ARGYLL COUNTY COUNCIL v. WALKER [1908] ScotLR 107 (31 October 1908)

ARGYLL COUNTY COUNCIL v. WALKER [1908] ScotLR 107 (31 October 1908)

Rates are not debita fundi but personal debts; the statutory preference operates only in a competition for a fund in insolvency, not as a real security over rents; action against heritable creditor who collected rents is incompetent absent such competition.

Citation
[1908] ScotLR 107
Parties
Pursuer: Argyll County Council; Defender: R. S. Walker
Jurisdiction
Scotland
Judgment Date
31 October 1908
Procedural Posture
Civil / Appeal From Sheriff Court Judgment
Outcome
action dismissed as incompetent
Legal Topics
Rates, Insolvency, Maills and Duties, Preferential Debts
Local Government Bankruptcy Property Law Rates Insolvency Maills and Duties Preferential Debts

Case Brief

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Parties

Argyll County Council

Pursuer

R. S. Walker

Defender

Procedural Posture

Civil / Appeal From Sheriff Court Judgment

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Whether rates due by an insolvent property owner are recoverable from a heritable creditor who has collected rents under a decree of maills and duties
  2. 2 Whether rates are a real burden on property or merely a personal debt
  3. 3 Whether the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 section 62 creates a real security over rents for rates

Ratio Decidendi

Rates are not debita fundi but personal debts; the statutory preference operates only in a competition for a fund in insolvency, not as a real security over rents; action against heritable creditor who collected rents is incompetent absent such competition.

Court Disposition

action dismissed as incompetent

Orders

  • interlocutors of Sheriff and Sheriff-Substitute recalled
  • action dismissed