Alec Morris
@alecmorris1.bsky.social
Lecturer, University of Buckingham; PhD cand., Portsmouth Uni. Interested in private law - esp trusts and unincorporated associations.
SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=3770165
SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=3770165
Pinned
Alec Morris
@alecmorris1.bsky.social
· Jan 10
Great to see more property lawyers recently join BlueSky. Thought I would create a starter pack to help others save a bit of time:
go.bsky.app/Det29Jz
go.bsky.app/Det29Jz
Dame Professor Sarah Worthington, The Paradoxes of Property Lecture no 2
youtube.com/watch?v=OMAn...
youtube.com/watch?v=OMAn...
The Paradoxes of Property: What do we Own and What can we Own?: Hamlyn Lectures 2025, Lecture 2
YouTube video by Cambridge Law Faculty
youtube.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Dame Professor Sarah Worthington, The Paradoxes of Property Lecture no 2
youtube.com/watch?v=OMAn...
youtube.com/watch?v=OMAn...
Reposted by Alec Morris
Proofs proofs proofs proofs! Produced at high speed to get in there between the Court of Appeal judgment and the UKSC hearing in NIOC v Crescent Gas, my article on the drafting history of s53(1)(b) of the LPA 1925 will be out in the Conveyancer shortly.
November 22, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Proofs proofs proofs proofs! Produced at high speed to get in there between the Court of Appeal judgment and the UKSC hearing in NIOC v Crescent Gas, my article on the drafting history of s53(1)(b) of the LPA 1925 will be out in the Conveyancer shortly.
Reposted by Alec Morris
📢 Commonhold: The Future of Flat Ownership
Join our expert panel for an evening event in which landmark developments to flat ownership will be explored.
📅 9 December 2025
⏰ 6pm
🏛️ UCL Laws
🔗 Book for free www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/events/...
Join our expert panel for an evening event in which landmark developments to flat ownership will be explored.
📅 9 December 2025
⏰ 6pm
🏛️ UCL Laws
🔗 Book for free www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/events/...
November 4, 2025 at 1:15 PM
📢 Commonhold: The Future of Flat Ownership
Join our expert panel for an evening event in which landmark developments to flat ownership will be explored.
📅 9 December 2025
⏰ 6pm
🏛️ UCL Laws
🔗 Book for free www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/events/...
Join our expert panel for an evening event in which landmark developments to flat ownership will be explored.
📅 9 December 2025
⏰ 6pm
🏛️ UCL Laws
🔗 Book for free www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/events/...
Reposted by Alec Morris
A deep-dive into the fictional will and murder-for-inheritance scenario in Taylor Swift's Anti-Hero through the lens of English law — private purpose trusts, certainties, perpetuities, forfeiture, butterfly lifespans, cat pictures, and capricious pet bequests.
equitysdarling.co.uk/2025/10/23/s...
equitysdarling.co.uk/2025/10/23/s...
She Who Laughs Last? Pets, Perpetuities, and Other Problems with the Last Will and Testament of Taylor A. Swift - Equity's Darling
A legal analysis of Taylor Swift’s fictional will from Anti-Hero, exploring pets, perpetuities, probate pitfalls and the perils of home-drafted wills under English law.
equitysdarling.co.uk
October 25, 2025 at 7:43 AM
A deep-dive into the fictional will and murder-for-inheritance scenario in Taylor Swift's Anti-Hero through the lens of English law — private purpose trusts, certainties, perpetuities, forfeiture, butterfly lifespans, cat pictures, and capricious pet bequests.
equitysdarling.co.uk/2025/10/23/s...
equitysdarling.co.uk/2025/10/23/s...
Reposted by Alec Morris
Deadline extended to 1 Nov.
Please share with UGs interested in #legalhistory or #womeninlaw. Don't have to be studying legal history, topic is open.
Chance to connect with Selden's Sister, who also run PG mentoring scheme.
£100 in Hart Publishing vouches up for grabs!
Please share with UGs interested in #legalhistory or #womeninlaw. Don't have to be studying legal history, topic is open.
Chance to connect with Selden's Sister, who also run PG mentoring scheme.
£100 in Hart Publishing vouches up for grabs!
Selden's Sister has launched an essay competition for undergraduates interested in legal history.
£100 @hartpublishing.bsky.social vouchers up for grabs, as well as an invitation to receive your prize at our annual lecture - this year at the University of Nottingham. #legalhistory
£100 @hartpublishing.bsky.social vouchers up for grabs, as well as an invitation to receive your prize at our annual lecture - this year at the University of Nottingham. #legalhistory
October 20, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Deadline extended to 1 Nov.
Please share with UGs interested in #legalhistory or #womeninlaw. Don't have to be studying legal history, topic is open.
Chance to connect with Selden's Sister, who also run PG mentoring scheme.
£100 in Hart Publishing vouches up for grabs!
Please share with UGs interested in #legalhistory or #womeninlaw. Don't have to be studying legal history, topic is open.
Chance to connect with Selden's Sister, who also run PG mentoring scheme.
£100 in Hart Publishing vouches up for grabs!
Reposted by Alec Morris
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...
research.reading.ac.uk/succession20...
The Law of Succession and the Wills Bill - The Law of Succession and the Wills Bill
A one day conference to discuss the Wills Bill 2025 and related matters. At Selwyn College, Cambridge, 13 April 2026
research.reading.ac.uk
October 10, 2025 at 9:51 AM
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...
research.reading.ac.uk/succession20...
Reposted by Alec Morris
September 30, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Reposted by Alec Morris
Happy Friday! Bluesky can't tell from my face that I am over the age of 18 so I cannot access DMs.
New blog post recalling the height of social distancing and back garden will-witnessing, as Covid era wills start to blossom into contentious probate challenges: equitysdarling.co.uk/2025/09/26/n...
New blog post recalling the height of social distancing and back garden will-witnessing, as Covid era wills start to blossom into contentious probate challenges: equitysdarling.co.uk/2025/09/26/n...
No line of sight: due execution and presence In the Estate of Kathleen Coady - Equity's Darling
Coady v Coady: Covid-era “garden signing” fails s.9 Wills Act 1837. The presumption of due execution, and why the Will was invalid.
equitysdarling.co.uk
September 26, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Happy Friday! Bluesky can't tell from my face that I am over the age of 18 so I cannot access DMs.
New blog post recalling the height of social distancing and back garden will-witnessing, as Covid era wills start to blossom into contentious probate challenges: equitysdarling.co.uk/2025/09/26/n...
New blog post recalling the height of social distancing and back garden will-witnessing, as Covid era wills start to blossom into contentious probate challenges: equitysdarling.co.uk/2025/09/26/n...
Reposted by Alec Morris
Anyone interested in issues of deaths of people who are homeless or precariously housed, and the ways in which institutions change (using a framework of discursive institutionalism), come along (in person) on Thursday 2 October at 17:15 to my Centre for Death and Society public lecture in Bath.
September 26, 2025 at 7:58 AM
Anyone interested in issues of deaths of people who are homeless or precariously housed, and the ways in which institutions change (using a framework of discursive institutionalism), come along (in person) on Thursday 2 October at 17:15 to my Centre for Death and Society public lecture in Bath.
Reposted by Alec Morris
We are delighted to invite you to join a distinguished conversation between Professor John Lowry & Lady Arden of Heswall as they discuss Lady Arden's transformative influence on company law
When: 15 October 2025, 6-7pm
Where: hybrid
Register here: www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/events/...
@laws.ucl.ac.uk
When: 15 October 2025, 6-7pm
Where: hybrid
Register here: www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/events/...
@laws.ucl.ac.uk
Hybrid | In conversation with Lady Arden of Heswall, DBE
This event is organised by the UCL Centre for Ethics & Law
www.ucl.ac.uk
September 16, 2025 at 1:41 PM
We are delighted to invite you to join a distinguished conversation between Professor John Lowry & Lady Arden of Heswall as they discuss Lady Arden's transformative influence on company law
When: 15 October 2025, 6-7pm
Where: hybrid
Register here: www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/events/...
@laws.ucl.ac.uk
When: 15 October 2025, 6-7pm
Where: hybrid
Register here: www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/events/...
@laws.ucl.ac.uk
Reposted by Alec Morris
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
For full details and registration, please see: lnkd.in/gxDYaUvE
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
lnkd.in
August 27, 2025 at 6:11 PM
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
For full details and registration, please see: lnkd.in/gxDYaUvE
Great to finally receive the physical copy! (2025) 89(2) Conv. 178
August 13, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Great to finally receive the physical copy! (2025) 89(2) Conv. 178
Reposted by Alec Morris
We still have funding available for travel and accom for PG students attending this conference. Includes those just finished (2024/5) or are about to start (2025/6) a course of study, and Bar course as well as uni.
Get in touch ASAP via email if you would like to apply.
Get in touch ASAP via email if you would like to apply.
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 draft programme and booking link may be found on the conference webpage: www.landecon.cam.ac.uk/news/2025-co...
2025 Conference: Celebrating 100 Years of the 1925 Property Legislation
www.landecon.cam.ac.uk
August 10, 2025 at 9:42 AM
We still have funding available for travel and accom for PG students attending this conference. Includes those just finished (2024/5) or are about to start (2025/6) a course of study, and Bar course as well as uni.
Get in touch ASAP via email if you would like to apply.
Get in touch ASAP via email if you would like to apply.
Reposted by Alec Morris
Just announced: the UK's most famous libel firm, Carter-Ruck, is being prosecuted before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal for recklessly enabling a $4bn fraud
It's astonishing how reckless Carter-Ruck was - likely causing $$$ more to be lost to fraudsters
The full story:
It's astonishing how reckless Carter-Ruck was - likely causing $$$ more to be lost to fraudsters
The full story:
August 6, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Just announced: the UK's most famous libel firm, Carter-Ruck, is being prosecuted before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal for recklessly enabling a $4bn fraud
It's astonishing how reckless Carter-Ruck was - likely causing $$$ more to be lost to fraudsters
The full story:
It's astonishing how reckless Carter-Ruck was - likely causing $$$ more to be lost to fraudsters
The full story:
Charles Claire LLP v Woolgar [2025] EWHC 1802 (Ch): commercial rep found liable for damages re deceit and for breach of Quistclose trust.
Note judge labels Quistclose trust 'Express Purpose Trust' but also agrees with/applies Lord Millett's resulting trust analysis..
www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWH...
Note judge labels Quistclose trust 'Express Purpose Trust' but also agrees with/applies Lord Millett's resulting trust analysis..
www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWH...
August 1, 2025 at 9:17 AM
Charles Claire LLP v Woolgar [2025] EWHC 1802 (Ch): commercial rep found liable for damages re deceit and for breach of Quistclose trust.
Note judge labels Quistclose trust 'Express Purpose Trust' but also agrees with/applies Lord Millett's resulting trust analysis..
www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWH...
Note judge labels Quistclose trust 'Express Purpose Trust' but also agrees with/applies Lord Millett's resulting trust analysis..
www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWH...
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 Supreme Court will hand down its decision at 1635 on Friday after the stockmarket in London has closed. Rare if not unique timing instead of normal 0945. Whichever way it goes it will be huge for the banks involved bit.ly/4kXZVsY
August 1, 2025 at 6:43 AM
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!
Reposted by Alec Morris
The Supreme Court will hand down its decision at 1635 on Friday after the stockmarket in London has closed. Rare if not unique timing instead of normal 0945. Whichever way it goes it will be huge for the banks involved bit.ly/4kXZVsY
July 28, 2025 at 8:39 AM
The Supreme Court will hand down its decision at 1635 on Friday after the stockmarket in London has closed. Rare if not unique timing instead of normal 0945. Whichever way it goes it will be huge for the banks involved bit.ly/4kXZVsY
Reposted by Alec Morris
It is important to understand what this case is about, so as to follow why retrospective legislation letting the lenders off the hook is such a bad idea.
Part of the responsibility for this farce lies with the UK state.
/1
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Part of the responsibility for this farce lies with the UK state.
/1
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Rachel Reeves mulls stepping in to save car loan providers billions
Exclusive: Chancellor could overrule supreme court if it upholds entirety of ruling over commission paid to brokers
www.theguardian.com
July 25, 2025 at 7:28 AM
It is important to understand what this case is about, so as to follow why retrospective legislation letting the lenders off the hook is such a bad idea.
Part of the responsibility for this farce lies with the UK state.
/1
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Part of the responsibility for this farce lies with the UK state.
/1
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Marcus v Marcus [2025] EWHC 1695 (Ch): appeal re if party within beneficial class of ‘children’ even though settlor unaware party not his biological son. Dismissing appeal, judge finds context displaces normal meaning of ‘child’; party is one of the settlor’s children
www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWH...
www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWH...
July 11, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Marcus v Marcus [2025] EWHC 1695 (Ch): appeal re if party within beneficial class of ‘children’ even though settlor unaware party not his biological son. Dismissing appeal, judge finds context displaces normal meaning of ‘child’; party is one of the settlor’s children
www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWH...
www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWH...
Appeal re Rahman v Hassan set to be heard on 23rd October 2025. Watch this space!
My @cambridgelaw.bsky.social Journal note on Rahman v Hassan has been published (open access, @cambup-law.bsky.social). I hope everyone appreciates the title! #DonatioMortisCausa #Wills #Inheritance #SuccessionLaw #PropertyLaw #DMC
bit.ly/4j8EzcL
bit.ly/4j8EzcL
DMC OF REGISTERED LAND? THAT’S THE WAY IT IS | The Cambridge Law Journal | Cambridge Core
DMC OF REGISTERED LAND? THAT’S THE WAY IT IS - Volume 83 Issue 3
bit.ly
July 10, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Appeal re Rahman v Hassan set to be heard on 23rd October 2025. Watch this space!
Matthews v BSN (SW) Property Ltd [2025] EWHC 1650 (Ch) - Is this the first time a judge shares the same name (both first name and surname) with an appellant?
Paul Matthews HHJ understandably feels it necessary to state (at [1]) he is not related (as far as he knows..)
www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWH...
Paul Matthews HHJ understandably feels it necessary to state (at [1]) he is not related (as far as he knows..)
www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWH...
Matthews v BSN (SW) Property Ltd & Anor [2025] EWHC 1650 (Ch) (03 July 2025)
www.bailii.org
July 3, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Matthews v BSN (SW) Property Ltd [2025] EWHC 1650 (Ch) - Is this the first time a judge shares the same name (both first name and surname) with an appellant?
Paul Matthews HHJ understandably feels it necessary to state (at [1]) he is not related (as far as he knows..)
www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWH...
Paul Matthews HHJ understandably feels it necessary to state (at [1]) he is not related (as far as he knows..)
www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWH...
Reposted by Alec Morris
Another Paul Baxendale-Walker tax avoidance scheme fails, this time at the Court of Appeal.
Baxendale-Walker's own lawyers were acting for the poor taxpayer, and even they admitted the scheme failed. The only question was how badly it failed. The answer turned out to be: very badly.
Baxendale-Walker's own lawyers were acting for the poor taxpayer, and even they admitted the scheme failed. The only question was how badly it failed. The answer turned out to be: very badly.
June 30, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Another Paul Baxendale-Walker tax avoidance scheme fails, this time at the Court of Appeal.
Baxendale-Walker's own lawyers were acting for the poor taxpayer, and even they admitted the scheme failed. The only question was how badly it failed. The answer turned out to be: very badly.
Baxendale-Walker's own lawyers were acting for the poor taxpayer, and even they admitted the scheme failed. The only question was how badly it failed. The answer turned out to be: very badly.
Reposted by Alec Morris
The King has approved the appointment of six Lord and Lady Justices of Appeal. He has been pleased to approve the appointments of Mrs Justice Cockerill, Mr Justice Dove, Mr Justice Foxton, Mrs Justice May, Mr Justice Miles and Mrs Justice Yip. www.judiciary.uk/appointments...
Appointment of Lord and Lady Justices of Appeal - Courts and Tribunals Judiciary
Find out who the new appointees are and read their biographies
www.judiciary.uk
June 26, 2025 at 5:23 PM
The King has approved the appointment of six Lord and Lady Justices of Appeal. He has been pleased to approve the appointments of Mrs Justice Cockerill, Mr Justice Dove, Mr Justice Foxton, Mrs Justice May, Mr Justice Miles and Mrs Justice Yip. www.judiciary.uk/appointments...
Oh joy.. I see another article has been published arguing for private purpose trusts to be expanded/codified in E&W. While mentioning some fundamental problems, v superficial analysis of those issues unsurprisingly leads them to conclude E&W should copy Scotland's approach, well because.. money..1/2
June 26, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Oh joy.. I see another article has been published arguing for private purpose trusts to be expanded/codified in E&W. While mentioning some fundamental problems, v superficial analysis of those issues unsurprisingly leads them to conclude E&W should copy Scotland's approach, well because.. money..1/2