltd

v

Jeanette

Caribbean

Company

Ltd

2

raises

some

fundamentals

points

of

conveyancing

law

that

deserve

exploration

and

reflection.

As

often

occurs

in

decisions

from

smaller

jurisdictions,

the

absence

of

established

guidelines

from

legal

professional

associations

forced

a

consideration

of

the

foundational

legal

propositions

underpinning

everyday

conveyancing

practice.

In

a

substantial

judgment

relating

to

a

multi-million

dollar

resort

development,

the

Supreme

Court

of

the

Turks

and

Caicos

Islands

determined

whether

a

vendor

had

validly

withdrawn

from

a

contract

against

the

wishes

of

the

purchaser

who

sought

to

proceed

with

the

agreement

via

an

order

for

specific

performance.

While

dealing

with

various

specific

matters

concerning

the

interpretation

of

the

sale

contract,

the

decision

is

of

interest

because

of

comments

concerning

the

legal

requirements

of

the

purchasers

performance

(through

payment

of

the

purchase

price)

the

steps

required

of

conveyancing

lawyers

to

ensure