Trust
From Common law and equity
PropertyContract and obligations
What it means
A trust splits ownership in two. A trustee holds legal title to property, but must manage it for the benefit of someone else (the beneficiary), who has an equitable interest.
Why it travels badly
Civil law normally has one owner per thing, and does not recognise a split between legal and equitable ownership. So the trust has no natural home in a civil code, and the closest institutions do something different.
How other systems say it
fiducie
A statutory arrangement in which property is transferred to a fiduciary for a stated purpose. It is narrower than the trust and tightly regulated.
Treuhand
A fiduciary relationship in which the trustee becomes the full owner, bound by a contract. The beneficiary does not own an equitable interest in the asset.
fideicomiso
A statutory institution (for example in Mexico and Argentina) that has trust-like features and is regulated by its own law.
shintaku (信託)
A trust law modelled on the English trust, adopted in the early twentieth century and revised since.
Tip for translators and students
Where a document comes from a common-law country, keep the word 'trust' (or the foreign term) and explain it once, since the local equivalents are not the same thing. The 1985 Hague Convention on the Law Applicable to Trusts helps countries recognise trusts governed by foreign law.
See the Legal Dictionary entry →
Related: Equity, Fiduciary duty
Updated October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
TheLawToKnow Tools’s glossary is an educational overview of the main differences between legal systems. It is not legal advice.
