Trusts in Mixed Jurisdictions—Aspects of the Louisiana and South African Trusts Compared

Abstract

This Article undertakes a comparative analysis of aspects of the Louisiana and South African trusts to provide a contextualized perspective on the assimilation of the common-law trust into two mixed jurisdictions with strong civilian legal traditions. The Article attends, first, to the fact that Louisiana trust law is codified whereas South African trust law is not, and it investigates some of the effects of this fundamental difference on the development of trust law in the two jurisdictions. The Article next examines whether some of the principal obstacles to the reception of the trust in Louisiana proved equally obstructive to the reception of the trust in South Africa. The Article compares, finally, some core elements of the Louisiana and South African trusts to show that divergences between Louisiana and South African private law have caused the two jurisdictions to follow, at least at times, contrasting approaches to the trust institution and the law that governs it.