"Immunity from pre-existing equitable rights was guaranteed only in the case of the purchaser of a legal estate whose conscience was wholly unaffected. Such a purchaser was sometimes known simply as Equity's Darling - one who had found favour in the eyes of Equity." Kevin Gray, Elements of Land Law. Discuss.
A purchaser of a legal estate whose conscience is wholly unaffected, more commonly known as the 'bona fide purchaser for value without notice,' 1 is a term well known in the field of property law. In the notorious case of Pilcher v Rawlins 2 James LJ stated that the plea of the purchaser is an 'absolute, unqualified [and an] unanswerable defence" 3 to any pre-existing equitable rights an owner of the land may have. At the crux of this defence, amongst other factors, the doctrine of notice was formulated as the determinant in deciding if the purchaser would walk free from equitable interests. Historically it was said that legal interests would bind the world, and equitable interests would therefore bind all except for the bona fide purchaser 4 . However, it is submitted that the statement above 5 cannot hold true for the law today and this essay will aim to prove that although the purchaser is still favoured in the eyes of the law is some respects, it is not easily done
