Introduction

Summary

We begin with two bibliographical observations. First, scholarly interest in trust is no recent phenomenon, but lately there has been a flowering of academic literature studying numerous dimensions of trust from the standpoints of philosophy, economics, sociology and psychology. The depth and richness of this literature is impressive but hardly surprising, given that trust itself is a notoriously complex, elusive and fact-specific phenomenon. Secondly, scholarly interest in the fiduciary principle that plays such a central role in common law legal systems with a tradition of equity was scarce until the late twentieth century. However, that situation has most definitely changed (for the better), and we now enjoy an abundance of scholarship exploring the fiduciary principle in private law. Moreover, there is a growing body of work exploring ideas of fiduciary government and international law. Scholars are puzzling over fiduciaries and trust as never before.