constructive trust
- noun
- /kənˈstrʌktɪv trʌst/
- Formal
:
fideicomiso constructivo
- In cases of unjust enrichment, a constructive trust may be established to protect the rights of the rightful owner.
- remedies, such as constructive trust
- constructive trust and rescission
Examples
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Moreover, the traditional fiduciary remedies of constructive trust and disgorgement do not track the optimal deterrence conception of fiduciary loyalty.
Academic text (2017) -
Under Langbein's proposed approach, unauthorized conflicted transactions would not be subject to rescission, constructive trust, or disgorgement if a trustee can establish that the transactions promoted her beneficiaries' best interests relative to other available opportunities.
Academic text (2017) -
Responding to these concerns, Chancellor King ordered the trustee to hold all profits from the lease in a constructive trust for the infant.
Academic text (2017) -
Constructive trust likewise applies when a party has been unjustly enriched by the acquisition.
Academic text (2017) -
The court imposed a constructive trust to ensure that the victim received compensation for her losses.
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After proving the fraud, the judge ordered a constructive trust to prevent the wrongdoer from benefiting unlawfully.
Synonyms
A court decision giving property to someone who unjustly lost it
Antonyms
- Formal
An agreement people make on purpose to hold and manage money or property for someone, usually written down
Surface Forms
Morphology
constructive + trust
The sense of 'constructive' in this legal phrase is a technical, law-specific meaning (i.e. imposed by a court) rather than the ordinary meaning learners know, so the overall sense 'a trust imposed by a court to remedy wrongdoing' cannot be derived from the plain words 'constructive' and 'trust'. Because this is a specialized legal term rather than a transparent compositional phrase, a B1 learner who only knows the constituent words would not reliably infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Constructive trust creates the image of a judge 'constructing' an invisible box that holds the property for the real owner, with constructive meaning 'built by the court' and trust meaning a safe place for the property. That's why it means 'a trust made by a court' to give property back to someone whose property was taken unfairly.
