The claimants sought a reversion of land conveyed under the 1841 Act to trustees. The defendants (‘DBF’) as succesors to the trustees argued that by extending the range of pupils in the school, the trustees acquired a title independent of and adverse to the claimants.
Held: The DBF succeeded. The judge had found that the land had been used in breach of trust. the school had ceased to be used solely for the purposes set out in the trust deed. It had come to be used for a new and wider purpose, the provision of a school for all-comers (with no finding that priority was given to qualifying persons). The judge then, inconsistently with his own findings, treated the wider purpose as two separate purposes. Arden LJ: ‘ . . the fact that a breach or breaches of trust have occurred does not necessarily mean that the authorised purpose has ceased to be the purpose for which the school is used.’ but ‘Nor do I accept the submission that the construction which I place on section 2 makes the trustees’ title precarious. It simply means that the trustees must adhere to purposes permitted by the terms of the trust.’
Judges:
Lord Justice Potter Mr Justice Wilson Lady Justice Arden
Citations:
[2004] EWCA Civ 15
Links:
Statutes:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Fraser and Another v Canterbury Diocesan Board of Finance and Another Chd 14-May-2003
The claimants sought to assert that land acquired under the 1841 Act reverted to them on its ceasing to be used for the purposes of a school. Lewison J summarised the evidence: ‘An analysis of the school registers for 1931 to 1947 shows that the . .
Cited by:
Appeal from – Fraser and Another v Canterbury Diocesan Board of Finance and others HL 27-Oct-2005
Land had been acquired by a deed under the 1841 Act, but had in 1995 ceased to be used as a school ‘for the education of children and adults of the labouring manufacturing and other poorer classes . . And for no other purpose ‘. Under the Act, the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Land, Trusts
Updated: 09 June 2022; Ref: scu.192286
