This book aims to provide a brief account of the English law of trusts. It attempts to explain some of the underlying concerns of the subject, and suggests ways in which its rules may be explained and evaluated. It is hoped that this approach will help students develop a clearer understanding of one of the more abstract, and therefore most difficult, areas of the law. This book might thus usefully be read both before and alongside a more detailed study of the subject, and will be of use not only to students and practitioners but also to economists and 19th-century historians.