The General Overview of the Common Law Trust and the Theories of Its Origin

This chapter presents the trust as an institution, which is deeply rooted in the English legal tradition of the Middle Ages and creates a relationship subject to the rules of equity. Moreover, the trust is treated as a three-partite relationship, whose creation consists of the triad of stages. It is versatile and flexible. The trust is characterized by the duality of ownership. It is used for a great variety of purposes: private, charitable, governmental, municipal, protective, social, economic, investment, promotional, business, etc. Due to a great variety of uses, the trust crossed all the geographical boundaries and the trust-like devices appeared in some European countries. The chapter discusses the earliest trust-like devices and entrusting relationships, names the use as a forerunner of the trust, and presents the principles of the feoffee to use. Moreover, this part of the book briefly outlines the theories of Roman, Germanic, Roman-Germanic, Islamic, and English origins of the use.