Foreword by Lord Templeman

Summary

The English law of Trusts was invented by English barristers and developed by the courts to avoid feudal taxes and to protect property for the benefit of widows and infants. Settlements ensured that primogeniture preserved capital; settlement trustees enforced against eldest sons obligations to maintain widows, educate younger sons and provide financial inducements for the marriage of daughters. Eldest sons became squires, younger sons became clerics or administrators and daughters provided the next generation. The whole system of trusts depended on trust and on the incorruptibility of trustees. The Courts of Chancery, much abused for their delay and expense, nevertheless evolved a series of draconian rules designed to protect beneficiaries against exploitation. The two principal rules were that a trustee must not profit from his trust and must not put himself in a position in which his interest conflicts with his duty. While the Courts of Chancery supervised private trusts there was no corresponding check on public fiduciaries. Nepotism and corruption in public office were only gradually eliminated as Parliament reformed itself, and the Courts of King's Bench began to claim power to curb the excesses of maladministration by the weapons of judicial review and discovery. The heyday of trusts was the Victorian era when religion, philanthropy and male chauvinism all combined to frustrate Lizzie Eustace and produce Soames Forsyte.