ABSTRACT
The automatic resulting trust operates a little like a ball on a piece of elastic. If the settlor attempts to throw the ball away – either by transferring the property to somebody else or by purporting to declare a trust over it – but fails to make clear who is to take the beneficial interest in that property, then those unallocated beneficial rights will bounce back to the settlor just as a ball on a piece of elastic would. There were a number of situations in which presumptions have operated historically in relation to resulting trusts. Professor Birks’s theory was disposed of and the mooted massive expansion of the resulting trust was prevented. Lord Browne-Wilkinson, however, spoke for the majority of the House of Lords in finding that Milligan ought to be entitled to a right under resulting trust principles. Lord Browne-Wilkinson gave the leading speech for the majority in the House of Lords.
