Jolyon Maugham gives some pointers on applying legitimate expectation in practice.
The leading case on legitimate expectation – within or without a tax context – is the decision of the High Court in MFK Underwriting [1989] STC 873. Lord Justice Bingham gave us the criteria a statement must satisfy to found a legitimate expectation – that it be ‘clear unambiguous and devoid of relevant qualification’ (the ‘MFK criteria’). He then went on to identify the perspective a court must adopt in considering whether those criteria are satisfied – that of an ‘ordinarily sophisticated taxpayer’; to stress the point – the practical importance of which is difficult to overstate – that in assessing the ‘meaning weight and effect’ to be given to statements...
