Xiamen Xinjingdi Group Co Ltd v Eton Properties Limited: clarifying the steps and issues to consider when lodging a trust claim in cross-border disputes

Abstract

Xiamen Xinjingdi Group Co Ltd v Eton Properties Limited is a recent Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal judgment which concerns a very complex commercial dispute and covers multiple areas of law. In this article, we will focus on Lord Sumption NPJ’s analysis of the trust claims and evaluate the judgment as well as its potential implications. We argue that while this judgment has helpfully clarified the law in relation to trust claims with a cross-border context, the legal reasoning and conclusions reached therein cannot be said to be free of errors.