Knight v Knight
A trust is created only if there is certainty of intention, certainty of subject matter and certainty of objects.
Facts
Richard Knight left his estates by will to his brother, expressing the trust and confidence that the brother would act justly to the testator's family by settling the estates on the male descendants of the testator's grandfather. The question was whether these words created a binding trust in favour of the male descendants, or merely expressed a wish that left the brother free to deal with the estates as he chose.
Legal principle
Lord Langdale MR held that no trust had been created. He said that, for words of recommendation or confidence to create a trust, three things are needed: the words must be imperative, so as to show an intention to create a trust; the subject of the trust must be certain; and the objects or persons intended to benefit must be certain. Here, the words were too uncertain, both as to the intention to impose a trust and as to the property and the people to benefit, so the brother took the estates absolutely. This statement of the three certainties has been followed ever since.
Related cases on certainty of intention and subject matter
- Re Adams and the Kensington Vestry (1884) 27 Ch D 394
- Boyce v Boyce (1849) 16 Sim 476
- Comiskey v Bowring-Hanbury [1905] AC 84
- Re Golay's Will Trusts [1965] 1 WLR 969
- Re Goldcorp Exchange Ltd [1995] 1 AC 74
- Hunter v Moss [1994] 1 WLR 452
- Jones v Lock (1865) LR 1 Ch App 25
- Re Kayford Ltd [1975] 1 WLR 279
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