A GJ Topics article.

Abstract

English trust law is increasingly emulating contract. The relationship of trustee to beneficiaries is now modelled as a consensual relationship created by agreement rather than custody; and governed by standards and duties of care with tort-like features as opposed to traditional fiduciary controls. This movement, which has considerable support in the appellate judiciary, is accelerated by the recasting of trustee powers and duties in the Trustee Act 2000. Further contractualization might provoke a shift into third-party-beneficiary contract and agency models, a process that may be helped by the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999. The shift to contract-tort models may have gone too far in empowering trustees at the expense of entrustors, and on a broader level, in deregulating capital investment markets.

Originally published in Global Jurist Topics.

Recommended Citation

Getzler, Joshua (2002) "Legislative incursions into modern trusts doctrine in England: The Trustee Act 2000 and the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999," Global Jurist Topics: Vol. 2 : Iss. 1, Article 2.
Available at: http://www.bepress.com/gj/topics/vol2/iss1/art2