TRUSTEE, estates. A trustee is one to whom an estate has been conveyed in trust.

2. The trust estate is not subject to the specialty¹ or judgment² debts of the trustee, to the dower of his wife, or the curtesy of the hushand of a female trustee.

3. With respect to the duties of trustees, it is held, in conformity³ to the old law of uses, that pernancy of the profits, execution of estates, and defence of the land, are the three great properties of a trust, so that the courts of chancery will compel trustees, 1. To permit the cestui que trust to receive the rents and profits of the land. 2. To execute such conveyances⁴, in accordance with the provisions of the trust, as the cestui que trust shall direct. 3. To defend the title of the land in any court of law or equity⁵. Cruise, Dig. tit. 12, c. 4, s. 4.

4. It has been judiciously⁶ remarked by Mr. Justice Story, 2 Eq. Jur. §1267, that in a great variety of cases, it is not easy to say what the duty of a trustee is; and that therefore, it often becomes indispensable for him, before he acts, to seek, the aid and direction of a court of equity. Fonbl. Eq. book 2, c. 7, §2, and note c. Vide Vin. Ab. tit. Trusts, O, P, Q, R, S, T; Bouv. Inst. Index, h. t.

TRUSTEE PROCESS, practice. In Massacchusetts, this is a process given by statute⁷, in imitation of the foreign attachment⁸ of the English law.

2. By this process, a creditor⁹ may attach any property or credits of his debtor¹⁰ in the hands of a third person. This third person is, in the English law, called the garnishee; in Massachusetts, he is the trustee. White's Dig. tit. 148. Vide Attachment.

TRUSTER. He who creates a trust. A convenient term used in the laws of Scotland. 1 Bell's Com. 321, 6th ed.