ABSTRACT
The historical root of the trust can be explained most dramatically in the Crusades of the 13th century in which English noblemen fought and which meant that they were away from England for years at a time. These nobles were also the most significant landowners in England under the old feudal land system. The problem therefore arose as to who would be able to direct how the land should be used if the landowner was out of the country. In consequence, equity recognised that land could be left by the landowner ‘to the use’ of another while the landowner was unable to exercise his legal rights in person. Consequently, equity came to recognise an arrangement by which the landowner would pass the legal rights in the land to a trusted person (or ‘trustee’) so that the trustee could control the use of the land but on the understanding that the ultimate rights to the property remained with the landowner as the ‘beneficiary’ of this arrangement.
