The right to freedom of association could be exercised by a society choosing to remove from its membership individuals who held views which it saw as inimical to its purposes. Such a removal did not infringe the members’ rights of freedom of speech. Nevertheless, such a charitable and respected association could not be seen to behave arbitrarily, and the proposed scheme should be amended to allow that those who met the criteria to be rejected for membership should have a right to have the rejection of their membership application reviewed.
Lightman J held that ‘the court starts with a clean sheet and has an unfettered discretion to decide what it considers should be done in the best interests of the trust’
Lightman J
Gazette 15-Feb-2001, Times 13-Feb-2001, [2001] EWHC 474 (Ch), [2001] 3 All ER 530, [2001] UKHRR 905, [2002] 1 WLR 448
Bailii
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Lehtimaki and Others v Cooper SC 29-Jul-2020
Charitable Company- Directors’ Status and Duties
A married couple set up a charitable foundation to assist children in developing countries. When the marriage failed an attempt was made to establish a second foundation with funds from the first, as part of W leaving the Trust. Court approval was . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 25 August 2021; Ref: scu.88899
