In Assets Company Ltd v Mere Roihi [1905] AC 176, a dispute arose over the legitimacy of land ownership claims in New Zealand. Indigenous groups challenged the transfer of land, alleging fraud had invalidated the transactions. Conversely, Assets Company Ltd, the land's current holders, defended their ownership by asserting their acquisition was legitimate, emphasized by proper registration and bona fide purchase criteria. The core of the dispute centred on whether the alleged fraudulent activities had any bearing on the property title's validity.
The judgment, delivered by Lord Lindley, clarified the legal interpretation of fraud within this context. He posited that fraud, to invalidate a registered proprietor’s title, must constitute actual dishonesty, directly attributable to the proprietor or their agents. The mere failure to conduct thorough due diligence, absent an intentional avoidance to uncover the truth, did not meet this fraud threshold. Consequently, the court upheld the title's validity, concluding that no concrete evidence of fraud impacting the title was presented.
From the TLDR Caselaw Archive