The Scottish Law Commission has published a major report recommending substantial reform of the law of trusts in Scotland.

This is from the Scottish Law Commission.

“We publish today our Report on Trust Law.  Despite the prominence of trusts in Scots law, the institution is badly served by existing legislation.  The main statute, the Trusts (Scotland) Act 1921, is almost a century old: its structure and language have become antiquated, and the uses to which trusts are put have evolved over that time.  The Act has been heavily amended over the years, leading to a lack of clarity and practical difficulties for trustees and beneficiaries.  The recommendations in our Report will affect all those who use trusts and our draft Trusts (Scotland) Bill is aimed at providing a modern system of trust law, allowing Scotland to compete more effectively in the global trusts world.”

More on this, including the full report can be found here.

I would recommend this book to any solicitor in Scotland that deals with trusts.  Rennie Galbraith has produced a much needed second edition of his drafting guide.  It is published by W.Green.

I particularly liked the section on the use of Scottish terminology and the influence of English law on Scottish trust law.

“The influence of English law and practice of trust is still extremely prevalent today and certainly at a more than superficial level.   The reasons for this do not reflect well on the Scottish legal profession, those responsible for teaching the profession or those responsible for Scottish legislation.  English terminology abounds and, as a result principally of “English” legislation, which refers to “settlors” rather than “trusters” and “trusts with interests in possession” rather than “liferent trusts”.  The vast bank and array of trust taxation law tends to use English terminology.  Indeed, the trust law relating to charities could be described as almost a complete transplant of English law to the law of charities in Scotland”.

The Scottish Law Commission has published another in its series of discussion papers on trust law, the 8th since 2003. The commission is working on a draft Trusts (Scotland) Bill to replace the existing 1921 legislation and is consulting until 1 July 2011.