The golden age

Somewhere in history, there was a golden age of trusts. Whenthat was, is difficult to say. Perhaps it was when Lord Nottingham,in the 17th century, brought order to Chancery cases and, bymaking equity a proper body of legal precedent, overcame theopinions then that Chancery decisions varied according to thelength of the Chancellor's foot. These principles still givethe English type of trust its particular details and characteristics.Or perhaps the idea of a golden age is a myth; as with mostgolden ages, nostalgia is     

Wills and Probate, Which? Essential Guides: A complete guide to making a will and administering an estate * Paul Elmhirst

This book, published by Which? explains the law relating towills and the administration of estates (probate). It is ideal     

Parker's Modern Wills Precedents, 5th edn * By Michael Waterworth MA (Cantab)

Trusts set up by will, will trusts, are governed by similarconsiderations to those affecting inter vivos trusts. Frequentlyin trust textbooks the authors do not tell us that will trustshave some significant difference from inter vivos trusts. Thelatter may be set up quite informally by a mere declarationof intention and the transfer of the trust property to the trustees.But will trusts can only come about if the law relating to makinga valid will has been complied with. This tends to get overlookedunder the shadow of possible inheritance tax     

Nothing to Lose: An Insurance Company's Duty of Good Faith and Fair Dealing,Punitive Damages,and The Legacies of Campbell

This article explores the potential evisceration of the deterrence function of punitive damages, one of the only economic incentives that deters insurance companies from opportunistically breaching their insurance policies. Readers will gain an understanding of why large punitive damages awards are essential in the insurance coverage field and how such awards may implicate due process standards. The article explains the constitutional limitations set forth by the U.S. Supreme Court in imposing punitive damages, and provides a roadmap of how lower courts and practitioners are presently applying these rules.     

Drafting Trusts and Will Trusts in the Channel Islands, James Kessler QC and Paul Matthams

This is the latest in the series of book based upon James Kessler'swell-known book on the simplification of trust drafting. Theco-author of this publication is Paul Matthams, Advocate ofthe Royal Court of     

Sexual asphyxia in siblings

We present an accidental autoerotic asphyxiation of a 24-year-old man. Further investigation revealed that 18 years earlier, his brother, then 13, had been found dead, hanging in the family bathroom. Although that death had been ruled a suicide, reevaluation of the death scene indicates that this was also an autoerotic asphyxiation. This is the first reported case of sexual asphyxia involving siblings.     

Identifying a suitable mounting medium for use in forensic fibre examination.

As the result of a previous study many laboratories have used XAM neutral medium-improved white mounting medium in textile fibre examination for more than 20 years. Due to European Directive 98/79/EC, XAM is no longer available and an alternative needed to be found. A list of desirable properties was formulated and a number of mounting media were tested against this. Entellan New was identified as the best mounting medium, and performed similarly to XAM in all aspects.     

Taxation and trusts

It really is necessary that people, resident and taxable inEngland, should die earlier. Long life is an anti-social activity.It denies the government taxation to which it feels it is trulydue. Early deaths, particularly amongst the wealthy, are necessary:it is the patriotic duty of those with wealth to shuffle offtheir mortal coil as soon as possible and to allow the governmentas much inheritance tax as possible. Ghoulish though this mayseem, it is clearly a view of the current British Government. Why do we say this? The Paymaster General, in explaining thenew rules for inheritance tax treatment of settlements, justifiedher policy in the term ‘Because trusts do not die,