The future reach of the disembodied will

Eric Rakowski
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Eric Rakowski: University of California, Berkeley, USA, rakowski@law.berkeley.edu

Politics, Philosophy & Economics, 2005, vol. 4, issue 1, 91-130

Abstract: Many US states now allow people to create private trusts that continue indefinitely. Is it unjust to permit settlors to benefit their descendants without temporal limitation? Although perpetual trusts might seem self-indulgent impositions on posterity, no leading theory of distributive justice appears to bar their creation. The societal benefits from increased work effort and savings by potential settlors probably outweigh any societal drawbacks to perpetual trusts if trustees can sell or encumber trust property, justifying their availability in a utilitarian state. Various libertarian theories would give donors this freedom as well. In addition, liberal egalitarians should permit them, subject to redistributive taxes appropriately designed to benefit the less fortunate.

Keywords: consequentialism; distributive justice; estates; liberal egalitarianism; libertarianism; perpetuity; trusts; utilitarianism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:pophec:v:4:y:2005:i:1:p:91-130

DOI: 10.1177/1470594X05049438

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