Trust

In general, trust refers to an aspect of a relationship between two parties, by which a given situation is mutually understood, and commitments are made toward actions in favor of a desired outcome. In contrast with hope, trust is almost strictly interpersonal. In contrast with faith, trust is almost always considered a subordinate material form whereas "faith" is typically reserved for a "higher power" — God, etc.

The term trust also has other meanings in several different fields:

Contents

Sociology

Property law

Economic history

  • A trust was a form of business entity used in the late 19th century with intent to create a monopoly. Some but not all were organized as trusts in the legal sense. They were often created when corporate leaders convinced (or coerced) the shareholders of all the companies in one industry to convey their shares to a board of trustees, in exchange for dividend-paying certificates. The board would then manage all the companies in "trust" for the shareholders (and minimize competition in the process). Eventually the term was used to refer to monopolies in general. In 1898, President William McKinley launched the 'trust-busting' era when he appointed the U.S. Industrial Commission. The report of the Industrial Commission was seized upon by Theodore Roosevelt, who based much of his presidency on "trust-busting". See also: antitrust. William McKinley. U.S. Industrial Commission. Commissioner Andrew L. Harris.

Finance

  • A trust company is a near-bank: a financial institution offering banking, investment and estate administration services. A trust company acts as a corporate trustee managing a trust for the benefit of the beneficiaries.
  • A civil law trust company is a type of financial services company. To its clients it renders services of management, administration and bookkeeping of companies and other legal entities in a jurisdiction other than where the client has his residence. Unlike in the case of a bank, where a client holds an account to keep money in, at a civil law trust company a client holds a company, partnership or foundation that owns the clients assets. This is often referred to as off shore structuring. Typical motives for maintaining an off shore structure are (international) tax planning, estate planning and asset protection.
  • An investment trust is a company that invests in other companies or properties. Its shares ("trust units") are traded like stocks on securities exchanges. See also income trust, royalty trust and real estate investment trust.

Computer science

  • Trust is an important concept in computer security and security engineering. In this sense, a "trusted" resource is one that you are forced by necessity to trust — that is to say, that its failure will compromise the security or integrity of the system. The name of the Trusted Computing platform is said to be derived from this sense.
  • In cryptography, trust is either of two related concepts - how much one trusts another person to introduce keys, and how confident one is that a given key has a given owner. These determinations are often made via a web of trust.

Music

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