During the course of his judgment, the Vice Chancellor, Sir Donald Nicholls gave an overview in relation to the enforcement of mortgages under English law, and expressed various principles which the court should apply when seeking to do justice between the parties.

In March 1991 Mr Palk reached an agreement with a purchaser to sell the house for £283,000 but by this time the mortgage debt with accrued interest was £358,587.

However this meant that they were essentially speculating on a future increase in property values at the expense of the Palks.

[6] At first instance the case came before His Honour Judge Lovegrove QC in the Eastbourne County Court, who rejected the Palk's application for an order for sale, although he stated that he did so "with a good deal of regret".

"[8] He also noted that it was long established law a mortgagee was free to choose when it exercised its power of sale, citing Lord Templeman in China and South Sea Bank Ltd v Tan [1990] 1 AC 536 at 545: "If the creditor chose to exercise his power of sale over the mortgaged security he must sell for the current market value but the creditor must decide in his own interest if and when he should sell.

The case is cited as good authority by all of the major English law texts in relation to mortgages.