ABSTRACT
In this chapter, by contrast, the defendant’s enrichment comes through the intervention of a third party, X. This can happen in one of two ways. First, the third party may have transferred to the defendant an asset which is the proceeds of, or otherwise represents, some item of property wrongfully taken from the claimant. For example, my trustee helps himself to £10,000 of trust money, buys shares with it and then gives them to you. This involves the legal process commonly, but deceptively, known as ‘tracing’. Alternatively, the claimant may complain that the defendant has received money or property which never belonged to the claimant, but for some reason ought to have gone to him rather than the defendant. For example, you assign to me a debt of £10,000 owed to you by X, but X then proceeds to pay you rather than me. For brevity, we will call the first of these situations ‘tracing’ and the second ‘diversion’ (since the essence of my claim in cases of this sort is that something which was, or ought to have been, on its way to me has been diverted, directly or indirectly, to you).
