Dr Derek Whayman

This looks to be an important and very interesting event - a conference on 13 April 2026 at Selwyn College Cambridge organised by @julietbrook.bsky.social and Dr Derek Whayman to discuss the Wills Bill 2025 and the Law Commission's proposals for will reform.
research.reading.ac.uk/succession20...

I'll be presenting an updated version of "The ‘Social Contract’, Care and Inheritance in England and Hong Kong" (bit.ly/2lIfYDI) at a HKU Private Law workshop this evening, almost six years after I was first scheduled to do so.

The Estates, Trusts and Pensions Journal is holding a two-day conference at the Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia, to be held on February 19-20, 2026.
For full details and registration, please see: lnkd.in/gxDYaUvE

Hurrah! Hard copy of Private Law Remedies received!

Private Law Remedies ‘This book is one of the few to consider the important area of private law remedies as a coherent whole. Within its covers, the details of the law are expounded and there is a wealth of useful insight...

Sirko Harder and I have a new book, “Private Law Remedies” (published today by Edward Elgar Publishing) this time focusing on English law.

www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/pri...

A blog post by Dr Derek Whayman (@whaymandr.bsky.social) explaining the Supreme Court's recent motor finance rulings and the role his work and that of other academics played in assisting the court's understanding of the case. blogs.reading.ac.uk/law/2025/08/...

Early thoughts about the motor finance litigation: blogs.reading.ac.uk/law/2025/08/...

JUDGMENT: The Motor Finance Litigation On Friday August 1st 2025, the UK Supreme Court handed down judgment in Hopcraft v Close Brothers Ltd [2025] UKSC 33 (and conjoined cases). To some surprise, it overturned the Court of Appeal’s dec…

Early thoughts about the motor finance judgment: whaymand.wordpress.com/2025/08/06/j...

Very much looking forward to contributing to this lecture in Hong Kong in a few weeks: www.linkedin.com/posts/privla...

Registration: www.eventbrite.com/e/two-perspe...

Isaacs v Green (www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWH...): Successful claim by an adult child under the I(PFD)A 1975. Unusual in that all three 'children' were in their 70s and no longer capable of work. Potential for more cases like this with an ageing population?

In last week's motor finance judgment (www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKS...), the Supreme Court has cited the Dr Derek Whayman's (@whaymandr.bsky.social) work on the development of common law liability for bribes and secret commissions. Congratulations!

Me too... At least there's plenty to talk about!

The @transkribus.bsky.social "Egerton: English Secretary Hand" model is now public! app.transkribus.org/models/publi.... We have a website with sample transcriptions for different hands, information about our training conventions, and more: sites.northwestern.edu/egerton/

I'm inclined to agree but I would expect at least a little tightening of the requirements for disclosure. The three test cases had particularly abominable levels of disclosure and not all cases will be so bad.

Today's the day! I'm going to take a punt and say this judgment will be a unanimous ruling in favour of the respondents/customers. Big changes coming!

The 3rd edition of my book, 'A Practical Guide to the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954' is out now! www.lawbriefpublishing.com/product/lta1...

Really happy to get my copy of this excellent collection of essays, to which I contributed a chapter called ‘The Policy Behind Contract Damages: Beyond Voluntary Assumption of a Risk or Gap Filling’. Thanks to the excellent editors. www.bloomsbury.com/uk/politics-...

Appeal re Rahman v Hassan set to be heard on 23rd October 2025. Watch this space!

Close held company dissolved through neglect... Freehold land disclaimed by TSol... Escheated to Crown... Judge considers statutory powers to revest in the two shareholders inapplicable...! www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWH...

2025 Conference: Celebrating 100 Years of the 1925 Property Legislation

Registration is now open to attend the conference Celebrating 100 Years of the 1925 Property Legislation at Selwyn College, Cambridge on 8-9 September 2025.

The draft programme and booking link may be found on the conference webpage: www.landecon.cam.ac.uk/news/2025-co...

The Estates, Trusts and Pensions Journal (tinyurl.com/2dzptjf6), Canada's premier source of trusts and estates scholarship, is soliciting submissions. Interested authors should contact the editor in chief, Prof. David Freedman, at david.freedman@queensu.ca.

Over 400 pages to read, but it is here! The Law Commission's Report and Draft Wills Bill have been published. lawcom.gov.uk/project/wills/

'Trust' under AEA 1925, s 33 not a true trust: www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWC... (see also www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKP...). It therefore does not prevent adverse possession. Comment: The dangers of ambiguous language. It means non-trust fiduciary duties. Much clearer this way.

While we teach the ethical use of AI, we don't say enough about its limitations. It simply does not do many things very well. There is an overemphasis on embracing new technology without fairly criticising it. This bias will lead to more grave errors like these.
www.judiciary.uk/judgments/fr...

The Estates, Trusts and Pensions Journal is inviting paper proposals for a conference, to be held February 19-20, 2026 at the Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia. Please send a 500-word abstract to David Freedman, the editor-in-chief, at etpjconference@gmail.com, by July 1, 2025.

Enjoy land law? Want to hear me wax lyrical about how great Benjamin Cherry was, and how he drafted the LPA 1925 and its sibling statutes? There will be archives, intense political bargaining, and hot takes from Edwardian lawyers.

Cambridge 20 May (hybrid)

Oxford 27 May (in person)

PAST Early Modern Legal Records: Common Law Courts Come to The National Archives for this introduction to Early Modern legal records!

On 26 June 2025, I'm running a document workshop at The National Archives on researching with common law records (including assize records). More details and registration information can be found via the link. #TNAPAST www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/past-early...

A glimmer of light for (some) victims of 'sale and rent back' distressed property purchases. Where the 'sale and rent back' was in breach of FCA regs, the tenant/seller has continued equitable right to to void the sale against (some) subsequent purchasers of title. www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWH...

Pleased that 'Bare Trusts and Private Purpose Powers' is forthcoming in the Conveyancer: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

A clearer understanding of bare trusts & overreaching, reveals a problem re UAs & Quistclose trusts viz. how the powers overreach. I argue they do so as s32 powers of advancement