Equity and the Law of Trusts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Equity and the Law of Trusts - Essay Example It seems apparent that the coming of age for equity and trust laws were indeed based upon medieval cultures and moral judgments of the day, as the Chancellor of medieval times was in fact based on religious right and not trained in legal matters. One of the major problems of the day was the fact that disputes were not settled within the courts but rather on a county by county diversity which usually involved whatever each of the districts followed as part of their own judicial accounting. By 1529, a properly trained lawyer took the appointment of Chancellor and thus a new era was cemented with respect to proper documents being recorded and kept which would ultimately lead to many important doctrines to be formed outlining equity laws. "In modern practice, perhaps the most important distinction between law and equity is the set of remedies each offers." (Wikipedia: Equity) Resulting from this modernization of a medieval practice, it would be fair to state that through the development of equity laws since the medieval times is defined only by what the rewards would normally reap for judgments. During earlier times, payment would have been comparative to the time and era. For instance, in modern times, it would lean more towards the monetary rewards and not so much in material value. Differences between Equity and Trust Laws To understand how the laws of equity were derived from trust laws of the English court system, it is important to define each. "Equity is the name given to the portion of the legal system, in countries following the English common law tradition that resolves disputes between persons by resorting to principles of conscience, fairness and justness. Equity comes into play typically when none of the parties to the dispute has done anything against the law, but their rights or claims are in conflict." (Wikipedia: Equity) Trust laws were derived from this definition of equity system of law governance and is described as In common law legal systems, a trust is a relationship in which a person or entity (the trustee) holds legal title to certain property (the trust property or trust corpus), but is bound by a fiduciary duty to exercise that legal control for the benefit of one or more individuals or organizations (the beneficiary), who hold "beneficial" or "equitable" title. The trust is governed by the terms of the (usually) written trust agreement and local law. The entity (one or more individuals, a partnership, or a corporation) that creates the trust is called variously the trustor, settlor, grantor, donor, or creator. This dual title (legal versus equitable) is frequently called "split title." The "title split" of trust law may be generalized colloquially as follows: legal title involves control, management, and possession, while equitable (beneficial) title involves "benefit," "enjoyment," and "use." (Wikipedia: Trust (Law) USA) There is an important distinction with respect to how equity law and trust law are governed and does date back to the early history of English law with respect to h