The Worlds of Trusts at McGill

The Quebec Research Centre of Private and Comparative Law announces a conference entitled The Worlds of the Trust/La fiducie dans tous ses États, 23-25 September 2010, at the Faculty of Law, McGill University.

Until recently, the trust was often described as foreign to the logic of the law of property in the civilian tradition. This assertion is increasingly untenable, as the profile of the trust in legal systems with a civilian law of property continues to develop and expand. This conference seeks to explore the multiple ways in which civilian and mixed legal systems have embraced the trust, with the goal of allowing jurists from different jurisdictions to better understand their different approaches to this increasingly important legal institution.

This conference promises to be a new point of departure in the comparative study of trust law. Twenty papers will be presented which examine issues relating to the nature and operation of trusts in civilian and mixed legal systems. Commentary on the papers will be provided by commentators with expertise in the common law trust. The working languages of the conference will be English and French. Simultaneous translation will be provided.

Speakers at the conference include: François Barrière, Université Paris-II(Panthéon-Assas); Alexandra Braun, Oxford University; François du Toit, University of the Western Cape, Republic of South Africa; Thomas Gallanis, University of Iowa; George Gretton, University of Edinburgh; Lusina Ho, University of Hong Kong; Mr. Justice Nicholas Kasirer, Quebec Court of Appeal; Paul Matthews, King's College London.

Commentators include: Gregory Alexander, Cornell Law School; Aline Grenon, University of Ottawa; John Langbein, Yale Law School; Ben McFarlane, Oxford University; Tina Piper, McGill University; Robert Sitkoff, Harvard Law School; Lionel Smith, McGill University; Donovan Waters, University of Victoria (Emeritus).

The full programme is available at

http://www.mcgill.ca/crdpcq/activities/trust/

The online registration system will be available in late July. The conference will be accredited by the Barreau du Québec as part of its mandatory continuing legal education programme.

The Quebec Research Centre of Private and Comparative Law acknowledges with gratitude the financial support that it has received from the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel Foundation, from Quebec's Ministère du Développement économique, de l'Innovation et de l'Exportation, and from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.