Tobago 37 (Golden Lane)

Parliamentary Papers p. 321. See Times 08/12/1854 p. 9: Morison versus Morison in Vice-Chancellor's courts. The subject of the suit was 5 estates in Tobago. Edward Ellice was appointed by the Court as consignee 1819-1830, building up large sum owed to him; in 1840 Mr Forsyth was appointed as consignee. In 1836 the compensation was paid into the court. The dispute was over the priority of consignees versus a prior incumbrance of 1795, and priority amongst the consignees themselves. One consignee was terminated before the compensation and the second started afterwards. The Vice-Chancellor looked back to Lord Eldon's judgement in Scott versus Nesbitt, which sustained a claim of the consignee to a lien on the estate on equitable principles. 'The peculiar nature of West Indian property, and the rights of the owners of it, whether mortagees or others, being subject to the expenditure necessary for its management justified, in his opinion, the claim of lien by the consignee... He said the concerns of such estates could not be carried on without consignees'. According to the Vice-Chancellor, 'The mortgagee in the present case, claiming to take the compensation money as his property, and to leave the consignee unpaid for the exependiture, seeks to evade the expenses of that management which he left to the court.' Ellice was paid, but Forsyth was not entitled to be paid out of the corpus of the estate as long as he continued as consignee.