Comparing The Three Certainties When Creating An Express Private Trust In English Law

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This quote from Professor James Penner concerns one of the three certainties required when creating an express private trust in English law, which is certainty of subject matter.

In most trusts, the subject matter can be clearly identified. However, in can occur in some cases that the subject matter is ambiguous. That is a problem because in an express private trust, the ‘three certainties’ need to be satisfied in order to create a valid express trust, as stated in Re Kayford Ltd (In Liquidation). Lord Langdale MR identified the three requirements for a valid trust in Knight v Knight, where he claimed that a trust would only come into existence if there was certainty of words, certainty of subject matter, and certainty of objects. The finding …show more content…

An express trust cannot be established if a trust was not intended. The property which is intended to be subject to the trust obligation must be clearly identified. A vague and inaccurate definition of the intended trust property will render the trust invalid for uncertainty of subject matter. With the exclusion of charitable trusts, a trust will only be considered valid if it exists for the interest of identified legal persons who possess the locus standi to enforce the trust obligations, and for whom the property is held. If any of these certainties do not turn out to be sufficiently certain enough, the trust will be invalid. In this way, we need to make sure that the subject matter is ascertainable. If we cannot properly ascertain what the subject matter of a trust is, then it could be said that the settlor did not really intend to create a trust at all. Notwithstanding the fact that the three facets of ‘certainty’ are treated separately, in many cases they overlap. This essay will only concentrate on the certainty of subject matter, thus the two other certainties which are certainty of intention and certainty of objects will not be considered further, albeit they may be mentioned. The first part will focus on the general application of the requirement and where it

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