Tracing is the process of identifying one asset as a substitute for another. Identification (or tracing) rules are needed if property is removed from the trust and mixed or exchanged with other property. For example, trust money that a trustee pays into his personal bank account can be traced into the bank account as well as into property purchased with money withdrawn from the account. Once identified, the trust money can be recovered from the trustee’s personal account, or from property purchased with the money, or from both. Note that the beneficiary does not literally ‘recover’ the trust money. Tracing entitles her to new personal or proprietary rights enforceable against the contractual right the trustee has to payment from his bank account, or against any right in property purchased by the trustee with the trust money. If the trustee pays trust money to a third party who applies it in the purchase of a painting, tracing enables the beneficiary to obtain proprietary rights in the painting unless the purchaser is a good faith purchaser for value without notice of the beneficiary’s right to enforce the trust.

Tracing is not a remedy. It is the process of identifying a new asset as the substitute for the old. Its relevance to equity and trusts can be illustrated by the following example. Suppose a trustee misappropriates $10 000 and pays it into his personal account, which had previously been $20 000 in credit. He later withdraws $25 000 to buy a car. Tracing enables the beneficiaries to identify how the chose in action representing the trust money came to be substituted by a car. The tracing rules also determine how much of the beneficiaries’ money remains in the trustee’s bank account and how much is represented by an interest in the car. What is traced is not the trust property. The beneficiaries’ equitable title to the money will be lost once the car has been bought. It is the value of the beneficiaries’ property in the hand of a recipient that is traced. Tracing is distinguishable from following and claiming.

Prenatal fetal monitoring allows for the detection of abnormal physiologic conditions in the fetus. The different available methods can detect abnormalities in utero-placental perfusion, as well as physiologic changes during and after in-utero fetal surgery. Basic antepartum fetal monitoring in viable fetuses has advanced over the years and now involves not only the nonstress test but more advanced methods which also take into account the ultrasound findings. Comprehension of the different fetal heart rate tracings allow for rapid intervention where necessary. Unfortunately, while many modes of surveillance exist, no single method can accurately identify a fetus that will progress to being stillbirth.

This chapter examines tracing and identifies it as a process or mechanism rather than a remedy or a claim. It is based on a proprietary claimwhich gives the claimant an advantage over others and involves a owner identifying an asset in the hands of a third party. The right to trace lies in both common law and in equity although many academics have argued that it would be better to have just one system. The right to trace at common law depends on proof of legal ownership. The right is lost once the property has become mixed. The rules of equity are far more flexible than those at common law becuase it allows tracing through mixed funds. The right to trace in equity depends on proof of an initial fiduciary relationship and the claimant has the equitable title or beneficial interest. Special rules have developed for tracing in equity through bank accounts. These vary as to whether or not the funds are mixed with those of the trustee or between two innocent volunteers. There are limits to equitable tracing including where the bona fide purchaser for value without notice of the equitable interests; dissipation of the funds and also where it is inequitable to trace.

This chapter focuses on the factors that influence the erosion, transport, and storage of sediment at global and drainage-basin scales. It examines global variations in sediment fluxes by rivers and the factors that influence these variations, including human effects. It introduces the concepts of the sediment delivery ratio and the sediment budget, and demonstrates how estimation of sediment budgets provides insight into spatial patterns of sediment production, storage, and transport within drainage basins. It also shows how sediment budgets have been used to understand human impacts on sediment dynamics at drainage-basin scales and discusses the value of sediment budgets for watershed management. It reviews approaches that have been used to try to examine sediment movement at watershed scales, such as various fine-sediment tracing technologies, and addresses challenges to estimating sediment dynamics at large scales, including the sediment-budget closure problem.