The National Trust is thought a viable way to preserve cultural heritage and natural resources. It is especially meaningful as the legal regulation on the land property raises constitutional problems of private property protection. The National Trust movement is commonly thought to have originated from the late nineteenth century England. However, it is only a half-truth, as such movement already existed in the mid and late nineteenth century U.S. However, it is true that U.K. is the first where nation-wide National Trust was first organized.
This article documents the origin and development of the National Trust movement in the U.K, the U.S., Australia and Japan. It also analyzes the statutes about the National Trust movement. There is no question about that the National Trust of the U.K. is most successful in terms of property ownership, membership and budget scale. However, in the U.S., many organizations are working like the National Trust of U.K It should be fair to say that, if the nature preservation movement is included, the U.S. is most active in the National Trust movement. It is also noteworthy that the U.S. organizations invented new mechanism of the land trust and the conservation easement.
The article also analyzes the National Trust movement in Australia and Japan. Then it analyzes the Korea's experience of the National Trust movement. It analyzes the origin and background of the National Trust Act of Korea which took effect in 2007. It concludes that the Act is poorly and wrongly conceived, and therefore should be repealed or at least drastically amended.