ABSTRACT
This chapter considers how theories of the legal nature of property impact on the law of trusts. It focuses on the trust institution, being equity's most important tool in property disputes. The chapter presents trust as an offshoot from equity which developed from the powers of the Courts of Chancery as a means of regulating the conscience of the common law owner of property by recognising that the beneficiary. The development of the principles of equity in England and Wales has interacted closely with commercial developments, the company, the floating charge, the trust itself, and also with the law of property, the trust of land and family settlements. The historical competition between the courts of common law and the courts of equity saw responsibility for much of these areas move between the two jurisdictions. The courts of equity became amenable to commercial goals such as the control of contractual obligations through specific performance.
