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PUBLIC TRUSTEE ACT 1906

PUBLIC TRUSTEE ACT 1906 - LONG TITLE

An Act to provide for the appointment of a Public Trustee and to
amend the Law relating to the administration of Trusts.
[21st December 1906]
The Act applies to NI for the purposes only of the exercise by
the Public Trustee of his functions under section 1 of the
Administration of Justice Act 1965 (c.2) relating to the investment,
management, etc. of funds in Court in NI, which are the subject of
common investment schemes made by the Lord Chancellor (see s.2(3) of
the Administration of Justice Act 1965 (c.2) as inserted by s.83(3)
of the Judicature (NI) Act 1978 (c.23))

The relevant provisions of the Act are printed below.

Office of public trustee.

PUBLIC TRUSTEE ACT 1906 - SECT 1

1.(1) There shall be established the office of public trustee.

(2) The public trustee shall be a corporation sole under that name,
with perpetual succession and an official seal, and may sue and be
sued under the above name like any other corporation sole, but any
instruments sealed by him shall not, by reason of his using a
seal, be rendered liable to a higher stamp duty than if he were
an individual.

Liability of Consolidated Fund.

PUBLIC TRUSTEE ACT 1906 - SECT 7

7.(1) The Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom shall be liable
to make good all sums required to discharge any liability which the
public trustee, if he were a private trustee, would be personally
liable to discharge, except where the liability is one to which
neither the public trustee nor any of his officers has in any way
contributed, and which neither he nor any of his officers could by
the exercise of reasonable diligence have averted, and in that case
the public trustee shall not, nor shall the Consolidated Fund, be
subject to any liability.

(2) All sums payable in pursuance of this section out of the
Consolidated Fund shall be charged on and issued out of that
fund....

PUBLIC TRUSTEE ACT 1906 - SECT 9
Fees charged by public trustee.

9.(1) There shall be charged in respect of the duties of the
public trustee such fees, whether by way of percentage or otherwise,
as the Treasury with the sanction of the Lord Chancellor may fix,
and such fees shall be collected and accounted for by such persons,
and in such manner, and shall be paid to such account, as the
Treasury direct.

(2) Any expenses which might be retained or paid out of the trust
property if the public trustee were a private trustee shall be so
retained or paid, and the fees shall be retained or paid in the
like manner as and in addition to such expenses.

(3) Such fees shall, under the regulations of the Treasury, be
applied as an appropriation in aid of moneys provided by Parliament
for expenses under this Act, and so far as not so applied shall
be paid into the Exchequer.

(4) The fees under this section shall be arranged from time to
time so as to produce an annual amount sufficient to discharge the
salaries and other expenses incidental to the working of this Act
(including such sum as the Treasury may from time to time determine
to be required to insure the Consolidated Fund against loss under
this Act) and no more.

(5) The incidence of [any expenses retained or paid] under this
section as between capital and income shall be determined by the
public trustee.

Appeal to the court.

PUBLIC TRUSTEE ACT 1906 - SECT 10

10.(1) A person aggrieved by any act or omission or decision of
the public trustee in relation to any trust may apply to the
court, and the court may make such order in the matter as the
court thinks just.

(2) Subject to rules of court, an application under this section to
the High Court shall be made to a judge of the Chancery Division
of the High Court in Chambers.

PUBLIC TRUSTEE ACT 1906 - SECT 11
Mode of action of public trustee.

11.(1) The public trustee shall not, nor shall any of his officers,
act under this Act for reward, except as provided by this Act.

(2) The public trustee may, subject to the rules made under this
Act, employ for the purposes of any trust such solicitors, bankers,
accountants, and brokers, or other persons as he may consider
necessary, and in determining the persons to be so employed in
relation to any trust the public trustee shall have regard to the
interests of the trust,...

(3) On behalf of the public trustee such person as may be
prescribed may take any oath, make any declaration, verify any
account, give personal attendance at any court or place, and do any
act or thing whatsoever which the public trustee is required or
authorised to take, make, verify, give or do: Provided that nothing
in this Act or in any rule made under this Act shall confer upon
any person not otherwise entitled thereto any right to appear, or
act, or be heard in or before any court or tribunal, on behalf or
instead of the public trustee, or to do any act whatsoever on
behalf or on the instructions of the public trustee, which could
otherwise only be lawfully done by a barrister or a duly
certificated solicitor.

(4) Where any bond or security would be required from a private
person... upon his appointment to act in any capacity, the public
trustee,... if he is appointed to act in such capacity as
aforesaid, shall not be required to give such bond or security, but
shall be subject to the same liabilities and duties as if he had
given such bond or security.

(5) The entry of the public trustee by that name in the books of
a company shall not constitute notice of a trust, and a company
shall not be entitled to object to enter the name of the public
trustee on its books by reason only that the public trustee is a
corporation, and, in dealings with property, the fact that the
person or one of the persons dealt with is the public trustee,
shall not of itself constitute notice of a trust.

Rules.

PUBLIC TRUSTEE ACT 1906 - SECT 14

14.(1) The Lord Chancellor shall, with the concurrence of the
Treasury, make rules for carrying into effect the objects of this
Act, and in particular for all or any of the following purposes
(that is to say):

(a)establishing the office of public trustee and prescribing the
trusts or duties he is authorised to accept or undertake, and the
security, if any, to be given by the public trustee and his
officers:

(b)the transfer to and from the public trustee of any property:

(c)the accounts to be kept and an audit thereof:

(d)the establishment and regulation of any branch office:

(e)excluding any trusts from the operation of this Act or any part
thereof:

....

(g)the form and manner in which notices under this Act shall be
given.

(2) Every rule under this Act shall be laid before each House of
Parliament forthwith, and, if an address is presented to His Majesty
by either House of Parliament, within the next subsequent thirty
days on which the House has sat next after any such rule is laid
before it, praying that the rule may be annulled, His Majesty in
Council may annul the rule, and it shall thenceforth be void, but
without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done
thereunder.

(3) If the rules require a declaration to be made for any purpose,
a person who makes such declaration, knowing the same to be untrue
in any material particular, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour.

PUBLIC TRUSTEE ACT 1906 - SECT 15
Definitions.

15. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,

the expression "court" means the High Court and, as respects trusts
within its jurisdiction, the county court:

...

the expression "trust" includes an executorship or administratorship;
and the expression "trustee" shall be construed accordingly; and the
expression "trust property" shall include all property in the
possession or under the control wholly or partly of the public
trustee by virtue of any trust:

the expression "private trustee" means a trustee other than the
public trustee:

the expression "expenses" includes costs and charges:

the expression "prescribed" means prescribed for the time being by
rules under this Act:

other expressions have the same meaning as in the Trustee Act,
1893.

PUBLIC TRUSTEE ACT 1906 - SECT 17
Short title and extent.

17.(1) This Act may be cited as the Public Trustee Act, 1906.

(2) This Act shall not extend to Ireland or Scotland.