EQUITABLE COMPENSATION FOR BREACH OF TRUST: OFF TARGET.

This article concerns the principles by which courts determine the quantum of equitable compensation that a trustee must pay following a breach of trust. Traditional equitable principles focused on the trustee's obligation to account for his or her stewardship of the trust property, and to restore the assets of which he or she deprived it. The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom has recently confirmed that the earlier decision in Target Holdings Ltd v Redferns marked a shift in thinking about monetary remedies for breach of trust in England. This article addresses the question to what degree that shift towards a causal analysis represents the law in Australia, and to what degree it should do so. The argument advanced in this paper is that the underlying rationale of equity's traditional principles continues to hold good, and that the traditional principles represent the law in Australia and should continue to do so for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]