Equity & Trusts Coursework (Final Year LLB Law) Essay

Equity & Trusts Coursework (Final Year LLB Law) - Essay Example It is worth mentioning that charitable trusts in the United Kingdom (UK) are entitled to be governed by law1. In addition, charities are free to take part in public debates in the areas related to policy and legislation along with involving in the political activities with the motive of influencing decisions that will support the work of charity and not for any other purposes. At the same time, it has been affirmed that charities are entitled to guard their independence but they cannot permit political activities to become the reason for their existence. In this regard, the major problem behind the law governing the charities is that this law does not explicitly define the charitable purposes2, knowledge and understanding of the law of equity and trusts. Correspondingly, the focus of the essay is to identify the reasons why it is desirable to encourage, rather than restrict, charities’ advocacy and campaigning role. The Law of Equity and Trusts In order to acquire comprehensiv e understanding regarding the law of equity and trusts, it would be vital to begin with analysing the historical background related with the origin of the law. In this context, it is worth mentioning that the history of trusts in the UK is originally derived from the principle of equity. During the 12th and the 13th century, possession of land in Britain was derived on the feudal system. When people left to fight in the struggle, they had to pass their land to other people for taking care of it. In general, when those people returned back, the other people had to give back their land to the respective owner. However, at that time the principle of equity was not recognized. Hence, when the actual owner failed to recover his/her land despite claiming in the court, the people plead to king. On their petition the matter was referred to Lord Chancellor. Since then the principle of equity was originated3. There are certain basic principles of equity that act as a guide for courts in decid ing whether equitable jurisdiction should be followed. These basic principles are represented below: Equity will not experience a wrong to be without a redressal Equity abides by a law An individual who pursues equity must ensure equity An individual who comes to equity must aim to ensure clean hands ‘Where the equities are equal, the law triumphs’ ‘Equity imputes an aim to realise an obligation’ ‘Equity values act that ought to be done’ ‘Equity is equality’ ‘Equity regards to the intent rather than the form’ ‘Delay defeats equity’ (Source4) Concerning the legislation being exercised in the UK, it has been ascertained that the trust law was originally regulated by the Trustee Act 1925. However, this particular Act is currently replaced by Trustee Act 2000. From a critical analysis of the law of equity and trusts, it has been observed that the Trustee Act 2000 is the most inclusive trust law in the UK parti cularly in England and Wales. The Trustee Act 2000 is a set of regulations that articulates the duties of trustees and has been enforced throughout England and Wales. The Trustee Act of 2000 fundamentally comprises five aspects related to trust law. These five aspects include duty of trustee, power of trustee to invest, power of trustee to appoint nominee, power of trustee to acquire property and power of trustee to obtain remuneration and other benefits 5 However, the law relating to charities is different from the ordinary law of trust.