美国《统一信托法典》述评

Review of the Uniform Trust Code

美国《统一信托法典》(UTC)制订的原因是信托在社会经济中特别是商事交易中的广泛运用所产生的制度需求。《统一信托法典》是美国信托法发展中的重要里程碑。一方面,它初步完成了美国信托法律的系统化,为法律实务界提供了统一和详细的基本法文本;另一方面,还结合信托领域的最新发展与各州的传统,在默认规则、受托人义务和受益人权益保护等具体规则上进行了审慎的创新。

The drafting of the Uniform Trust Code was prompted by the much greater use of trust, especially in commercial area in recent years. The UTC is the “milestone” of the history of trust law in the United States. On the one hand, UTC has systematized the American law of trust and provides a uniform and particular basic trust law for the related law practitioner; On the other hand, UTC also contains a number of prudent innovation, such as the default rule、the duty of trustee and the interests of the beneficiaries etc., accommodating the tradition of states and recent development in American trust practice.