Fraud, Legal Formality and Equity

This article seeks to examine thecurrent scope of the equitable principle that``equity will not allow a statute to be used asan instrument of fraud''. In particular, itexamines the meaning of fraud in this contextand the question whether the so-called rule inRochefoucauld in Boustead [1897] 1 Ch.196 can be applied legitimately in theenforcement of informal rights for the benefitof third parties.