A person may hold property for a variety of purposes. The most common situation is that he
wants to use and enjoy it for his own benefit. But he may also have agreed to administer the
property either for the benefit of someone else or to further some particular purpose. Thus in
a broad and untechnical sense of the word he may hold it in trust. This kind of arrangement
has been resorted to for many different reasons both legitimate and illegitimate. From very
early on European legal systems have been faced with the need to establish rules and
eventually institutions to deal with the resulting legal problems. Fiducia fideicommissum
Treuhand foundation executorship and of course the trust: they all provided at some time
or other and in some place or other the legal framework that was required. The present volume
attempts to present a comparative historical analysis of these devices. It seeks to trace the
paths of the idea of holding for others or of holding property in a fiduciary capacity: itinera
fiduciae. And it comes to the conclusion that historical connections can be drawn between the
English trust and the Continental legal tradition. The common features and the common sources
evident on both sides of the Channel mean that no wall of incomprehension separated the English
trust from analogous institutions on the Continent. On this account Otto von Gierke's often
quoted remark to F. W. Maitland (I do not understand your law of trusts) gives a misleading
impression. If as seems to be happening today modern European law incorporates the trust
there is much to suggest that it will be building upon historical foundations.
