Certainty of Beneficiaries in Jersey and the First Principles of Trust Law

A fairly recent decision of the Jersey Royal Court involving the rules for validity of trusts reveals a nee d to clarify the scope and application of the provisions for identification of beneficiaries . This is an area where there is little case law to go on . The way in which the Royal Court understands and applies Articles 10 and 11 of the Trusts (Jersey) Law 1984 will define whether Jersey is seen internationally as overly restrictive in the recognition of trusts. Indeed, following Re Representation AIB Jersey Trust Ltd, the Exeter Settlement , academic commentary suggests that Jersey may be adopting a more restrictive approach to validity than that seen, for example , in English law. This may have a negative impact on the number of settlors who set up trusts in Jersey. Indeed, the Jersey Law Commission are conscious that “Jersey trust law [offers] the advantages to settlors a fforded by other jurisdictions”. Therefore, this article will examine the reasoning of the Royal Court in Exeter, and the first principles that underpin Articles 10 and 11, in order to determine whether Jersey law in fact takes a more restrictive approach to the validity of trusts than that taken by English law. [First paragraph of Introduction / Abstract]