If one person puts money into a purse and another controls the way it is spent, who owns the purse?

That was the rhetorical question at the centre of a hearing in London this week which provided the latest legal developments in the life of Nobu Su, the jailed Taiwanese shipowner.

Claimants Polys Haji-Ioannou and Lakatamia Shipping argued that defendants Su and his mother Toshiko Morimoto should be tried for frustrating court orders.