Public trusts and fiduciary relations

Practical and conceptual problems arise when abuses of power by public officials are characterized as breaches of fiduciary obligation. Public officials' are persons who perform public functions and derive their authority and obligation to act from the Crown prerogative or a statutory source. Public officials and the bodies through which they operate are subject to a separate general law and statutory jurisdiction in the nature of judicial review, which is a much more stringent code than fiduciary law. Criminal law is the second public law level of restraint on public officers. States of mind and other criteria of intention are the foundations of liability for the criminal misuse of public powers. Trusts do not ordinarily arise under the terms of public legislation. Periodically, however, the courts have been called upon to distinguish between public and private fiduciary duties.