ABSTRACT
It is a neat trick which the trust performs – two or more people are able to hold rights simultaneously in the same item of property. The trustee is recognised by the common law as being the owner of the property – therefore the trustee is said to have the common law, or ‘legal’, rights in the property, whereas the beneficiary is recognised by equity as having rights in the property – therefore the beneficiary is said to have the ‘equitable’ rights in the property. The nature of these equitable rights are considered in more detail in Chapters 5 and 10. In short, the beneficiaries have both proprietary rights in the trust property and also the right to ensure that the trustees observe the terms of their trusteeship.
