The Council wished to dispose of two plots of land. In each case the land had been provided many years ago to build schools on. In the first case, the land had been conveyed to a school board ‘upon trust for the purposes of a public elementary school’. In the second, it was conveyed to a school board ‘by way of free gift for the purposes of a site for an elementary school’. The council argued that the trusts were not charitable.
Held: Each plot was held on charitable trusts. The first conveyance had been at an undervalue, and so constituted a bounty. Though no express charitable trust had been created, this was exactly the situation where a donor might have insisted on a charitable trust, and the presumption of regularity should be used to remedy any defect. The second conveyance was a gift and so a good reason for a charitable trust was created.
Judges:
Millett J
Citations:
[1994] NPC 62
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Charity, Land
Updated: 04 May 2022; Ref: scu.517443
