Short-Sale Constraints and the Pricing of Managerial Skills

We investigate the impact of the absence of short selling on the pricing of managerial skills in the mutual fund industry. In the presence of divergent opinions regarding managerial skills, fund managers can strategically use fees to attract only the most optimistic capital. The recognition of this fee strategy helps explain a set of stylized observations and puzzles in the mutual fund industry, including the underperformance of active funds, the existence of flow convexity, and the negative correlation between gross-of-fee α and fees.

Contracts for the Sale of Land: Understanding the Impecuniosity Defence

Where either the seller or buyer of landed property fails to complete a contract to sell land the non-breaching party has a right to seek specific performance of the contract. This remedy would compel the party in default to perform the contract on pain of being held in contempt of court if the court's order is not obeyed. The defaulting party would not be able to satisfy its obligations under the law by paying a sum of money as damages for breach of contract. This paper considers the impecuniosity defence to specific performance as recognised by courts in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Where the buyer demonstrates that he or she simply cannot raise the funds to buy the property specific performance will not be decreed and the court will make an award of damages for breach of contract measured by the difference between the contract price and the market price of the property at the time of default. The paper considers the nature and parameters of this defence and how it differs (if at all) from the alternative defence of extreme hardship. The paper addresses the question of whether it might be better to move to a position where sellers of land in all cases no longer enjoy a presumption of specific performance but have to demonstrate that the alternative remedy of damages is clearly inadequate. If this should be so the paper goes on to consider whether abolition of the presumption in favour of specific performance for sellers should lead to abolition of the presumption of specific performance for buyers, as is the position in Canada following the Supreme Court's decision in Semelhago v Paramadevan [1996] 2 SCR 415.

Indenture of Agreement for Sale of Land between Samuel Woodruff to Calvin and Ezekiel Cudney

Indenture of Agreement for Sale of Land between Samuel Woodruff of St. Catharines to Calvin and Ezekiel Cudney of the Township of Niagara regarding a footpath and parts of the lots 9 and 10 on the Welland River (78 acres), Oct. 30, 1883.

Indenture of Agreement for Sale of Land between Samuel Woodruff to Calvin and Ezekiel Cudney

Indenture of Agreement for Sale of Land between Samuel Woodruff of St. Catharines to Calvin and Ezekiel Cudney of the Township of Niagara. This is a copy of the previous document but there is an additional note on this document about an “agreement for cutting timber”. This is signed by S.D. Woodruff, Jan. 1885.

Indenture of Agreement for Sale of Land between S.D. Woodruff and Elizabeth Cudney

Indenture of agreement for Sale of Land between S.D. Woodruff of St. Catharines and Elizabeth Cudney of Willoughby regarding a footpath and Lots 9 and 10 in Willoughby, Feb. 6, 1893.

Indenture of deed of bargain and sale between Samuel Rock of Crowland Township and Samuel Street of the Town of Niagara

Indenture of deed of bargain and sale between Samuel Rock of Crowland Township and Samuel Street of the Town of Niagara for 1 acre in Lot no. 179 in the Town of Niagara – instrument no. 13070. A memorial of this record was made on Feb. 21, 1856, List B, Folio 169. An envelope addressed to Joseph Woodruff, Clerk of the Peace and postmarked Jan. 1857 was included with this document, July 17, 1840.

Indenture of bargain and sale between James and Ann Jane Butler of the Town of Niagara to Joseph Augustus Woodruff of the Town of Niagara

Indenture of bargain and sale between James and Ann Jane Butler of the Town of Niagara to Joseph Augustus Woodruff of the Town of Niagara for 50 acres composed of the west half of Lot no. 169 in the Township of Niagara – instrument no. 3309. This was recorded in the Niagara Township Register on Aug. 14, 1851, Book A, Folio 219, Aug. 12, 1851.

Indenture of bargain and sale between James and Margaret Boulton of the City of Toronto and to Joseph A. Woodruff of the Town of Niagara

Indenture of bargain and sale between James and Margaret Boulton of the City of Toronto and to Joseph A. Woodruff of the Town of Niagara for 2 acres in Lot no. 279 and 280 in the Town of Niagara, Mar. 20, 1854.

Indenture of bargain and sale between Frederic and Laura Charlotte Davis of the Town of Sarnia to Joseph A. Woodruff of the Town of Clifton

Indenture of bargain and sale between Frederic and Laura Charlotte Davis of the Town of Sarnia to Joseph A. Woodruff of the Town of Clifton for Lot no. 28 on the east side of Front Street in Sarnia. This document is slightly torn. This does not affect the text, Jan. 26, 1859.

Indenture of bargain and sale between Henry and Mary Miller of the Town of Niagara to Joseph Augustus Woodruff of the Town of Niagara

Indenture of bargain and sale between Henry and Mary Miller of the Town of Niagara to Joseph Augustus Woodruff of the Town of Niagara for 50 acres in the east half of Lot no. 15 in the 1st Concession in the Township of Southwold in Elgin County, April 2, 1853.