Equity and Trusts

Overview

This unit introduces students to the equity jurisdiction of the unwritten law and the law of trusts. Within the unwritten law, equity developed to modify the rigidity of the law with the objective of achieving, fairness between parties. It now exists as a body of principles that seeks to produce individual transactional fairness and just outcomes. The concept of a trust is a major emanation of equity; as a result, this unit also examines the nature of trusts and the rights and obligations to which they give rise.

Unit learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

1. Evaluate Australian equity law and the law of trusts, and related policy debates and reform proposals
2. Explain the historical evolution of the equity jurisdiction and the distinction between legal and equitable principles and remedies in your advice to a client in a given set of facts
3. Locate and interpret legislation applicable to equity and trusts and apply it in the development of a legal argument
4. Conduct research into equity law and the law of trusts and use the results of that research in the development of a legal argument

Teaching methods

Hawthorn

Assessment

Content

• The origins and nature of equity and its relationship to the unwritten law
• Fiduciary obligations
• Equitable remedies
• Unconscionable transactions
• The nature, creation and variation of trusts
• Types of trusts
• The rights, powers and duties of trustees
• Breach of trust
• The rights and remedies of beneficiaries