Hastings-Bass Rule Reborn

Bermuda is well known as one of the most stable jurisdictions in the world: a reputation built very much on the islands' established and durable legal system. But stability does not mean stagnation, as Bermuda's legislators have demonstrated this year, with some important and welcome amendments to the Trustee Act 1975. In this article, we consider one of these changes: the Trustee Amendment Act 2014, which gives statutory effect to 'the rule in Re Hastings-Bass'.

THE DEATH OF THE RULE

Following the decision of the UK Supreme Court in Pitt v Holt; Futter v Futter,¹ it seemed that what had become known as 'the rule in Re Hastings-Bass' was dead. In giving the sole judgment of the Court, Lord Walker cited the words of Longmore LJ, who said that the appeals in the case were 'examples of that comparatively rare instance of the law taking a seriously wrong turn, of that wrong turn being not infrequently acted on over a 20-year period but this court being able to reverse