TRUST. A right of property, real or personal, held by one party for the benefit of another.
The party holding is called the &twice, and the party for whose benefit the right is held is called the ceetui que truer, or, using a. better term, the bene ficiary.
Sometimes the equitable title of the beneficiary, sometimes the obligation of the trustee, and, again, the rigbt held, is called the trust.
But the right of the beneficiary is in the trust ; the obligation of the trustee results from the trust ; and the right held is the eubject-matter of the trust. Neither of them is the trust itself. All together they constitute the trust.
Professor Parker, MS. Lectures in the Law School of Harvard College.
An equitable right, title, or interest in pro perty, real or personal, distinct from its legal ownership.
A personal obligation for paying, deliver ing, or performing any thing where the person trusting has no real right or security, for by that act he confides altogether to the faith fulness of those intrusted.
An obligation upon a person, arising out of a confidence reposed in him, to apply pro perty faithfully and according to such con fidence. Willis, Trust. 1 ; 4 Kent, Comm. 295 ; 2 Fonblanque, Eq. 1 ; 1 Saunders, Uses and Tr. 6 ; Cooper, Eq. Plead. Introd. 27 ; 3 Blackstone, Comm. 431.
The Roman fidei-continissa were under the name of uses, first introduoed by the clergy into Eng land in the reign of Richard II. or Edward III., and, while perseveringly prohibited by the alergy and wholly disoountenaneed by the courts of com mon law, they grew into public favor, and gradually developed into something like a regular branch of law, as the court of chancery rose into importanoe and power. For along time the beneficiary, or cextiti que trust, was without adequate protection ; but the Statute of Uses, passed in 27 Henry VIII., gave ade quate protection to the interests of the c,oted que trust. Prior to this statute the terms use and trust were used. if .nat indiscniminately, at least without accurate distinction between them. The distinction, eo far as there was one, was between passive uses, where the feoffee had no active duties imposed on hitn, and native trusts. where the feoffee had some
thing to de in connection with the estate. The Stat ute of Uses sought to unite the seiain with the use, making no distinction between uses and trusts, the result being that, by a strict construction, both uses aod trusts were finally taken out of its intended opera tion and were both included under the term trust. The statute was passed in 1538; but trusts did not become settled on their present basis till Lord Not tingham's time, in 1676. 2 Woshburn, Real Prop. Index, Trust ; l Greenleaf, Cruise, Dig. 338.
Active t11.180 are those in which the trustee has some duty to perform, so that the legal estate must remain in him or the trust be defeated.
An executed trust is one where the legal or equitable estate passes to the trustee at its creation. 1 Preston, Est. 190.
An executory &lid is one which is to be perfected at a future period by a conveyance or settlenient: as, in case of a conveyance to B in trust to convey to C.
Express trusts are those which are created in express ternas in the deed, writing, or will. The terms to create an express trust will be sufficient if it can be fairly collected upon the face of the instrument tbat a trust was intended. Express trusts are usually found in preliminary sealed agreements, such as marriage articles, or articles for the pm, chase of land ; in formal conveyances, such as marriage settlements, terms for years, mortgages, assignments for the payment of debts, raising portions, or other purposes ; and in wills and testaments, when the be. quests involve fiduciary interests for private benefit or public charity. They may be created even by parol. 6 Watts & S. Penn. 97.
Implied trusts are those which, without being expressed, are deducible from the nature of the transaction as matters of intent, or which are superinduced upon the transaction by operation of law, as matters of equity, independently of the particular intention of the parties. The term is used in this gene. ral sense, including constructive and resulting trusts, see these titles, and also in a more restricted sense, excluding those classes.