Wilful blindness

The ignorance which occurs when a person deliberately and wilfully refrains from inquiring into a situation or deliberately disregards a situation in the hope of profiting from it. It applies to assignees for value who seek to gain advantage by giving notice of an assignment under the Policies of Assurances Act 1867 ahead of previous assignees they know or suspect to exist who have not yet given notification. This conduct is not permitted as a means of an assignee gaining priority.