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This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: • This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. • A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. • This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. • The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. • When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Fraud in Scots Law Dot Reid Submitted for the degree of PhD The University of Edinburgh 2012 2 Abstract ............................................................................................................................................. 5 Declaration ........................................................................................................................................ 7 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................... 8 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 1: Lessons from the Criminal Law of Fraud ........................................................................ 15 1. Common Law Fraud ................................................................................................................ 16 2. Relationship between Fraud, Theft and Breach of Trust ........................................................ 17 3. Fraud and Theft: Civil and Criminal Divergence ...................................................................... 19 (a) The Doctrine of Vitium Reale ............................................................................................ 20 (b) Strict Theft and Constructive Theft: Divergent Definitions .............................................. 22 (c) Real and Personal Vices .................................................................................................... 28 (d) Fraud and Real Vices......................................................................................................... 32 4. Fraud and Breach of Trust ...................................................................................................... 34 Chapter 2: The Historical Scope of Fraud......................................................................................... 41 1. An Introduction to Civil Fraud ................................................................................................. 41 2. Fraud and Mala Fides .............................................................................................................. 43 3. Presumptive Fraud in Delict: culpa lata dolo aequiparatur .................................................... 48 (a) A historical note on presumptive fraud ............................................................................ 48 (b) Stair and presumptive fraud in delict ............................................................................... 50 (c) Culpa lata and negligence ................................................................................................. 55 (d) Breach of fiduciary duty, negligence and culpa lata ......................................................... 58 (e) Unintentional misrepresentation and culpa lata .............................................................. 62 (f) The fate of culpa lata ......................................................................................................... 63 4. Presumptive Fraud in Contract ............................................................................................... 65 (a) Stair and presumptive fraud in contract ........................................................................... 66 (b) Presumptive fraud as inequality ....................................................................................... 68 (c) Inequality arising from the deed ....................................................................................... 70 (d) Inequality plus vulnerability ............................................................................................. 71 (e) Inequality plus a relationship of trust and confidence ..................................................... 74 (f) Inequality plus lack of independent legal advice .............................................................. 87 (g) Inequality plus a gratuitous transaction ........................................................................... 88 5. Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 90 3 Chapter 3: The influence of Philosophy and Religion on Scots Law - Justice as Inequality .............. 93 1. The Canonist Doctrine of Restitution ..................................................................................... 95 2. The Scholastic Concept of Justice ........................................................................................... 98 (a) The Influence of the Nicomachean Ethics ........................................................................ 99 (b) Aquinas and Justice ........................................................................................................ 101 (c) Stair’s Concept of Justice ................................................................................................ 103 3. Scholastic Influence in Seventeenth Century Scotland......................................................... 107 (a) The Protestant Scholastics .............................................................................................. 109 (b) Scholasticism and Glasgow University............................................................................ 110 (c) Glasgow University Library in the Seventeenth Century ................................................ 112 (d) Stair’s Legal Influences ................................................................................................... 115 4. The Scholastic Doctrine of Restitution .................................................................................. 119 (a) Restitution and Recompense in Thomas Aquinas .......................................................... 119 (b) Restitution and Recompense in Stair ............................................................................. 122 (c) The link with fraud .......................................................................................................... 125 5. A Change in the Zeitgeist: the Scottish Enlightenment ........................................................ 126 Chapter 4: The Transformation of Fraud ....................................................................................... 132 1. Divergent Views of Fraud in the nineteenth century ........................................................... 135 (a) The broad view ............................................................................................................... 135 (b) The narrow view ............................................................................................................. 141 (c) The problem of unintentional misrepresentation .......................................................... 143 2. The Impact of Derry v Peek ................................................................................................... 145 (a) The Decision in Derry v Peek .......................................................................................... 147 (a) The Response to Derry v Peek in England: Nocton v Lord Ashburton ............................ 151 (b) The Aftermath of Derry v Peek in Scotland .................................................................... 165 Chapter 5: Fraud, Error and Misrepresentation ............................................................................ 169 1. Fraud and Error in Stair and Bell ........................................................................................... 170 2. The Problem of Unintentional Misrepresentation ............................................................... 176 (a) Latent Insufficiency ......................................................................................................... 176 (b) The Impact of the Mercantile Law Amendment (Scotland) Act 1856 ............................ 178 (c) The culpa lata principle and misrepresentation ............................................................. 184 3. The Final Transition from Fraud to Error .............................................................................. 188 (a) Menzies v Menzies.......................................................................................................... 188 (b) Boyd & Forrest v Glasgow & SW Railway Co ................................................................. 191 (c) Mair v Rio Grande Rubber Estates Ltd ............................................................................ 194 4. Steuart’s Trs v Hart: Fraud or Error? ..................................................................................... 195 4 5. Fraud or Error: