Walsh v Lonsdale
E628503
Court of Appeal of England and Wales decision
English court case
contract law case
property law case
Walsh v Lonsdale is an English contract and property law case that established the principle that equity regards as done that which ought to be done, allowing equitable leases to be treated as if they were legal leases.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Walsh v Lonsdale canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T6919449 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Walsh v Lonsdale Context triple: [Court of Chancery, notableCase, Walsh v Lonsdale]
-
A.
S.S. Wimbledon case
The S.S. Wimbledon case was a landmark 1923 decision of the Permanent Court of International Justice that clarified the limits of state sovereignty under international treaty obligations, particularly regarding freedom of navigation through the Kiel Canal.
-
B.
Somerset v Stewart
Somerset v Stewart was a landmark 1772 English court case that effectively declared slavery unsupported by English common law, becoming a pivotal moment in the British abolitionist movement.
-
C.
Ruskin v. Whistler libel case
The Ruskin v. Whistler libel case was an 1878 British lawsuit in which American-born artist James McNeill Whistler sued influential critic John Ruskin for defamation over a harsh review of his painting, highlighting tensions between avant-garde art and traditional criticism.
-
D.
Henry v. Hodges
Henry v. Hodges is a federal court case challenging state bans on same-sex marriage, decided alongside other landmark marriage equality cases prior to Obergefell v. Hodges.
-
E.
Lucas v. Earl
Lucas v. Earl is a landmark 1930 U.S. Supreme Court tax law case that established the principle that income is taxed to the person who earns it, regardless of contractual arrangements to split or assign that income.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Walsh v Lonsdale Target entity description: Walsh v Lonsdale is an English contract and property law case that established the principle that equity regards as done that which ought to be done, allowing equitable leases to be treated as if they were legal leases.
-
A.
S.S. Wimbledon case
The S.S. Wimbledon case was a landmark 1923 decision of the Permanent Court of International Justice that clarified the limits of state sovereignty under international treaty obligations, particularly regarding freedom of navigation through the Kiel Canal.
-
B.
Somerset v Stewart
Somerset v Stewart was a landmark 1772 English court case that effectively declared slavery unsupported by English common law, becoming a pivotal moment in the British abolitionist movement.
-
C.
Ruskin v. Whistler libel case
The Ruskin v. Whistler libel case was an 1878 British lawsuit in which American-born artist James McNeill Whistler sued influential critic John Ruskin for defamation over a harsh review of his painting, highlighting tensions between avant-garde art and traditional criticism.
-
D.
Henry v. Hodges
Henry v. Hodges is a federal court case challenging state bans on same-sex marriage, decided alongside other landmark marriage equality cases prior to Obergefell v. Hodges.
-
E.
Lucas v. Earl
Lucas v. Earl is a landmark 1930 U.S. Supreme Court tax law case that established the principle that income is taxed to the person who earns it, regardless of contractual arrangements to split or assign that income.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (43)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Court of Appeal of England and Wales decision
ⓘ
English court case ⓘ contract law case ⓘ property law case ⓘ |
| appliesTo | agreements for lease that satisfy requirements for specific performance ⓘ |
| areaOfLaw |
English contract law
ⓘ
English property law ⓘ equity ⓘ |
| citation | (1882) 21 Ch D 9 ⓘ |
| country | United Kingdom ⓘ |
| court | Court of Appeal of England and Wales ⓘ |
| decision | the distress for rent in advance was lawful in equity ⓘ |
| effectOnLandlord | landlord may exercise rights consistent with the terms of the equitable lease ⓘ |
| effectOnTenant | tenant is bound by lease covenants as if a legal lease had been granted ⓘ |
| fact |
the agreement for lease was specifically enforceable in equity
ⓘ
the landlord distrained for rent in advance under the terms of the agreement ⓘ the parties had only an agreement for a lease, not a formal legal lease deed ⓘ |
| holdsThat |
a tenant under an equitable lease is treated in equity as if holding under a legal lease
ⓘ
an agreement for a lease that is specifically enforceable creates an equitable lease ⓘ |
| influenced |
development of the doctrine of equitable leases in English law
ⓘ
treatment of agreements for lease after the Judicature Acts ⓘ |
| judge | Jessel MR ⓘ |
| jurisdiction | England and Wales ⓘ |
| keyPhrase | equity regards as done that which ought to be done ⓘ |
| leadingJudge | Jessel MR ⓘ |
| legalPrinciple |
equitable lease treated as legal lease in equity
ⓘ
equity regards as done that which ought to be done ⓘ where there is a specifically enforceable agreement to grant a lease, equity treats the lessee as if the lease had been granted ⓘ |
| overruledDoctrine | strict separation between legal and equitable leases in remedies ⓘ |
| party |
Lonsdale
ⓘ
Walsh ⓘ |
| relatedConcept |
distress for rent
ⓘ
equitable lease ⓘ merger of law and equity under the Judicature Acts ⓘ specific performance ⓘ |
| requires |
a valid and enforceable contract for a lease
ⓘ
compliance with formalities such as those in the Statute of Frauds or Law of Property legislation ⓘ |
| statusInLaw | leading authority on equitable leases in English law ⓘ |
| statusInTeaching | commonly taught case in English contract and property law courses ⓘ |
| subjectMatter |
agreement for a seven-year lease of a mill
ⓘ
distress for rent ⓘ payment of rent in advance ⓘ |
| yearDecided | 1882 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Walsh v Lonsdale Description of subject: Walsh v Lonsdale is an English contract and property law case that established the principle that equity regards as done that which ought to be done, allowing equitable leases to be treated as if they were legal leases.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.