TRUST, in the law of England, is a confidence reposed in some other person touching land or goods for which the cestui que trust, or beneficiary, has no remedy except in the chancery division of the high court of justice. It means a species of divided proprietor ship, whereby the trustee acts as a custodier or strong-box; and yet the •benefit of the property is not his, but belongs to the cestui, que trust. The person who creates the trust is sometimes called the celut que trust. As a general rule, all property, whether real or personal, may be made the subject of a trust, provided some policy of the law or statute does not prevent it. Trusts are most frequently created by a will; but they may be declared by word of mouth as regards personalty; while as to land, some is neces sary. No particular words are necessary, but the intention of the party making the trust must be clear. Titus, in wills, a testator sometimes uses words which do not amount to an express trust, but speaks of his "wish and desire," or his "confidence" that the executor or trustee shall do certain things. These words are called in the law precatory trusts, but are enforced in the same way as more direct language, if no uncer tainty exists as to the purposes or mode of carrying out the trust.' But if a testator merely recommends an executor to " consider certain persons," " to he kind to them," or " to do justice to them," or " to make ample provision for them," etc.—such expressions are treated as too vague to be binding, and therefore the executor may disregard them, or use his own discretion. A trustee's is not a compulsory office, but gratuitous, and there fore he need not accept the office unless lie pleases. But if lie once accept, he is not at liberty afterward to renounce, unless the trust-deed contain a provision enabling hint to do so, or the court of chancery for good reasons discharge him. A trustee cannot dele gate the office to a third person, but continues personally bound to do his duty. Where there are several trustees appointed, the office is considered joint, so that if one dies, the survivors continue to exercise the office. As a general rule, all must join iu doing any act; but if the trust is of a public nature, a majority. may bind the Eaclitrits tee is liable only for his own acts or defaults, and this is so even though, for form's sake, he join his cc-trustees in signing a receipt, if he can show that he never received the money iu point of fact. Nevertheless, when money lies in the hands of one trustee, the others ought not to be satisfied with his mere statement that the money has been invested by him, but should see that it is actually done. Another rule is, that a trustee is not allowed to make a gain of his office; and so jealous is an English court of this rule, that the trustees of a large estate are not even allowed to sport over the estate—at least so as thereby to keep any valuable right of that kind for their own pleasure. Hence, a trus tee is personally liable if he trade with the trust funds, or buy shares in a joint-stock bank; for even though the trust-deed authorize this to be done, he will he liable to pay the debts of the trailing concern, though far exceeding the amount of the trust funds.
So, if a trustee is a solicitor, and does legal business for the estate, he will not be allowed to charge for his professional labors, but at most will be allowed only the costs out of pocket. It is seldom, therefore, that a trustee can get any benefit to himself from the trust estate, except in the rare case where the cestui que trust is dead without heirs, in which case the property will become the trustee's. This is, however, only so as to real estate; for if the trust estate consist of chattels, then, on the death of the cestui cue trust without heirs or executors, the property goes to the crown, and not to the trustee. It is the duty of a trustee to keep the trust funds safe: and if they consist of moneys, then he ought to invest them in government stock, and not let the money lie unproductive. He is not entitled to lend the money on personal security, or in the shares of any private company; but he may invest in mortgages, unless he is forbidden by the deed or will.
i If there is, therefore, no power to invest in mortgages, the trustee must invest in three per cent consols, and a few other government securities. The trustees, as a general rule, must pay interest whether they invest the funds or not (if they have had time to invest) to the cestui que trust; and they must account for all the profits they make with the trust funds, whether rightly or wrongfully. If a trustee has grossly misconducted himself as to the trust funds, he will be charged 5 per cent interest, and sometimes with compound interest. A trustee is entitled to be indemnified for all the reasonable expenses or outlay attending the execution of the trust, but he must in general bear the loss of any mistake as to the law ; but if there is any peculiar difficulty in carrying out the trust, he is entity led to take the opinion of, or even to throw the chief management upon, the court of chancery, 'as the only safe protection. When trustees are guilty of gross negligence, mismanagement, or misconduct, the court of chancery will remove them and appoint others. In Scotland, there are several technical points of difference from the above in 11w law of truots.—Paterson's Comp. of English and Scottish Law, s. 201. The chief prac tical difference is, that the investment of the trust funds in heritable securities or mort gages is considered equivalent or superior to government security, and hence it is the duty of the trustees to prefer such securities, as, owing to the practice of registration of deeds affecting real property, heritable security is always a safe investment there. In Scotland, as in England, trustees holding shares of a joint-stock hank as part of the trust funds, are liable personally to pay the debts of the hank.