The Perils of Misusing Property Concepts in Contractual Analysis
Abstract
<span>In <i>Your Response Ltd v Datateam Business Media Ltd</i> [2014] EWCA Civ 281, the English Court of Appeal rejected the possibility of a lien over an electronic database as security for unpaid fees, even as Moore-Bick LJ expressed great attraction to the analogy between practical control and possession. In so doing, it overturned the decision of the trial judge even though Moore-Bick LJ expressed "some symptahy" for that outcome. Whilst the court's reasoning in respect of whether there could be property rights over electronic databases demonstrates remarkable caution and care, it would appear that the property analysis distracted the court from a simpler contractual analysis that would have led to precisely the trial judge's outcome.</span>
Fields of Study & Subjects
Legal principles and applications
Law
Economics
and Judicial Systems
European and International Contract Law
Publication details
- Journal / source
- SSRN Electronic Journal
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Volume
- 130
- Pages
- 547
- Publication date
- 1 January 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Preprint