East Asian trusts at the crossroads

• Main Author: WU, Ying Chieh
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2015
• Subjects: Trust; Contract; Property; Separate Patrimony; Manifestation of Intent; Ownership; Dos; Peculium; Asian Studies; Estates and Trusts
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/2528; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/4486/viewcontent/SSRN_id2694581.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

The purpose of this article is to scrutinize the legal structure of trusts in Japan, SouthKorea and Taiwan. The so-called infrastructure of the private law of these jurisdictions is rooted in theRoman-Germanic basis, which adopts dichotomous system in respect of that area of privatelaw dealing with property: the law of property and that of obligation. However,the adoption of the trust has caused some problems. Though controversial, thecontract-based view seems to be the majority view in the East Asian civiljurisdictions, yet the property-based view dominates the commonlaw world. However, being influenced by common law, the property-approach isalso asserted by some commentators in the aforementioned jurisdictions. It should be noted there hasbeen another approach adopted by academics in some civil and mixedjurisdictions, i.e. the doctrine of separate patrimony. The East Asiancivil jurisdictions’ approach is somehow at a crossroads. Being a legal systemwhere nomenclature matters, the issue of taxonomic classification can hardly beignored. We must find a way out from the crossroads. Itis to this task to which the present work is devoted.