A critical analysis of Spread v Hutcheson and its consequences

This two-part article considers Spread Trustee Company Limited v Sarah Ann Hutcheson & others, in which on 15 June 2011, the Privy Council handed down its judgment ([2011] UK PC 13), some six months after hearing the matter in December 2010. In short, the article will argue that in a number of respects, the judgment is unsatisfactory, either because its reasoning is doubtful, or because its inclination towards English law to some extent ignored the fundamental importance of local customary law, and TGL 1989 (and TGL 2007), as the primary sources of Guernsey trust law. In the second part (which will appear in vol 18, no 5) of this article, I will expand on potential inconsistencies and uncertainties as I see them, and also try to see where Spread fits in the overall scheme of things.