The presumption that unproved foreign law is the same as the lex fori should not be applied where the relevant foreign law is likely to be statute-based and in a field (such as taxation) that cannot be assumed to rest on broad principles common to all legal systems. Where Nelson v Nelson would require conditions to be imposed on equitable relief that would amount to the indirect enforcement of a foreign revenue law, those conditions cannot be imposed, and the equitable relief (here, resulting trusts) operates unconditionally. A quantum meruit claim for services cannot succeed where the defendant has rejected the services by giving notice that they are no longer wanted.
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