Re Astor's Settlement Trusts Explained

Re Astor’s Settlement Trusts
Court:High Court
Citations:[1952] Ch 534
Keywords:Trusts

Re Astor’s Settlement Trusts [1952] Ch 534 is an English trusts law case, concerning the principle that non-charitable trusts must be for beneficiaries and not abstract purposes.

Facts

Waldorf Astor, private secretary to David Lloyd George and the husband of Lady Astor, the first woman to take her seat in the House of Commons, died. He had wished to create a trust for the ‘maintenance… of good understanding… between nations’ and ‘the preservation of the independence and integrity of newspapers’ with money from the shares he owned in his newspaper The Observer. The will was challenged on the basis that a trust for an abstract purpose, rather than for real people, could not be valid.

Judgment

Roxburgh J held that the trust failed because of the lack of beneficiaries, and it was uncertain. He said the following.[1]

See also

Notes and References

  1. 1952