Michael Ashdown
Fellow and Tutor in Law
Michael Ashdown is Fellow and Tutor in law at Somerville College. He studied law in Cambridge and Oxford, and previously worked as a research assistant on property and trust law projects at the Law Commission. Mr Ashdown's research interests are principally in the law of trusts, in particular examining the consequences of the improper exercise of trustees' powers. He teaches tutorials in trusts, land law and Roman law.
Publications
Journal Articles
M Ashdown, In defence of the rule in Re Hastings-Bass (2010) 10 Trusts & Trustees 826
The so-called rule in Re Hastings-Bass has developed rapidly in the courts in recent years, but the true basis for the rule has not yet been properly explored. This article seeks to demonstrate that whilst the application of the rule in the courts may well have gone too far, it does have a legitimate foundation in some of the core principles of English trust law. Once its doctrinal nature is understood, the worst excesses of the rule can be curbed in a manner which is both pragmatic and principled. This article was cited by Lloyd LJ in the Court of Appeal in Pitt v Holt [2011] EWCA Civ 197 at [27].
