Guardian gave itself an owner who couldn't die

P. Scott had edited the Manchester Guardian for 57 years, building its reputation for independent, liberal journalism largely on the strength of his own personal editorial control as owner.

P. Scott had personally protected for nearly six decades. John Scott's solution wasn't a stronger editorial charter or a family covenant — both of which bind only as long as the people who signed them are alive and willing to honor them. In June 1936 he transferred ownership of the Manchester Guardian and the Manchester Evening News out of the family entirely, into a newly created trust.

Transferred ownership to a trust with no mortal owner, so no death triggers tax or estate sale, and profits reinvested in journalism remove the incentive to sell.

A trust has no death, so no inheritance tax or estate sale can force a sale.

Profits reinvested in journalism remove the financial incentive to sell.

The trust's sole legal purpose binds trustees to independence, not profit.

The structure has survived tax challenges and reconstitutions for nearly 90 years.

To protect a mission that depends on one owner's values, remove the mortal owner from the structure entirely—a trust with a narrow purpose can outlive any individual.

When UK tax authorities challenged the original trust structure's own liability to death duties, the Guardian's trustees spent three years in legal argument before the Inland Revenue dropped its claim, after which the Trust was reconstituted in 1948 on firmer legal footing (and again in 2008 as the Scott Trust Limited) — but the core structure, ownership with no extractable individual, has now held for nearly 90 years. 24 billion, still funding journalism from an ownership structure with no shareholder to answer to.