Ownership of Trust Property in China : A Comparative and Social Capital Perspective

Description

This book presents a hotly debated issue concerning the ownership of trust property in China. The book describes various conventional interpretations of Chinese Trust Law submitted by legal scholars and compares diverse approaches regarding the ownership of trust property provided by jurisdictions globally. The book does not directly answer the question “Who is the owner of trust property in China?” Instead, using a social capital perspective, it develops a more practical perspective to explain why Chinese trust business has grown rapidly even in lack of legal certainty regarding the location of ownership of trust property. The book also further predicts under what conditions is the time ripe to clarify the location of the ownership of trust property in China. By employing those sociological concepts often used to depict and analyze society, this book outlines the structure of the Chinese trust business and related social relations in different stages, i.e., the current rapid development stage, and the possible transitional stage in the near future. The focus is on how the social network structure affects the behavior of actors (such as the settlor, the trustee, and the beneficiaries, and/or their potential candidates) within the relevant section of Chinese society. The book provides readers with an intensive analysis of the impacts of historical, cultural, and social elements on the legislation and development of trust law in China. It will appeal both to lawyers interested in the Chinese trust business and to comparative law researchers and social scientists. Front Matter ....Pages i-xv Introduction (Zhen Meng)....Pages 1-11 Trust Law of China and Its Uncertainty Regarding the Location of Ownership of Trust Property (Zhen Meng)....Pages 13-35 “Dual Ownership” Versus “Absolute Ownership”: A Comparative Analysis (Zhen Meng)....Pages 37-75 Social Capital, Trust, and Guanxi (关系) (Zhen Meng)....Pages 77-102 An Empirical Study on China Trust Industry: Methods (Zhen Meng)....Pages 103-117 Current Trust Industry in China: A Dense Network (Zhen Meng)....Pages 119-133 The Chinese Trust Industry in the Near Future Towards a Sparse Network: From Guanxi to Institutionalized Trust? (Zhen Meng)....Pages 135-157 Conclusion (Zhen Meng)....Pages 159-164 Back Matter ....Pages 165-171