Summarise:
The law relating to the private international aspects of trusts is underdeveloped to say the least and ‘anything like an attempt at systematic exposition would be premature’. All that can be done is to set out some of the principles which ought to be applicable to such cases. As elsewhere in the law of property, the distinction between movables and immovables dominates the law. Three further aspects should be kept clearly distinct, however.
In the first place, a contract to create a trust, ie wherein the founder undertakes to transfer the trust property to the trustees at some point in the future, will be governed by its own proper law which may not be the law which governs the trust itself. Likewise, a different law may govern the validity of a will from that which governs the trust thereby created. The ordinary rules governing choice of law in contract and the validity of wills will determine when this divergence takes place.
Secondly, the juristic act which creates the trust—the act of executing the trust deed or otherwise transferring the trust property to the trustees—may be governed by a law different from that which governs the interpretation, administration and other aspects of the trust.
In the third place, as adumbrated, a different law may govern the administration of the trust from that which governs its creation.
With these distinctions clearly in mind, the law can be considered.