Trust in Quebec and Czech Law: Autonomous Patrimonies?

Abstract

The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the history and the controversies surrounding the nature of the Quebec trust, with the purpose of shedding light on the choices made by the Czech legislator. By articulating why the Quebec legislator chose patrimony by appropriation as the new vehicle for the trust rather than legal personality or a relational regime, it will be demonstrated that if the trust is now a fundamental legal institution in the law of Quebec, it is not without difficulty. The trust as patrimony by appropriation has indeed caused major transformations in Quebec’s understanding of rights and obligations. As it will be argued, it might be that the Czech legislator, in order to fully accommodate the trust as a patrimony by appropriation, has to relativize the absolute nature of property rights.