PhD student: Mr P.J. Follan

Promotor: Prof K.G.C. Reid

Duration: 1/7/2017 - 30/6/2020

Abstract:

My thesis will consider the nature of the beneficiarys right in a Scottish trust including both the juridical nature of that right as well as the actions which the beneficiary may maintain against trustees. At the highest level, the thesis is divided into three parts. The first part will address the historical development of the trust in Scotland with particular reference to the position of the beneficiary. The second part examines the nature of the right and considers at length the debate over whether it is personal or proprietary as well as the consequences which follow from either conceptualisation. To complete the illustration of the right, the third part considers the remedies a beneficiary holds against the trustee. This research will involve a detailed historical and comparative examination of the conceptual development of the right in both the law of Scotland and the common and civil law traditions which have influenced it. Particular reference will be paid to those civil law jurisdictions which have received or assimilated a trust on the common law model.