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Monthly Archives: July 2012

Trust as Contract? Organization? Property!

M. W. Lau, The Economic Structure of Trusts (Oxford University Press, 2011).

This fascinating book stems from the author’s Ph.D. dissertation at the University of London, supervised by Professor (now the Honorable Mr. Justice) David Hayton and Professors James Penner and Paul Matthews.

The book is a response to academic writing from the United States emphasizing the contractarian or organizational basis of trust law.2

Dr. Lau’s account is also relevant to American trust law, even though our law will never be as proprietarian as the English law from which it descends. Still, American trust law, particularly as articulated in the Uniform Trust Code and the Restatement Third of Trusts, is experiencing a renewed appreciation of the property rights of the beneficiaries.3 Scholars of U.S. trust law will find much of interest in Dr. Lau’s thought-provoking book.

Cite as: Thomas Gallanis, Trust as Contract? Organization? Property!, JOTWELL (July 23, 2012) (reviewing M. W. Lau, The Economic Structure of Trusts (Oxford University Press, 2011)), https://trustest.jotwell.com/trust-as-contract-organization-property/.