Foskett v. McKeown – Hard-nosed property rights or unjust enrichment?

The recent judgment of the House of Lords in Foskett is extremely important as it straddles insurance law, property law, tracing and unjust enrichment. First, it establishes the proposition that it is possible to trace misappropriated moneys wrongfully paid as premiums into the proceeds of a policy. Second, two of the Law Lords contemplated the abolition of the distinction between the rules for tracing in law and tracing in equity. Third, the judgments of the Law Lords contain valuable guidance as to the context in which equitable ownership and the law of unjust enrichment should be viewed.