Trustee Act 1925

Trustee Act 1925[a]
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn Act to consolidate certain enactments relating to trustees in England and Wales.
Citation15 & 16 Geo. 5. c. 19
Territorial extent England and Wales[b]
Dates
Royal assent9 April 1925
Commencement1 January 1926[c]
Other legislation
AmendsSee § Repealed enactments
Repeals/revokesSee § Repealed enactments
Amended by
Relates to
Status: Partially repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended
Text of the Trustee Act 1925 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

The Trustee Act 1925 (15 & 16 Geo. 5. c. 19) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed on 9 April 1925, which codified and updated the regulation of trustees' powers and appointment in England and Wales. It accompanied the land reform legislation of the 1920s. It came into effect on 1 January 1926.

Provisions

Section 61

There is a discretionary power available to the courts under this section which allows a trustee's personal liability for a breach of trust to be lifted if it appears to the court that the trustee "has acted honestly and reasonably, and ought fairly to be excused for the breach of trust and for omitting to obtain the directions of the court in the matter in which he committed such breach". The trustee could be relieved from personal liability "either wholly or partly".[1]

In a 2012 ruling concerned with liability for payment of a mortgage sum fraudulently requested by imposters, the High Court assessed the requirements of honesty and reasonableness separately and found that the solicitors who had wrongly handed over payment had acted "honestly" but not "reasonably". In the Court of Appeal, this ruling was overturned and the circumstances allowed the solicitors to be "fairly excused" their breach of trust.[2]

Repealed enactments

Section 70 of the act repealed 15 enactments, listed in the second schedule to the act.[3]

Citation Short title Extent of repeal
22 & 23 Vict. c. 35 Law of Property Amendment Act 1859 Sections twenty-three, twenty-seven, twenty-eight and twenty-nine.
44 & 45 Vict. c. 41 Conveyancing Act 1881 Subsections (4) and (5) of section forty-two.
48 & 49 Vict. c. 25 East India Unclaimed Stock Act 1885 Subsection (3) of section twenty-three.
53 & 54 Vict. c. 5 Lunacy Act 1890 Sections one hundred and thirty-five to one hundred and thirty-eight, so far as they relate to lunatic trustees, except where the Judge or Master in Lunacy is given concurrent jurisdiction with the High Court.
56 & 57 Vict. c. 53 Trustee Act 1893 The whole act.
57 & 58 Vict. c. 10 Trustee Act 1893, Amendment Act 1894 Sections one and four.
59 & 60 Vict. c. 35 Judicial Trustees Act 1896 Section three.
1 & 2 Geo. 5. c. 37 Conveyancing Act 1911 Section eight.
1 & 2 Geo. 5. c. 40 Lunacy Act 1911 Section one.
4 & 5 Geo. 5. c. 47 Deeds of Arrangement Act 1914 Section eighteen.
9 & 10 Geo. 5. c. 99 Housing (Additional Powers) Act 1919 Section nine.
11 & 12 Geo. 5. c. 55 Railways Act 1921 The words "the Trustee Act, 1893, and" in section fifteen.
12 & 13 Geo. 5. c. 16 Law of Property Act 1922 Subsection (4) of section eighty-three, section eighty-eight; Part IV., except subsection (7) of section one hundred and ten, subsection (3) of section one hundred and thirteen, and subsection (5) of section one hundred and twenty-three.
12 & 13 Geo. 5. c. 60 Lunacy Act 1922 Subsections (3), (4) and (5) of section two.
15 Geo. 5. c. 5 Law of Property (Amendment) Act 1924 Section five and the Fifth Schedule.

Subsequent developments

The Trustee Act 2000 (c. 29), which came into force on 1 February 2001, repealed part I of the act and replaced the investment powers of trustees with a broader statutory duty of care and a general power of investment.[4]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Section 71(1).
  2. ^ Section 71(3).
  3. ^ Section 71(2).

References

  1. ^ UK Legislation, Trustee Act 1925, section 61, accessed 25 December 2020
  2. ^ Hopcraft, S., Davisons Solicitors v Nationwide Building Society, Wright Hassall, published on 18 February 2013, accessed on 20 December 2024
  3. ^ "Trustee Act 1925", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, Geo5/15-16 c. 19
  4. ^ "Trustee Act 2000", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 2000 c. 29

Further reading

  • WT Murphy, T Flessas and S Roberts, Understanding Property Law (4th edn Sweet and Maxwell, London 2003)
  • C Harpum, S Bridge and M Dixon, Megarry & Wade: The Law of Real Property (7th edn Sweet and Maxwell 2008)
  • Text of the Trustee Act 1925 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.
  • Text of the Trustee Act 1925 as originally enacted or made within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.
  • The full text of Trustee Act 1925 at Wikisource
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