constructive trust

A constructive trust is a fiction imposed as an equitable device for achieving justice. It lacks the attributes of a trust trust, and is not based on any intention of the parties.

A (rust raised by construction of law, or arising by operation of law, as distinguished from an express trust. Wherever the circumstances of a transaction are such that the person who takes the legal estate in property cannot also enjoy the beneficial interest without necessarily violating some established principle of equity, the court will immediately raise a constructive trust, and fasten it upon the conscience of the legal owner, so as to convert him into a trustee for the parties who in equity are entitled to the beneficial enjoyment. Hill, Trustees, 116; 1 Spence, Eq. Jur. 511. Nester v. Gross, 66 Minn 371, 69 N. W. 39; Jewelry Co. v. Volfer, 106 Ala. 205, 17 South. 525, 28 In RA. 707, 54 Am. St. Rep. 31.

Defined under Trust in Black's Law Dictionary.

A trust raised by construction of law, or arising by operation of law, as distinguished from an express trust. Wherever the circumstances of a transaction are such that the person who takes the lega} estate in property cannot also enjoy the benelicial interest without necessarily violating some established principle of equity, the court will immediately raise a construecttee trust, und fasten it upon the conscience of the legal owner, so as to convert him into atrustes for the parties who in equity are entitled to the beneficial enjoyment. Hill, Trustees, 116; 1 Spence, Hq. Jur. 511.

A trust raised by construction of law, or arising by operation of law, as distinguished from an express trust; a trust implied or inferred from circumstances; otherwise called an implied trust, and sometimes a resulting trust, (qq. v.) Thus, if an estate be purchased in the name of one person, and the consideration money belong to, or be paid by another, the land purchased will be subject to a trust for the person to whom the money belonged. 1 Sand, Us, 212. 1 Steph, Com, 346. Wherever the circumstances of a transaction are such that the person who takes the legal estate in property, cannot also enjoy the beneficial interest without necessarily violating some established principle of equity, the court will immediately raise a constructive trust, and fasten it upon the conscience of the legal owner, so as to convert him into a trustee for the parties who in equity are entitled to the beneficial enjoyment. Ilill on Trustees, 116. 1 Spences Chancery, 511.