What is the ownership of trust property in China? Empirical research over court judgments from 2001 to 2023

The ownership of trust property is a debatable issue in China due to the ambiguity of the Chinese Trust Law, and there are several relevant theories. In 2019, the Supreme People’s Court of China issued the Minutes of the National Conference on Civil and Commercial Trials which emphasized the absolute independence of trust property in China, that is different from traditional trust property theories. This could be summarized as a new theory of “Absolutely Independent Trust Property” which is, in the duration of trust, trust property is absolutely separated from the inherent property of settlors, trustees and beneficiaries. In China, court judgments play a significant social governance role in making policies and clarifying ambiguous legal rules. Therefore, it is necessary to test the new theory through empirical research of court judgments for advancing trust legal theories and improving relevant rules. Based on the approach of “practical reasoning”, it is assumed that, in China, the theory of “Absolutely Independent Trust Property” is applied in judicial practice. Based on the research of 252 Chinese court judgments related to trust property ownership from 2001 to 2023, the “Absolutely Independent Trust Property” theory is verified to some extent, especially after 2019, and some consensus on the nature of trust property has been formed in judicial practice. However, there still exists confusion and contradiction regarding trust property ownership in China, causing practical challenges to citizens’ constitutional property rights and violating the “Morality of Law” theory. In practice, to solve the problems caused by the unclear ownership of trust property, the Chinese government has adopted several systems regarding trust property, however, there still exits some problems. Chinese Trust Law will be revised soon, it is supposed to clarify the ownership of trust property. At the same time, more supportive and applicable laws and regulations should be issued to improve the trust registration system and trust property registration system. Moreover, the rule of trust taxation and a complete trust taxation system should be established in China.