Has the golden age of fraud passed?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Takhar v Gracefield Developments Ltd [2019] UKSC 13 holds that a litigant can apply to set aside a judgment procured by fraud even if the fraud was discoverable by reasonable diligence during the trial. The unanimous decision realigns United Kingdom law with the position in Australia and Canada. However, the four judgments delivered disclose four quite different approaches of judicial technique. This note considers those approaches as well as addressing three topics of more general significance: the way in which broadly expressed dicta may be read down, the role of an historical approach in developing the body of judge-made law, and the relationship between rules and principles in the legal system.