The House was asked whether the taxpayer association was established for ‘Charitable purposes only’ so as to benefit from tax exemptions. The association promoted sporting activities among members of the Glasgow police.
Held: Though the purposes included charitable objects, they also included objects which were not charitable. Lord Normand: ‘what the Respondents must show in the circumstances of this case is that so viewed objectively the Association is established for a public purpose, and that the private benefits to members are the unsought consequences of the pursuit of the public purpose, and can therefore be disregarded as incidental. That is a view which I cannot take. The private benefits to members are essential. The recreation of the members is an end in itself, and without its attainment the public purpose would never come into view. ‘
If an association has two purposes, one charitable and the other not, and if the two purposes are such and so related that the non-charitable purpose cannot be regarded as incidental to the other, the Association is not a body established for charitable purposes only.
Judges:
Lord Normand, Lord Oaksey, Lord Morton of Henryton, Lord Reid, Lord Cohen
Citations:
[1953] UKHL 1, [1953] AC 380
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – In re Goode 1905
Gifts made for the pormotion of the efficiency of armed services were charitable in nature. . .
Cited – In re Gray 1925
Gifts made exclusively for the purpose of promoting the efficiency of the armed forces are good charitable gifts. . .
Cited – Income Tax Special Commissioners v Pemsel HL 20-Jul-1891
Charitable Purposes used with technical meaning
The House was asked whether, in a taxing statute applying to the whole of the United Kingdom and allowing for deductions from and allowances against the income of land vested in trustees for charitable purposes, the words ‘charitable purposes’ . .
Cited – Gilmour v Coats HL 1949
Prayers Alone did not make Convent Charitable
A trust to apply the income of a fund for all or any of the purposes of a community of Roman Catholic Carmelite nuns living in seclusion and spending their lives in prayer, contemplation and penance, was not charitable because it could not be shown . .
Cited – Hobourn Aero Components Limited’s Air Raid Distress Fund 1946
Voluntary collections from employees of the munition factories belonging to a certain company were to be used to relieve without a means test the distress suffered by the employees from air raids.
Held: This was not a charity. . .
Cited – Hobourn Aero Components Limited’s Air Raid Distress Fund CA 2-Jan-1946
The trust sought charitable exemption for sums collected voluntarily from workers in a munitions factory for the benefit of co-workers who had suffered in the Blitz. The judge had found the trusts not to be charitable.
Held: The appeal failed. . .
Cited – Oppenheim v Tobacco Securities Trust Co Ltd HL 13-Dec-1950
Trustees were directed to apply certain income in providing for ‘the education of children of employees or former employees’ of a British limited company or any of its subsidiary or allied companies. The number of eligible employees was over . .
Cited – Inland Revenue Commissioners v Yorkshire Agricultural Society 1928
If a substantial part of the objects of a body of persons is to benefit its own members, the body of persons is not established for charitable purposes only. Atkin LJ considered the problems arising from the fact that the Association had more than . .
Cited – Institution of Civil Engineers v Forrest 1890
Lord MacNaughten considered how the purpose of an institution should be considered: ‘It cannot, I think, be doubted that the Institution has raised the standard of the profession, and that to a civil engineer it is of advantage and probably of . .
Cited – Royal College of Surgeons of England v National Provincial Bank Ltd HL 1952
The College was established to promote and encourage the study and practice of the art and science of surgery. The professional protection of members of the College (not a charitable purpose) was held to be ‘an incidental though an important and . .
Cited – Oxford Group v Inland Revenue Commissioners 1949
If a non-charitable object of an association is itself one of the purposes of the body of persons and is not merely incidental to the charitable purpose, the body of persons is not a body of persons formed for charitable purposes only within the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Charity
Updated: 09 July 2022; Ref: scu.248516