Noël J.A. indicated that the following statement from IRC v. Duke of Westminister, [1935] AC 1 at 30-31 remained "eminently good law":
"And what the legal effect is as between the covenantor and the covenantee must determine for revenue purposes the character of the payments actually made ... . And once it is admitted that the deed is a genuine document, there is in my opinion no room for the phrase 'in substance'. More correctly, the true nature of the legal obligation and nothing else is 'the substance'."