Recent leading cases have demonstrated the urgent need to modernize the learning on breach of trust,which has lagged behind the flourishing scholarship on the creation of trusts. Since breach of trust or fiduciary duty occupies the centre of the legal stage, it comes as a surprise that, although one or two novelists have chosen 'Breach of Trust' as the title to their book, no lawyer has so far thought it necessary to produce a specialized work on the subject. To fill the gap, this book, written by a team of leading trust lawyers from a number of common law jurisdictions, investigates all the principal aspects of the subject. The nature of the trustee's duties and of the liability for breach is closely examined, and all available defences and excuses are reviewed. Two substantial chapters consider the consequences of assisting a breach or receiving trust property from a trustee acting in breach. The book closes with a critical overview of the entire topic. CONTENTS: 1 Robert Chambers 'Liability for Breach'; 2 Joshua Getzler 'The Duty of Care'; 3 Edwin Simpson 'The Conflict of Interest'; 4 David Fox 'Overreaching'; 5 Lionel Smith 'Property Transferred in Breach'; 6 Charles Mitchell 'Assistance'; 7 Peter Birks 'Receipt'; 8 James Penner 'Exemption clauses'; 9 John Lowry and Rod Edmunds 'Honest and Reasonable Breach'; 10 Jennifer Payne 'Consent'; 11 William Swadling 'Limitation'; 12 Gary Watt 'Laches, Estoppel and Election'; 13 David Hayton 'An Overview'.

The law of tracing is a complex subject which has struggled to find a home in works on property, equity, commercial law and restitution. Broadly speaking, it addresses the question of when rights held in an asset can be asserted in another asset despite changes in form or attempts to 'launder' the initial asset. Properly understood this area of study is composed of several distinct topics. This book explores all the areas covered by the law of tracing in a degree of detail not previously reached in more general works.

Sir Frederick Pollock wrote that 'English-speaking lawyers ...have specialised the name of Equity'. It is typical for legal textbooks on the law of equity to acknowledge the diverse ways in which the word 'equity' is used and then to focus on the legal sense of the word to the exclusion of all others. There may be a professional responsibility on textbook writers to do just that. If so, there is a counterpart responsibility to read the law imaginatively and to read what non-lawyers have said of equity with an open mind. This book is an exploration of the meaning of equity as artists and thinkers have portrayed it within the law and without. Watt finds in law and literature an equity that is necessary to good life and good law but which does not require us to subscribe to a moral or 'natural law' ideal. It is an equity that takes a principled and practical stand against rigid formalism and unthinking routine in law and life, and so provides timely resistance to current forces of extremism and entitlement culture. The project is an educational one in the true etymological sense of leading the reader out into new territory. The book will provide the legal scholar with deep insight into the rhetorical, literary and historical foundations of the idea of equity in law, and it will provide the law student with a cultural history of, and an imaginative introduction to, the technical law of equity and trusts. Scholars and students of such disciplines as literature, classics, history, theology, theatre and rhetoric will discover new insights into the art of equity in the law and beyond. Along the way, Watt offers a new theory on the naming of Dickens' chancery case Jarndyce and Jarndyce and suggests a new connection between Shakespeare and the origin of equity in modern law. 'This beautiful book, deeply learned in the branch of jurisprudence we call equity and deeply engaged with the western literary tradition, gives new life to equity in the legal sense by connecting it with equity in the larger sense: as it is defined both in ordinary language and experience and by great writers, especially Dickens and Shakespeare. Equity Stirring transforms our sense of what equity is and can be and demonstrates in a new and graceful way the importance of connecting law with other arts of mind and language.' James Boyd White, author of Living Speech: Resisting the Empire of Force 'Equity Stirring' is a fine example of interdisciplinary legal scholarship at its best. Watt has managed to produce a book that is fresh and innovative, and thoroughly accessible. Deploying a range of familiar, and not so familiar, texts from across the humanities, Watt has presented a fascinating historical and literary commentary on the evolution of modern ideas of justice and equity. Ian Ward, Professor of Law at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. "this is an important, compendious, and thought-provoking work that should be on the shelves of everyone interested in equity studies." Mark Fortier, Law and Literature "there is much of interest to the legal historian...the book's insights and erudition did engage this rather sceptical reader, who would like to believe that equity could achieve justice, but fears rather that it can only be as fair as the court dispensing it." Rosemary Auchmuty, The Journal of Legal History "With luck, Equity Stirring will stir...taxonomic positivists from their culture of entitlement, waking them to the possibility that law and justice do not form the perfect quadration". Nick Piska, Social & Legal Studies "a highly imaginative, original and refreshing foray into the legal and ethical import of concepts too often thought to be difficult, archaic and obscure...Watt gives us a way into the subject which is forceful in its imaginative reach and its ethical import..." David Gurnham, Law, Culture and the Humanities

Have you been appointed by a family member to be the personal representative or executor of their estate? Have you considered how you would like your own personal possessions to be distributed? This book was written to introduce and familiarize its readers with easy to understand estate closing techniques and probate procedures. It is the author's intent to educate any individual that is either faced with closing an estate, or anyone that may be considering how their own estate might be administered. After reading this book, you too may consider yourself a professional as you set out to close your estate with ease.

The development of private law across the common law world is typically portrayed as a series of incremental steps, each one delivered as a result of judges dealing with marginally different factual circumstances presented to them for determination. This is said to be the common law method. According to this process, change might be assumed to be gradual, almost imperceptible. If this were true, however, then even Darwinian-style evolution - which is subject to major change-inducing pressures, such as the death of the dinosaurs - would seem unlikely in the law, and radical and revolutionary paradigms shifts perhaps impossible. And yet the history of the common law is to the contrary. The legal landscape is littered with quite remarkable revolutionary and evolutionary changes in the shape of the common law. The essays in this volume explore some of the highlights in this fascinating revolutionary and evolutionary development of private law. The contributors expose the nature of the changes undergone and their significance for the future direction of travel. They identify the circumstances and the contexts which might have provided an impetus for these significant changes. The essays range across all areas of private law, including contract, tort, unjust enrichment and property. No area has been immune from development. That fact itself is unsurprising, but an extended examination of the particular circumstances and contexts which delivered some of private law's most important developments has its own special significance for what it might indicate about the shape, and the shaping, of private law regimes in the future.

This book is the fourth in a series of essay collections on defences in private law. It addresses defences to liability arising in equity. The essays range from those adopting a mainly doctrinal perspective to others that explore the law from a more philosophical perspective. Some essays concentrate on specific defences, while others are concerned with the links between defences, or with how defences relate to the structure of the law of equity generally. One aim of the book is to shed light on equitable doctrines by analysing them through the lens of defences. The essays offer original contributions to this complex, important but neglected field of scholarly investigation. The contributors - judges, practitioners and academics - are all distinguished jurists. The essays are addressed to all of the major common law jurisdictions.

The number of disputes involving trusts has risen significantly in recent years. Many disputes take place in the international environment and cross-border jurisdictional issues may arise. These disputes often involve large sums of money, impacting significantly on family relations. The handling of such disputes requires specialist skills and knowledge, including an understanding of how and why private trusts are established and administered and the problems that can arise; an awareness of the cross-jurisdictional issues that may be relevant; and the ability to identify practical legal solutions to the dispute that are compliant with trust principles. International Trust Disputes provides a comprehensive and thorough treatment of this topic. Acting as a specialist guide for practitioners, it offers a survey of the special considerations that may arise with regard to trust disputes as well as a definitive guide to the issues which may be encountered in the jurisdictions where disputes are most likely to take place.

The resulting trust has received little attention in recent years and this may be because, until relatively recently, the law relating to resulting trusts was thought to be settled and uncontroversial. Most of the current academic writing about resulting trusts is found in the established textbooks on equity and trusts, but these tend to provide little more than catalogues of the situations in which resulting trusts arise. There is, however, very little consensus on the principle by which the resulting trust operates, including the fundamental question whether it arises by opertaion of law or depends on the presumed intention to create a trust. This book examines the true nature of the resulting trust and the question whether the trusts brought into being to reverse unjust enrichment should not include resulting trusts. It then considers whether, when resulting trusts are properly understood, it does turn out that it is through the resulting trust that equity makes its principle contribution to reversing unjust enrichment. This book examines principally the case law of the UK, Canada and Australia, and it also makes reference to the views of academic commentators as found in the standard texts and law journals.

Private Law and Property Claims sets out a distinctive analysis of some general issues in private law, including the nature of categories such as contract, tort, property, duties, and liabilities as the basis of claims in private law, and the relationship between primary rights and remedies. In the light of this analysis, the book offers a new approach to property in private law, including claims that arise to protect and recover property. It goes on to discuss the law of trusts, fiduciary relationships, and tracing; the remedial role of the trust; the nature of equity as a legal category; and the relationship between property and claims in tort to protect property. Private Law and Property Claims also exposes the misconceptions underlying the modern approach to restitution and unjust enrichment, and the problems this is causing in private law.

Constructive and resulting trusts have a long history in English law, and the law which governs them continues to develop as they are pressed into service to perform a wide variety of different functions, for example, to support the working of express trusts and other fiduciary relationships, to allocate family property rights, and to undo the consequences of commercial fraud. However, while their conceptual flexibility makes them enormously useful, it also makes them hard to understand. In the twelve essays collected in this volume, the authors shed new light on various aspects of the law governing constructive and resulting trusts, revisiting current controversies, bringing new historical material to the fore, and offering new theoretical perspectives.

Maximise your marks for every answer you write with Law Express Question and Answer. This series is designed to help you understand what examiners are looking for, focus on the question being asked and make your answers stand out. See how an expert crafts answers to up to 50 questions on Equity & Trusts. Discover how and why different elements of the answer relate to the question in accompanying Guidance. Plan answers quickly and effectively using Answer plans and Diagram plans. Gain higher marks with tips for advanced thinking in Make your answer stand out. Avoid common pitfalls with Don't be tempted to. Compare your responses using the Try it yourself answer guidance on the companion website. Practice answering questions and discover additional resources to support you in preparing for exams on the Companion website.

The law of trusts is a subject of considerable importance in the Commonwealth Caribbean. Traditional areas, such as testamentary trusts, resulting and constructive trusts, and charitable trusts, are now fully incorporated into the mainstream substantive law of the region, while the principles associated with offshore trust regimes are constantly expanding and developing. This book has been updated to reflect new case law and legislation, and to highlight recent trends relating to both traditional and offshore trusts.

Equity - the body of law developed in the English Court of Chancery - has a long and distinguished history. In the 21st century, it continues to be an important regulator of both commercial and personal dealings, as well as informing statutory regulation. Although much equitable doctrine is settled, there remain some intractable problems that bedevil lawyers across jurisdictions. The essays in this collection employ new historical, comparative, and theoretical perspectives to cast light on these fault lines in equitable doctrine and methodology. Leading scholars and practitioners from England, Australia, and New Zealand examine such contentious topics as: personal and proprietary liability for breaches of equitable duties (including fiduciary duties) * the creation of non-express trusts * equitable rights in insolvency * the fiduciary 'self dealing' rule * clogs on the equity of redemption * the distribution of assets on family breakdown * the suitability of unjust enrichment analysis. The book addresses specific doctrinal questions, as well as the 'meta' issues of organization and methodology, and the findings will be of value to academics and practitioners alike. (Series: Hart Studies in Private Law - Vol. 1)

Joyce Rogers sheds new light upon Shakespeare's last public words through her study of medieval and Renaissance ecclesiastical and testamentary laws and custom. Professor Rogers provides extensive background material on English legal history and shows that the legal documents of the time do give legal answer to the doubts and speculations that have grown up around Shakespeare's will. She shows how the will is replete with elements of civil and common as well as ecclesiastical law and custom, making more understandable the disputed points of Shakespeare's will, and establishing that the will was as correct, incontestable, and conventional as possible.

The main thrust of the book, however, is not on the law as such. It is on how the law was used by Shakespeare to serve the best interests and needs of the women and children in his family as well as the friends named therein. As such, the book will be invaluable to students and scholars of Elizabethan society and to all Shakespearean scholars.

Commercial Law The International Academy of Estate and Trust Laws (IAETL) meets each May to spend a week of intensive engagement with issues of direct and immediate concern to estate and trusts lawyers. More than merely an assembly of commentators and interpreters, the IAETL is a prestigious body that affects real change in courts, law reform commissions, and governmental agencies. Its membership - including solicitors, barristers, notaires, judges, and scholars, all experts in trusts, estates, and inheritance law, and/or tax law - highlight the contrasts and comparisons between the pertinent laws of civil and common law jurisdictions. This volume records the May 2002 conference in Rome, which featured four distinct areas of discussion and debate: how trusts in the civilian context (specifically Italy) are subjected to taxation; the delicate balance between inter vivos and postmortem taxation; a lively debate on the nature and rationale of the inheritance tax; and how best to serve the client at the same time as meeting one's ethical obligations. As always, this outstanding annual (the fourth in this series published by Kluwer Law International) continues to offer perspectives that open on ideas in themselves, apart from the demands and responsibilities of knowing and applying the law in busy demanding professional and scholarly environments. For this reason especially it is sure to engage the deep interest of researchers, academics, practitioners, law reform bodies, governmental groups and their advisers working in this complex and varied field of law.

The 7th edition of Understanding Equity and Trusts provides a clear, accessible and lively overview of the main themes in this dynamic area of the law. An ideal first point of entry to the subject or revision tool, this book will give you an invaluable grounding in all of the key principles of equity and the law of trusts. This book covers all of the topics that a student reader will encounter in any trusts law or equity course. The text deals with express trusts, resulting and constructive trusts, the duties of trustees, breach of trust and tracing, commercial uses of trusts, charities, equitable remedies and trusts of homes.

The use of trusts in the modern, globalised economy is expanding rapidly. Trusts are employed, among many other purposes, for tax and estate planning, to protect assets from political unrest, and to address forced heirship issues. Indeed, they have almost become a necessity in an era which has seen the rise of multinational corporations, the frequent transfer of employees across jurisdictions, and an increase in the adoption of residence in another country by retirees and expatriates. "Trusts in Prime Jurisdictions presents an overview of 15 jurisdictions where trusts are part of the economic and legal landscape. This volume comprises 27 expert papers, contributed by practitioners and academics, on various aspects of trust law, taxation and related subjects, both on and offshore. The work will be a valuable resource for the specialist practitioner wishing to gain a broader, international perspective, and for the professional newer to the field who requires a good basic knowledge of the subject.

In recent years, numerous jurisdictions have seen a significant shift in thinking about whether and to what extent matters involving the inner workings of a trust - so-called 'internal' trust disputes between settlors, trustees, and beneficiaries - are amenable to arbitration. Not only are parties expressing an increased desire to minimize the cost and delay of hostile trust litigation, but courts and legislatures from around the world have begun to demonstrate an increased willingness to allow these sorts of disputes to go to arbitration. Indeed, legislation allowing internal trust arbitration now exists in a number of jurisdictions, while courts in other countries have begun to allow mandatory arbitration of these types of disputes even in the absence of subject-specific statutes. This book discusses recent and anticipated developments concerning trust arbitration in a variety of domestic and cross-border settings. In so doing, the text not only provides necessary information about the special nature of national and international trust arbitration, it also bridges the gap between trust law and arbitration law by bringing together authors with expertise in both fields. Furthermore, this book is the first to provide detailed and critical analysis of various institutional initiatives in the area of trust arbitration (including measures proposed by the American Arbitration Association, the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, the English Trust Law Committee, and the International Chamber of Commerce) and to offer in-depth coverage of various national, international, and comparative issues, including the applicability of the New York Convention and the Hague Trust Convention to internal trust arbitration. As a result, this book is a must-have for specialists in both trust law and arbitration law.

This book explains how a creditor of an insolvent debtor can take priority over other creditors by claiming a proprietary interest in assets held by the debtor, and concentrates on the circumstances in which proprietary interests are created by operation of law or are implied from the arrangements between the parties. This is a subject of particular importance and difficulty in common law systems because of the changeable nature of equitable proprietary interests, and this book provides a clear and structured explanation of the current state of the law, with detailed reference to case law from England and Wales as well as Commonwealth jurisprudence, and suggests how it might be clarified and simplified by returning to first principles. The new edition considers a number of important developments which pertain to proprietary rights and insolvency. It evaluates the key decision of the Supreme Court in FHR European Ventures v Cedar Capital Partners. Although this has settled the question of whether constructive trusts extend to bribes, it has raised more general issues regarding the approach of the courts to the imposition of proprietary remedies, which the book explores. It also covers recent Privy Council and Court of Appeal decisions concerning constructive notice (Credit Agricole v Papadimitrou, Central Bank of Ecuador v Conticorp, and SFO v Lexi), as well as interesting issues concerning the new status of intangibles (Armstrong v Winnington) and the status of the anti-deprivation rule (Belmont Park v BNY). Proprietary Rights and Insolvency is a lucid and practical reference source on insolvency and property law.

This article-by-article Commentary on EU Regulations 2016/1103 and 2016/1104 critically examines the uniform rules adopted by the EU to deal with the property relations of international couples, both married and in registered partnerships. It offers a comprehensive side-by-side discussion of the two Regulations to provide context and a deeper understanding of the issues of jurisdiction, applicable law and recognition of judgements covered. Written by experts from a variety of European countries, this Commentary draws on scholarship and practice from a number of EU states to enrich its analysis and explore pertinent questions of jurisprudence. It also highlights the close relationship of the Regulations with other legislative measures of the EU in the field of private international law, such as on matters of succession and matrimonial matters. This Commentary will be a crucial reference source for practitioners working as family litigation lawyers, estate planning lawyers and notaries. It will also be of interest to scholars and other practitioners working in the field of private international law. Contributors include: G. Biagioni, A. Bonomi, B. Campuzano Diaz, J. Carruthers, S. Corneloup, G. Cuniberti, E. D'Alessandro, P. Franzina, M. Gebauer, C. Kohler, S. Marino, C. Mariottini, D. Martiny, C.I. Nagy, J. Re, C. Ricci, A. Rodriguez Benot, L. Sandrini, I. Viarengo, P. Wautelet

During the past few decades, private equity (PE) has attracted considerable attention from investors, practitioners, and academicians. In fact, a substantial literature on PE has emerged. PE offers benefits for institutional and private wealth management clients including diversification and enhancement of risk-adjusted returns. However, the lack of transparency, regulatory restrictions, and liquidity concerns that exist for some PE options limit their attractiveness for some investors. Private Equity: Opportunities and Risks offers a synthesis of the theoretical and empirical literature on PE in both emerging and developed markets. The book examines PE and provides important insights about topics such as major types of PE (venture capital, leveraged, buyouts, mezzanine capital, and distressed debt investments), how PE works, performance and measurement, uses and structure, and trends. Readers can gain an in-depth understanding about PE from academics and practitioners from around the world. Private Equity: Opportunities and Risks provides a fresh look at the intriguing yet complex subject of PE. A group of renowned experts take readers through the core topics and issues of PE, and also examine the latest trends and cutting-edge developments in the field. Additionally, discussion of research on PE permeates the book. The coverage extends from discussing basic concepts and their application to increasingly complex and real-world situations. Thus, this volume spans the gamut from theoretical to practical, while offering a useful balance of detailed and user-friendly coverage. This fresh and intriguing examination of PE is essential reading for anyone hoping to gain a better understanding of PE, from seasoned professionals to those aspiring to enter the demanding world of finance.

The so-called Quistclose trust probably represents the single most important application of equitable principles in commercial life. (Lord Millett in the foreword to this book). The decision of the House of Lords in Twinsectra v Yardley has refocused attention on the Quistclose trust. Although accepted by insolvency lawyers as a convenient tool for corporate rescue, the precise basis of the trust has always been in doubt. The purpose of these essays is to explore the foundations of the trust and subject them to a searching analysis. Contributors: Robert Stevens (Oxford), 'Rolls Razor Ltd'; William Swadling (Oxford), 'Orthodoxy'; James Penner (LSE), 'Lord Millett's Analysis'; Lionel Smith (McGill), 'Understanding the Power'; Robert Chambers (Alberta),'Restrictions on the Use of Money'; Peter Birks (Oxford),'Retrieving Tied Money'; Ewan McKendrick (Oxford), 'Commerce'; Robert Stevens (Oxford), 'Insolvency'; George Gretton (Edinburgh),'Scotland'.