Trust as a Legislative Challenge: Bipolar Relation vs Quasi-Corporate Status? – Basic Trust Models in Legal Practice, Theory, and Legislation - European Review of Private Law View Trust as a Legislative Challenge: Bipolar Relation vs Quasi-Corporate Status? – Basic Trust Models in Legal Practice, Theory, and Legislation by - European Review of Private Law Trust as a Legislative Challenge: Bipolar Relation vs Quasi-Corporate Status? – Basic Trust Models in Legal Practice, Theory, and Legislation 24 6

Trust is a multifaced and enigmatic legal construction. The recent reform of trust law in the Czech Republic is based on a very demanding legal concept, obviously linked with the “fiducie” model in the Law of Québec. In contrast, the legal community in Germany has to cope with trust issues on the basic of very few and simple Civil Code provisions under the law of obligations. This concept has, however, has proved to be fruitful producing three elementary types of trust constructions: (a) simple bipolar mandate agreements, (b) trust agreements in the benefit of third persons, and (c) complex trust organisations serving as quasi-legal bodies. The Czech trust law, recently enacted in ss. 1400 et seqq., is appropriate for the third (most complicated) type c of trust construction. It may, however, fall short as far as simple trust agreements (a, b) are concerned. The German law, on the other hand, has to cope with a noticeable drawback regarding type c: the lack of transparency of trust based quasi-entities.

European Review of Private Law