Words and Phrases - "accrue"

Lord Reed stated (at para. 41):

The word "accrue" is generally used to describe the coming into being of a right or an obligation (as, for example, in Aitken v South Hams District Council [1995] 1 AC 262), so that the person in question then has an accrued right, or is subject to an accrued liability, as the case may be. That is the meaning which accrual usually bears, in particular, in relation to interest and other payments. The amount to which there is an entitlement may not be payable until a future date, but an entitlement may nevertheless have accrued. For example, under section 2 of the Apportionment Act 1870, rents, annuities, dividends and other periodical payments may be considered as accruing from day to day, although they may be payable at longer intervals (In re Howell [1895] 1 QB 844); and a bequest of an "accruing dividend" carried the dividend for the period during which the death occurred, although the dividend was not declared until a later date (In re Lysaght [1898] 1 Ch 115). Situations can readily be envisaged in which interest or fees might accrue, in that sense, by reference to the lapse of time: indeed, interest invariably accrues by reference to the lapse of time, as do recurring fees such as commitment fees. This is not however such a situation. An entitlement to a payment premium under the facility agreement accrues on a defined event.