NickPiška and HayleyGibson (eds) , Critical Trusts Law: Reading Roger Cotterrell, Coventry, Counterpress, 2024, 242 pp, pb £18.00
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Trusts are legal arrangements where assets are managed by one party (a trustee) for another's benefit (a beneficiary).But while often framed as neutral tools, Critical Trusts Law: Reading Roger Cotterrell reveals the role of these otherwise innocuous legal arrangements in perpetuating power imbalances and thus emerging as a potent symbol of deep-seated inequalities in contemporary society.Edited by Nick Piška and Hayley Gibson, this timely volume, given growing concerns about global wealth inequality, offshore financial havens, and the erosion of democratic governance -all areas where trusts play a significant but often hidden role, builds on Cotterrell's critical legal scholarship.Drawing on the experience and critical insights from a range of common law jurisdictions, including England and Wales and the United States, but equally exploring the global reach of trusts, contributors dissect cases like offshore asset shielding and exploitative philanthropy to show trusts as political instruments often favouring elites.This review evaluates the collection's critical framework and its proposed new directions, particularly its emphasis on power concentrations, moral distance, and fiduciary erosion -themes central to global discourse on tax justice and social equity.Moving beyond conventional trusts scholarship, which predominantly addresses doctrinal issues, this collection presents trusts as sociopolitical institutions that actively contribute to economic inequalities.This approach aligns with Cotterrell's socio-legal analysis in his 1987 article 'Power, Property and the Law of Trusts' ((1987) 14 Journal of Law and Society 77), which urged a departure from traditional doctrinal focus to examine the ideological and power dynamics within trusts law.As Cotterrell asserted, legal critique fundamentally involves a sociological analysis,seeking to explain legal doctrines and institutions as social phenomena with empirically verifiable causes and effects.Piška's introductory chapter sets the stage, framing critical trusts law not as a monolithic theory, but as a dynamic ethos that challenges the traditional understanding of trusts.And to substantiate this ethos, Piška revisits Cotterrell's key insights, emphasising the ideological function of trusts in obscuring power, and situates the volume within the context of contemporary concerns surrounding financialisation and the ever-widening wealth gap.As I argued in Capitalism and the Equity Fetish (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021) the use of trusts for the ideological goals noted by Piška, is driven by Marx's base forces of economy.This includes commercial pressures that promote trusts for both legitimate and abusive purposes, notably offshore 'wealth management', a euphemism for complex tax avoidance strategies.
Source: Modern Law Review
Author: Robert Herian
Institution: University of Exeter
Language: English
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,400
OpenAlex ID: W4411112831