The origins of this book lie in the first Oxford Law Colloquium held in St John''s College, Oxford, on 12-13 September 1991, organized by the Faculty of Law of the University of Oxford and the Norton Rose M5 Group, a national association of seven major independent law firms. This, it is hoped, will be the first of many such bubble01ces run on a biennial basis. The aim of each conference will be to combine the specialist knowledge of both practising and academic lawyers on a selected subject, enabling the exploration of fundamental concepts, principles, and trends in particular fields of law of mutual interest and importance. The subject of this first conference - Commercial Aspects of Trusts and Fiduciary Obligations - was chosen for its considerable theoretical and practical importance, and the contributors amply demonstrate both the impact of the law of trusts and the law of fiduciaries upon such diverse subjects as company law and insolvency law and the continuing need for further discussion on the relationship between equity and commercial law. Contributors: Sir Peter Gibson, Sir Peter Millett, Paul Finn, Peter Graham, Jack Beatson, D.D. Prentice, Paul L. Davies, Klaus J. Hopt, Roy Goode, Peter Birks, Hamish Anderson, Harry Wiggin, Jeffrey Schoenblum.