In his 1987 article, ‘Power, Property and the Law of Trusts: A Partial Agenda for Critical Legal Scholarship’, published in Journal of Law and Society, Roger Cotterrell outlined for the first time a critical, socio-legal approach to the law of trusts. For Cotterrell law is both instrumental and ideological. As such, critical analysis aims at the demystification of law: how does law structure and guarantee, on the one hand, yet legitimate and hide, on the other, the exercise of power? In particular, Cotterrell argues that trusts extend and intensify the ideological function of property, which hides or silences inequalities through a methodological separation of persons and things. Trusts further separate persons and things through the notion of the fund and the figures of trustee and beneficiary. Consequently, the trust both concentrates property-power (through the formation of large funds) and hides property-power (through the splitting of visible legal and invisible beneficial ownership). This critical framework explains the ideological significance of the beneficiary principle and the rule against non-charitable purpose trusts; fiduciary obligations; and charitable trusts. Thirty years later, Cotterrell’s work continues to pose questions of power, property, ideology and inequality, opening new perspectives on the broader societal significance of the effects of trust law.
This symposium (25-26 October) will revisit themes and theoretical perspectives in Roger Cotterrell’s now canonical work in the field of trusts law, 30 years after the publication of this ground-breaking article.
Speaker
- Rosemary Auchmuty, University of Reading
- TT Arvind, Newcastle University
- Brenna Bhandar, SOAS
- Michael Bryan, University of Melbourne
- Jonathan Garton, University of Warwick
- Adam Gearey, Birbeck University of London
- Hayley Gibson, University of Kent
- Brooke Harrington, Copenhagen Business School
- Adam Hofri-Winogradow, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- Johanna Jacques, Durham University
- Henry Jones, Durham University
- Andres Knobel, Tax Justice Network
- Nick Piška , University of Kent
- Lisa Sarmas , University of Melbourne
- Ruth Stirton , University of Sussex
- Carla Spivack , Oklahoma City University of Law
- Sarah Wilson , University of York
If you would like to attend the symposium please register here. There is a fee of £50 which includes lunch, refreshments and a conference booklet (dinner and accommodation to be arranged by the individual, if required). Please note that there are only a limited number of spaces available.
The symposium is organised by Nick Piška and Hayley Gibson as part of the Equity & Trusts Research Network and is sponsored by the SLSA, KLS Research Group Social Critiques of Law and KLS Workshop Fund.
More info: https://www.kent.ac.uk/law/research/centres-and-groups/equity.html?tab=forthcoming-events