The main aim of this research is to determine the fiduciary status of constructive trustees; that is, whether and in what circumstances a trustee of a constructive trust is a fiduciary. This is an issue that has received some cursory attention, but about which there has been little analysis. It is important to tackle this apparent lacuna for two primary reasons. Firstly, because although it has not been an area that has caused much concern to date, there may arise in the future an issue that requires a specific answer to this question. For example, where a common intention constructive trust arises in the context of co-habitation, the question may arise of whether the constructive trustee of the couple's property is subject to the fiduciary duty of loyalty and thus must account to the beneficiary for any profits received from the property. Research should be proactive as well as re-active, and although this issue does not seem to have arisen in the past that does not mean that it will not arise in the future. While it might be argued that we can answer this question already, the current writing on the fiduciary status of constructive trustees is inconsistent and would seem to provide conflicting answers to the above question. This leads to the second, and more urgent, reason for tackling this issue. The current lack of understanding of this issue highlights a more basic lack of understanding in respect of fundamental aspects of trusts law. Our misconceptions about the fiduciary status of constructive trustees arise from both a lack of understanding about the nature and creation of fiduciary obligations and relationships, and a misunderstanding about the consequences of the imposition of constructive trusts and the nature of constructive trusteeship. This research seeks to address these issues.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:688102 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Ballinger, Katherine |
| Publisher | University of Bristol |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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