Identity of unincorporated association

17/07/24

The lawful succession of an unincorporated association is dependent on its constitution and not on the stated intentions of its members.

The Court of Appeal (Moylan, Arnold and Nugee LJJ) so held, allowing the defendants’ appeal in Syed Aminul Haque v Altaf Hussain & ors [2024] EWCA Civ 806.

Muttahida Quami Movement Pakistan (“MQMP”), a political party in Pakistan, claimed the beneficial ownership of a number of properties in North London which were held on express trusts for Muttahida Quami Movement (“MQM”). The trustee defendants, including the founder and ideologue leader of MQM, denied that MQMP was a constitutional development of MQM. They said that MQMP derived from unconstitutional expulsions and vote-rigging. At trial the Judge had held that MQMP could be identified as MQM even without determining the constitutional issues. The trial Judge had also held that the constitutional issues could not be a defence to trustee defendants, and that the trustees’ duty of neutrality meant that they could not use the constitutional issues to challenge MQMP’s locus standi to bring the claim. He was overruled by the Court of Appeal on these points.

The judgment can be found here.