Wilful default: Difference between revisions

The British courts, as a literary phenomenon, are unrivaled among the judiciaries of the modern world, but every now and then even they will execute a long, raking spiral punt into touch on the far side of the paddock. When asked what “wilful default” is meant to mean in 1885, Lord Justice Bowen did exactly that.<ref>''Re Young and Harston’s Contract''.</ref> Taking a pop ball off the base of the scrum, deep in his own 22, his Lordship explained that “wilful” generally “implies nothing blamable, but merely that the person of whose action or default the expression it used, is a free agent, and that what has been done arises from the spontaneous action of his will”, and “default” means “nothing more, nothing less, than not doing what is reasonable under the circumstances” or “not doing something which you ought to do.”