Trust and Patrimony

Abstract

This chapter examines whether the common law trust can be understood as a patrimony in the civilian sense. It begins with a discussion of Pierre Lepaulle's claim that the common law trust is a patrimony affected to a destination or purpose. It then considers the situation of creditors and beneficiaries in a common law trust before advancing the argument that, contrary to the position taken by Lepaulle, the common law trust is not a patrimony. It contends that only trustees have direct access to the trust assets; trust creditors, and even beneficiaries, do not. It also asserts that the essence of the common law trust lies not in any division of ownership of the trust property, but in the fact that the trust beneficiaries hold rights in the rights that the trustee holds as trust property. The chapter concludes by relating the trust institution to the idea of legal personality.