The High Court has awarded a UK antiques company STG£111,533 after it bought and restored a Queen Anne bureau bookcase that was later identified as property stolen from Lord Roden’s estate in County Down.
Mallett and Son (Antiques) Limited agreed in January 2000 to buy the red lacquered bookcase from Dublin antiques dealer Rory Rogers for STG£80,000. The company then spent STG£31,533 restoring it for resale.
Mr Justice Quirke found that the bookcase had been stolen during a 1990 robbery at Lord Roden’s estate in Newcastle, County Down. It was identified after being exhibited at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London and was returned to its lawful owner in August 2001.
The court found that Mr Rogers had agreed to sell the bookcase after showing it to Mallett representative Lanto Synge at furniture restorers’ premises in Francis Street, Dublin. Mr Rogers then acquired the bookcase from Sean Eacrett and Fintan Daly before delivering it to Mallett.
However, neither those sellers nor Mr Rogers had legal title to the stolen property. Applying the principle that a person cannot transfer a better title than he possesses, and section 12 of the Sale of Goods Act 1893, Quirke J held that the intended sale to Mallett was never legally completed because good title could not pass.
The STG£80,000 purchase price was therefore recoverable because the consideration for it — legal title to the bookcase — had wholly failed.
The court also awarded the STG£31,533 restoration costs. Mr Rogers knew when the agreement was made that Mallett intended to carry out substantial restoration before resale, making that loss a foreseeable consequence of the failed transaction.
The judge rejected the defence argument that Mallett had negligently failed to check the Art Loss Register. He accepted evidence that such checks were not standard practice among reputable furniture dealers in early 2000.
Interest was refused, leaving total judgment at STG£111,533.