Davies v O’Kelly [2014] EWCA Civ 1606; [2014] WLR (D) 535

‘In general, equity would not come to the aid of a party who had to rely on his unlawful purpose, but if his right to an equitable interest in property could be identified without the need to rely on his unlawful purpose it might be enforced. In particular, notwithstanding an unlawful purpose between a couple in purchasing property, where the couple later separated it was possible, in the case of a constructive trust just as in the case of a resulting trust, to find, where one of the parties was advancing a claim to his beneficial interest in the relevant property, that he had no need to rely on the unlawful purpose and could therefore advance his claim.’

WLR Daily, 11th December 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk