What constitutes 'carrying on business' for the purposes of a bankruptcy petition (Charlton v Funding Circles Trustee Ltd and another)

Table of contents

• What are the practical implications of the judgment?
• What was the background?
• What did the court decide?
• Case details

Article summary

Restructuring & Insolvency analysis: Eleanor Temple, barrister at Kings Chambers, examines the High Court's appeal decision to annul a bankruptcy order made against the appellant. The court held that there had been no jurisdiction to make the order since the appellant had been neither domiciled in England and Wales nor, for the three years before the bankruptcy petition was presented, ordinarily resident or carrying on business there. The appellant's attempts as director of a company incorporated in England and Wales to find potential investors or purchasers to rescue the company from its financial distress did not amount to carrying on business even though one of the options might have led to the sale of shares in the company, including the appellant’s shares.