英国法传统中信托受益权的性质

The Nature of the Beneficial Interest of Trust in English Law Tradition

源自英国法的信托受益权在本质上是一种对人权、债权,而非对世权、物权。从传统角度看,在中国学界普遍存在的双重所有权理论、分割所有权理论均是对信托制度的误读。信托受益权的物权化也是一个伪命题:无论从破产与执行豁免,所有权基本要素的分离,抑或财产取得权的角度均无法得出此结论。在英国法中,受益权不具备作为物权的普遍可诉性,不能直接对抗任意第三人;衡平法在历史上并未改变英国财产法体系或带来一套新的关于财产权取得和保有的规则;受益权也并不是通过对所有权要素的保留和分离而被创设,它只是一个加于所有权上的对人负担。

The beneficial interest of the cestui que trust in English law is in essence a right in personam related to obligations rather than a right in rem or property right. From a traditional perspective,the notion of dual ownership and split ownership pervasive in Chinese academia are misunderstandings of trust law,and the right in rem doctrine is also a pseudo- proposition from the split of basic constituents of ownership or obtaining of property rights in immunity of insolvency and execution. In English law,there is no universal suability for the beneficial interest as right in rem,which cannot directly go against the third party. Besides,the equity law has never changed English property law system or introduced new rules on obtaining and maintaining property rights. Therefore,the equitable title is not created by separation and retention of legal title,but is engrafted onto the legal title as an obligation in personam.