The full title and citation was Inland Revenue Commissioners v. Duke of Westminster [1936] A.C. 1;[1] 19 TC 490.
[2] The Inland Revenue challenged this arrangement as tantamounting to tax evasion and took the Duke to court.
The judge, Lord Tomlin, famously said: Every man is entitled, if he can, to order his affairs so that the tax attaching under the appropriate Acts is less than it otherwise would be.
If he succeeds in ordering them so as to secure this result, then, however unappreciative the Commissioners of Inland Revenue or his fellow tax-payers may be of his ingenuity, he cannot be compelled to pay an increased tax.
[3]Although this ruling was attractive for others seeking to avoid tax legally by creating complex structures, it has since been weakened by subsequent cases where the courts have looked at the overall effect.