REPLACE SECOND PARAGRAPH WITH THE FOLLOWING: Indeed, to ask who is the "real owner" may oversimplify the relationship: the question presupposes a universally applicable conception of ownership and a single conception of a trust.  It is better to approach the question in functional terms.  In reality, the incidents of ownership are split between the trustee and the beneficiary according to the terms of the particular trust.  The nature and extent of their entitlements cannot be determined in the abstract without referring to the terms of the trust instrument [CPT Custodian Pty. Ltd. v  Commissioner of State Revenue [2005] HCA 53, (2005) 79 A.L.J.R. 1724].  The relevant conception of ownership may also depend on the context in which the question is asked.  In determining, for example, whether an express trustee is the real owner of property, it may be more productive to ask whether, and to whom, he is accountable for his management of the property, and whether he owes a fundamental duty not to act dishonestly [D.J. Hayton, Ch. 3 in A.J. Oakley (ed.), Trends in Contemporary Trust Law (1996); Armitage v. Nurse [1998] Ch. 241].  If he does, it can be said, at least negatively, that the trustee is not the "real" owner of the property [Purpose trusts illustrate the possibility that a trustee may hold property without any other person having beneficial rights to it.  The suspension of beneficial ownership may be the very reason why the settlor created the trust: D.J. Hayton (2001) 117 L.Q.R. 96; and P. Matthews, Ch. 1 in A.J. Oakley (ed.), Trends in Contemporary Trust Law (1996)].  The terms of tax legislation, rather than any abstract conception of ownership, may determine whether a beneficiary is to be treated as having a sufficient interest in the trust to be liable to tax [Gartside v Inland Revenue Commissioners [1968] A.C. 553, 617-618 per Lord Wilberforce; CPT Custodian Pty. Ltd. v  Commissioner of State Revenue [2005] HCA 53, (2005) 79 A.L.J.R. 1724].  Similarly, the terms of company or insolvency legislation may require a court to inquire whether a trustee or beneficiary is entitled to exercise the voting rights or voting power attaching to shares held on trust.  To ask who is the "real owner" of the shares would be simplistic [E.g., Re Kilnoore Ltd. (in liquidation) [2005] EWHC 1410 (Ch), [2005] 3 All E.R. 730].