ABSTRACT

A beneficiary under a trust created by will made allegations of misconduct against a trustee concerning the administration of the trust.

Held

Notwithstanding that the allegations were not substantiated, the court would exercise its jurisdiction to remove the trustees:

Lord Blackburn: . . . the whole case has been argued here, and, as far as their Lordships can perceive, in the court below, as depending on the principles which should guide an English court of equity when called upon to remove old trustees and substitute new ones. It is not disputed that there is a jurisdiction ‘in cases requiring such a remedy’ as is said in Story’s Equity Jurisprudence, s 1287, but there is very little to be found to guide us in saying what are the cases requiring such a remedy; so little that their Lordships are compelled to have recourse to general principles.