The Rothschild Archive

The Dubai International Financial Centre (‘DIFC’) is a special zone within Dubai, with its own common law jurisdiction. It remains an integral part of Dubai. The DIFC Courts are part not only of the Dubai Courts but also of the federal United Arab Emirates (‘UAE’) judicial system. On 21 March 2018, the DIFC enacted the Trust Law No 4 of 2018 (‘the Trust Law’). This superseded the Trust Law No 11 2005. One of its primary aims is to bring DIFC Trust Law in line with international best practice. While many of the changes draw on developments from a number of trust jurisdictions, the main provisions follow the US Uniform Trust Code (‘UTC’). The Trust Law contains updated provisions on quite a number of different issues, including those covered by this article.

‘The Waddesdon Bequest’ is the name given to the Kunstkammer collection bequeathed to the British Museum by Baron Ferdinand Rothschild, MP at his death in 1898. Named after Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, where the collection was housed during Ferdinand's lifetime, the bequest is one of the most important in the history of the British Museum. The author looks at the genesis and growth of the collection, and patterns of acquisition over Ferdinand's lifetime. She describes how it was displayed from 1896 in a specially designed museum, the New Smoking Room, at Waddesdon. Finally, she analyses the possible motives behind Ferdinand's decision to leave this part of his collection to the nation, for the benefit of the public, and as a means of securing the future of Waddesdon Manor itself.