Do Trusts Require Property? A Reassessment of Conventional Wisdom
2018 Trust Quarterly Review Vol 16 (3)
Posted: 24 Jul 2019
Date Written: July 22, 2019
Abstract
Trusts law is infused with the presence of property. By itself, this is not a problem, but what is a problem is the elevated position that property has acquired in trusts law; it has gone from being merely descriptive to being prescriptive. That is, property is now a requirement, and without it there can be no trust - or so conventional wisdom goes.
In this article, the author argues that this position is wrong; there can be, and are, trusts without property. As if this were not a difficult enough task, the author will do so by criticising that great trust book, Jacobs' Law of Trusts in Australia by Heydon and Leeming.
Keywords: Trust Law
JEL Classification: K1
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation