This module is not currently running in 2024 to 2025.
The module will analyse and evaluate trusts in contemporary capitalist society, adopting critical and historical methodologies in relation to a variety of topics or case studies. Doctrines and remedies first developed by the English court of equity, the Court of Chancery, are pervasive within the contemporary juridical landscape, both within the English jurisdiction and internationally with London as an international financial and legal centre. Amongst equity's most important contributions to the contemporary juridical landscape is the trust, which has been utilised in a vast range of contexts, including private wealth planning and the structuring of inheritance, charities, pension funds, and facilitating international bond markets. The trust’s flexibility is such that many international jurisdictions outside the common law world are seeking to replicate the trust form. Consequently, critical engagement with equity and trusts in modern society is essential. The course will be split into two parts. The first part will consist of an advanced introduction to trusts law and theories of the trust in legal and political contexts. The second part of the course will analyse and evaluate topics of contemporary significance in light of theories explored in the first part of the course. In doing so, it will explore the interplay of form and function in trusts law and practice.
Total study hours: 200
Contact hours: 20
Private study hours: 180
LLM in (Specialisation); LLM in Law; PG Diploma in (Specialisation); PG Certificate in Law
Main assessment methods
The module will be assessed by 100% coursework, comprising:
Essay (no more than 5,000 words) – 100%
Reassessment methods
Reassessment instrument: 100% coursework
• R-M.B. Antoine, Offshore Financial Law: Trusts and Related Tax Issues (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2nd ed, 2013)
• J. Garton (ed), Moffat's Trusts Law: Texts and Materials (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 6th ed, 2015)
• D. Hayton (ed.), The International Trust (Bristol: Jordans, 3rd ed, 2011)
• B. Harrington, Capital Without Borders: Wealth Managers and the One Percent (London: Harvard University Press, 2016)
• G. Ingham, Capitalism (Cambridge: Polity, 2008)
• A.J. Oakley (ed.), Trends in Contemporary Trust Law (Oxford: OUP, 1996)
• S. Picciotto, Regulating Global Corporate Capitalism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011)
• M. W. Lau, The Economic Structure of Trusts: Towards a Property-based Approach (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011)
• L. Smith, The Worlds of Trust (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013)
• S. Worthington, Proprietary Interests in Commercial Transactions (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996)
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
The intended subject specific learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module, students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate an advanced grounding in, principles and law of trusts.
2. Demonstrate a systematic understanding and evaluation of the different views on the nature of the trust.
3. Critically analyse and evaluate the trust as a juridical relation and institution in contemporary contexts.
4. Demonstrate a comparative understanding of trust and trust-like institutions.
5. Demonstrate a critical awareness and analysis of historical and contemporary theoretical and policy problems in equity and trusts.
6. Critically analyse and evaluate trust law's contribution to and role in modern society.
The intended generic learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module, students will be able to:
1. Present relevant knowledge and understanding in the form of reasoned argument.
2. Identify and evaluate complex problems according to their historical, political and legal context.
3. Carry out independent further research from a variety of sources informing a sustained and detailed argument.
4. Summarise detailed conceptual material, analysing and critically evaluating different positions that arise in the literature surveyed.
5. Appreciate that legal forms arise and operate within complex historical and political conditions.
6. Demonstrate an awareness of the economic, political and/or social implications of legal forms and remedies.
Stage 1
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