This English-language text represents the first comprehensive study
of the law by an experienced practitioner of trust in the province of Quebec.
The author draws on his 50 years of experience as an estates and trusts
practitioner to trace the history, theory and scope of the new institution of
the trust in Quebec. He examines the forces that gave rise to the need for the
civil law to develop a trust vehicle, and the innovative solution which enabled
this to be done without doing violence to the basic principles of the civil
law. In a system that cannot accommodate the common law's division of title -
legal and equitable - the same results are achieved through a synthesis of the
legal recourses given to each actor by broad statutory provision.
The
author provides extensive examples of the uses of the civil law trust, pointing
out contrasts with the common law trust. This authoritative text will be of
interest, not only to Quebec lawyers, but to any lawyers who deal with personal
or commercial trusts, and to students and scholars of comparative law.
Especially in today's mobile world, this book is an invaluable resource to
solicitors dealing with cross-border estates or commercial interests. As stated
by the Honourable Charles D. Gonthier, retired Justice of the Supreme Court of
Canada, in his Preface to the book, the trust is a "legal instrument of great
economic and social significance," and "this work is a major contribution to
the understanding of the trust under the Quebec Civil Code from a
practitioner's point of view."
Credentials: John B. Claxton, Q.C.,
B.C.L., was a partner with Gowling Lafleur Henderson, Montreal, from 1963 to
1994. Now retired, he continues his affiliation with the firm as Counsel. A
member of the Bar of Quebec since 1950, Mr. Claxton has had a long and
distinguished career, practising in the areas of trusts and estates, corporate
trusts, corporate, banking and finance, and general business law and related
litigation. A graduate of McGill University, Mr. Claxton is the author of
numerous publications, a frequent speaker at seminars, and a past lecturer in
corporate/commercial law at McGill. He is a long-time member of the Canadian
Bar Association and of STEP (Society of Estates and Trusts Practitioners)
Canada. Mr. Claxton is the author of Studies on the Quebec Law of Trusts. |
