Brown v Burdett
| Brown v Burdett | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Court | High Court |
| Citation(s) | (1882) 21 Ch D 667 |
| Court membership | |
| Judge(s) sitting | Bacon VC |
| Keywords | |
| Trusts, beneficiary principle | |
Brown v Burdett (1882) 21 Ch D 667 is an English trusts law case, concerning the ability to create a trust for a purpose that does not benefit any actual person.
Facts
An old lady, Anna Maria Burdett who lived in Gilmorton, Leicestershire demanded in her will that her house be boarded up with "good long nails to be bent down on the inside", but for some reason with her clock remaining inside, for twenty years.[1] She directed her trustees to visit the house every three months to see that the trusts were effectually carried out, and if any trustee neglected this they should lose their entitlements under the will.
Judgment
Bacon VC cancelled the trust altogether, and held that the twenty-year term was invalid for the house, yard, garden, and outbuildings.[2] He said very briefly,
I think I must “unseal” this useless, undisposed of property. There will be a declaration that the house and premises were undisposed of by the will, for the term of twenty years from the testatrix's death.
See also
- v
- t
- e
Trust enforceability cases
Morice v Bishop of Durham [1805] EWHC Ch J80
Saunders v Vautier (1841) EWHC Ch J82
Re Astor's Settlement Trusts [1952] Ch 534
Re Andrew's Trusts [1905] 2 Ch 48
Re Shaw [1957] 1 WLR 729
Re Endacott [1959] EWCA Civ 5
Re Denley's Trust Deed [1969] 1 Ch 373
Re Osoba [1978] EWCA Civ 3
Recognition of Trusts Act 1987, Sch 1, art 18
Bermuda Trusts (Special Provisions) Act 1989 ss 12A and 12B
Twinsectra Ltd v Yardley [2002] UKHL 12
Perpetuities and Accumulations Act 1964 ss 1 and 3
Perpetuities and Accumulations Act 2009 ss 5, 7-11
Beneficiary principle and English trusts law
- English trust law
