Private Law Theory

ABSTRACT
In Credit Suisse Trust Ltd v Bidzina Ivanishvili, the Singapore Court of Appeal handed down an important decision on private law that involved a prominent public figure. A former Prime Minister of Georgia had sued his corporate trustee for breach of fiduciary duty. In a break from the ‘proscriptive’ view of fiduciary doctrine, the apex court held that a fiduciary’s duty to act in good faith is a fiduciary duty. This note critically examines the decision, and while it lauds the development as a step in the right direction, it also suggests that some aspects of the duty deserve further reconsideration. In addition, the note offers an alternative route to dispose of the dispute without the need to invoke a breach of fiduciary duty.

Tan, Weiming, Fiduciary Good Faith and Reparative Claims for Breach of Trust (December 25, 2024).