A GUIDE TO GUERNSEY’S TRUST LAW by St John Robilliard (CD-ROM)
In a recent review of A Guide to Guernsey’s Trust Law by St John Robilliard the author acknowledged that he had achieved a first – a book review that was not in fact about a book, rather on this occasion a CD ROM. Paid Matthews, a consultant with the firm of Withers LLP, and a Visiting Professor at King’s College, London has described the work as "innovative" and "useful". He notes that "Guernsey suffers in some respects by comparison with Jersey in legal matters. So far (and despite promises) there is no equivalent website in Guernsey to the Jersey Legal Information Board website, there are no regular law reports published, there are only a few books published in recent times on Guernsey law (though a more than honourable mention must be made of Gordon Dawes’ modern classic work), and the only regular source of legal information, the Guernsey Law Journal, although very useful in its way, is unfortunately rather in arrears." He describes the Guide as beginning "to make some difference" greeting Advocate St John Robilliard’s new work on Guernsey Trust Law with enthusiasm. Unlike other works on legal subjects, it is not published in paper form. Instead it is published only as a CD-ROM, which can be read as it is, or downloaded to the hard-drive of a computer.
The Guide features reports of Guernsey trust cases, a selection of legislation both primary and secondary from Guernsey and also copies of relevant regulatory codes, bringing together a significant amount of important relevant information on the subject of trust law in the Bailiwick of Guernsey.
In his review, Mr Matthews describes the format of publication, as having "killer application": this is the ease of searching for particular words or phrases. He also regards the work as "pioneering" noting that "The Guernsey cases that are relevant are all referred to, and a great many Jersey, English and other cases too, where these are relevant. Some of the propositions put forward are perhaps, at first sight, rather surprising to a mere English lawyer, but that is inevitable, given the differences that undoubtedly exist between Guernsey trust law and English trust law."
He goes on "The section of the work dealing with cases is probably the most useful, because, given the lack of a proper series of Guernsey law reports hitherto, the vast majority of the cases set out in the CD-ROM are unreported elsewhere. In each case the leadnote has been prepared by members of the author’s firm. The text of the judgment is given in integral form, together with the orders of the court made in respect of the particular application or decision. Thus readers can form their own view as to what a given case stands for.
Mr Matthews concludes that "Overall the impression is of an innovative work; it is a nice product, an important and worthwhile addition to the range of resources on Guernsey law."
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
