Is there a single explanation which adequately captures the nature of a beneficiary’s rights under a trust?

No traditional explanation in English law adequately captures the nature of beneficial rights under a trust. Traditionally, Roman law categorised rights into rights in personam and in rem. However, equity has made these terms unsuitable for modern property law, where beneficial interests under a trust has gradually changed from purely personal rights to something close to property rights. In reality, the nature of beneficial rights are best captured as sui generis rights, where rights are not attached to property but flow from the rights of the trustee. This explanation is adequate in theory, but may be difficult to advance in practice. Problems with existing explanations 1) Personal rights There are three key demonstrations that the rights under a trust (beneficial rights) are stronger than personal rights. Firstly, beneficial rights bind anyone to whom the property is transferred, except for bona fide purchasers for value (BFP). Maitland suggests that this simply demonstrates a u