Where beneficiaries had dwindled and income increased, the class of beneficiaries was extended. A gift to a class of people would be construed to be charitable unless there was something in the gift to exclude the presumption. It had been submitted that: ‘the trust was one for the benefit of the community in a particular … Continue reading Peggs and Others v Lamb and Others: ChD 20 Apr 1993
The adult non-dependent son of the deceased claimed provision from his father’s estate. He had been separated from his father since being a young child, and had received almost nothing. He was a married adult son living with his family in comfortable circumstances, on a good income from two businesses. Held: The claim failed. A … Continue reading Harlow v National Westminster Bank Plc and Others; in re Jennings Dec: CA 13 Dec 1993
A scheme was devised to sell annuities to charities. They then used the capital sum paid to purchase promissory notes from the charity, which were in turn used to secure annuity payments. Held: The scheme was entirely self cancelling and void. Payments made in pursuance of the scheme fell outside the ambit of the section.There … Continue reading Moodie v Inland Revenue Commissioners and Another and similar: HL 7 Apr 1993
UTLC LEASEHOLD ENFRANCHISEMENT – collective enfranchisement – building comprising two flats with potential to convert back into a single house – relevance of participating tenant’s unwillingness to countenance development – alternative valuations of freeholder’s interest agreed – whether valuation capable of including ‘development hope value’ – whether capable of including ‘development marriage value’ – Leasehold … Continue reading Padmore v The Official Custodian for Charities: UTLC 31 Dec 2013
The respondent had instigated a statutory inquiry under the 2011 Act into the claimant’s child safeguarding practices, and policies after compaints made to it. The Society now sought judicial review of that decision, and to production orders made to support it. The respondent argued that the Charity should first use the statutory remedies available to … Continue reading Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain v Charity Commission: Admn 12 Dec 2014
The claimants challenged the 2014 Act saying that in appointing a nominated professional individual for every child, the human rights of the family had been disproportionately interfered with. . .
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Land was sold. It had been used as playing fields. The freehold and leasehold interests in the land were held by the respondent, and the claimants asserted it was held as bare trustees for them as charitable trustees for the school foundation. The lease in favour of the council had been discovered before completion, but … Continue reading Allen and Another v Rochdale Borough Council: CA 23 Mar 1999
Where an applicant appealed against an order removing him as a trustee of a charity. it was wrong to apply to join in the Charity Commissioners as defendants. The Attorney-General’s position in such appeals was a sufficient protection. A rehearing would be de novo. Citations: Times 12-Oct-1998, Gazette 28-Oct-1998, [1998] EWCA Civ 1505, [1999] 1 … Continue reading Weth and Another v Her Majesty’s Attorney General and Others: CA 8 Oct 1998
A Hindu religious sect, constituted as a charity, had split into two factions. Held: The court had jurisdiction to order that the assets of the sect should be divided under the powers in the Act, and held upon separate trusts for the two factions. The court declined to adjudicate as to which group was correctly … Continue reading Varsani and others v Jesani, Patel and Her Majesty’s Attorney-General: CA 3 Apr 1998
The claimant sought release of documents placed with the Charity Commission in connection with investigations into a charity. Held: With certain exceptions, the applicaion failed: ‘once a public authority places documents it held prior to an inquiry into the custody of itself conducting a statutory inquiry then those documents would seem to us to be … Continue reading Kennedy v Information Commissioner: IT 14 Jun 2009
The claimant journalist sought disclosure of papers acquired by the respondent in its conduct of enquiries into the charitable Mariam appeal. The Commission referred to an absolute exemption under section 32(2) of the 2000 Act, saying that the exemption continued until the papers were destroyed, or for 20 years under the 1958 Act. Held: The … Continue reading Kennedy v The Charity Commission: SC 26 Mar 2014
The parties disputed the trusteeship and governance of two Gurdwaras (Sikh temples). The defendants now applied for the claim to be struck out on the basis that the differences were as to Sikh doctrines and practice and as such were unjusticiable. Held: The appeal was allowed. There were no ‘judicial or manageable standards’ by which … Continue reading Khaira and Others v Shergill and Others: CA 17 Jul 2012
A charity entered into a contract for the sale of land. It failed to comply with the requirements under the Act. The purchaser assigned the benefit of the contract, to the claimant who sought to enforce the contract. Held: The section only allowed a completed transaction to be rescued. An uncompleted contract was not itself … Continue reading Bayoumi v Women’s Total Abstinence Union Ltd and Another: CA 5 Nov 2003
EAT Employees of an unincorporated charitable association are employed by the management committee or other similar body within the association, and not by the members of the association at large. The employees have continuity of employment despite any change in the constitution of the committee. In practice such actions should be brought against a representative … Continue reading Affleck and Others v Newcastle Mind and Others: EAT 10 Mar 1999
The High Court had found the plaintiff to be a charity, and ordered the Attorney-General to be joined in. The A-G appealed that order saying that the plaintiff was not a charity within the 1993 Act. The charity sought to spread the Vaishnava religion in London. Held: Charities Act jurisdiction is restricted to charities registered … Continue reading Gaudiya Mission and others v Brahmachary: CA 30 Jul 1997
The applicant sought an order of certiorari to prevent an investigation of his companies which sought to raise funds for charities. Did the Charity Commission have jurisdiction under the section? Held: The companies were themselves charities and clearly raised funds by proclaiming that the funds were being raised for charities. The moneys raised and held … Continue reading Regina v Charity Commission for England and Wales ex parte Swain: Admn 2 Jul 1998
The claimant journalist had made a freedom of information request to the Charity Commission as to its investigations of a charity under section 8 of the 1993 Act. The Commission claimed absolute exemption under section 32(2). He now appealed against rejection of his application by the Information Tribunal as to most of the material sought. … Continue reading Kennedy v Information Commissioner: Admn 19 Jan 2010
The charity appealed against refusal of permission to amend its charitable objects as set out in the memorandum of association. The charity was successful as an adoption agency particularly in placing children who would otherwise have had difficulty finding a home, following the principles of the Roman Catholic Church, and it wanted to restrict its … Continue reading Catholic Care (Diocese of Leeds) v Charity Commission for England and Wales and Another: ChD 17 Mar 2010
The trustees brought a claim against the Attorney-General seeking clarification of their duties and powers to return objects which were part of the collection in law, but where a moral duty might exist to return it to a former owner. Here drawings . .
There was a dispute as to the management and ownership of the London Temple of the plaintiff, a Vaishnava religious sect in India.
Held: The proceedings were charity proceedings within section 33(8), because they are proceedings brought under . .
The claimant sought specific performance of a contract to purchase land from the defendant charity. The defendant had not complied with its obligations under the Act. The cliamant sought to say at the transaction came within s36(3) (that it was . .
The defendant sought an order to strike out the claimant’s allegations of defamation and other torts. The defendants claimed qualified privilege in that the statements complained of were contained in a report prepared by it in fulfilment of its . .
The High Court had found the plaintiff to be a charity, and ordered the Attorney-General to be joined in. The A-G appealed that order saying that the plaintiff was not a charity within the 1993 Act. The charity sought to spread the Vaishnava . .
Fair Coment on Political Activities The defendant newspaper had published articles wrongly accusing the claimant, the former Prime Minister of Ireland of duplicity. The paper now appealed, saying that it should have had available to it a defence of qualified privilege because of the claimant’s status as a politician. Held: The appeal failed (Lords Hope … Continue reading Reynolds v Times Newspapers Ltd and others: HL 28 Oct 1999
The deceased’s adult son sought provision from the intestate estate. The sole beneficiary under the rules was the plaintiff’s mother. The estate was modest; the intestate’s interest in his house (he had been living there with the plaintiff). The widow was found to have a one third interest in it. The judge took the disposable … Continue reading In Re Coventry (deceased): CA 3 Jan 1979
Zero-rating; VAT on sales of donated items; Charities Acts 1993 and 2006; definition of ‘charity’; charitable status; section 30 VATA 1994 (Group 15, item 1 of Schedule 8); Public Notice 701/1 Citations: [2010] UKFTT 426 (TC) Links: Bailii Jurisdiction: England and Wales VAT Updated: 27 August 2022; Ref: scu.426573
The testatrix left a will anticipating making another. The court was asked whether a clause leaving her estate to ‘be taken over by the Diocese of Westminster to hold in trust for the Black community of Hackney’ was valid. Held: The gift was capable of being charitable, subject to the application of the 1976 Act. … Continue reading Gibbs v Harding and others: ChD 12 Jan 2007
What is reasonable provision for daughter? The deceased had left her estate in her will to several animal charities. The claimant, her daughter, had been estranged from her mother for many years, and sought reasonable provision from her estate under the 1975 Act. The district judge had rejected her claim. Held: The appeal by the … Continue reading Ilott v The Blue Cross and Others: SC 15 Mar 2017
The cy-pres doctrine could be allowed to be applied to allow the sale of land if such an action would remain within the purpose of the original charitable gift. Judges: Dillon, Russell, Farquharson LJJ Citations: Gazette 28-Oct-1992, [1992] EWCA Civ 21, [1993] Ch 210, [1993] 2 WLR 224, [1993] 2 All ER 432 Links: Bailii … Continue reading Oldham Borough Council v Attorney General: CA 28 Jul 1992
The will left land for a sports centre to a local authority which no longer existed. If the gift was charitable, the gift would be applied cy pres, but if not it would fail and pass to the family and be subect to Inheritance Tax. Held: A gift to a local authority of land on … Continue reading Guild v Inland Revenue Commissioners: HL 6 May 1992
The courts have declined to define the word ‘maintenance’ closely. ‘Maintenance’ connotes only those payments which will directly or indirectly enable the applicant in the future to discharge the cost of his daily living at whatever standard of living is appropriate to him. ‘It is now clearly established that claims under the Act by persons … Continue reading Re Dennis deceased: ChD 1981
Principles allowing Ethical Investment by Trustees Should charities, whose principal purposes are environmental protection and improvement and the relief of poverty, be able to adopt an investment policy that excludes many potential investments because the trustees consider that they conflict with their charitable purposes? Held: An amended declaration was granted.‘I should summarise what I consider … Continue reading Butler-Sloss and Others v The Charity Commission for England and Wales and Another: ChD 29 Apr 2022
The court considered the investment policy of the respondents and was brought by the then Bishop of Oxford (and two other priests) against the Church Commissioners in relation to their investment policy concerning South Africa. At the time South Africa was transitioning to democracy and there were a range of views within the Church of … Continue reading Harries v Church Commissioners for England: 1992
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 obtained, but the court ordered the remaining … Continue reading Lehtimaki and Others v Cooper: SC 29 Jul 2020
The court reconsidered the law relating to penalty clauses in contracts. The first appeal, Cavendish Square Holding BV v Talal El Makdessi, raised the issue in relation to two clauses in a substantial commercial contract. The second appeal, ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis, raised the issue at a consumer level, with a separate issue under the … Continue reading Cavendish Square Holding Bv v Talal El Makdessi; ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis: SC 4 Nov 2015
The applicants had each entered the UK with a view to seeking asylum, but having failed to seek asylum immediately, they had been refused any assistance, were not allowed to work and so had been left destitute. Each had claimed asylum on the day following their arrival. Held: The appeal by the Secretary of State … Continue reading Adam, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; Limbuela v Same; Tesema v Same: HL 3 Nov 2005
The taxpayers used schemes to create allowable losses, and now appealed assessment to tax. The schemes involved a series of transactions none of which were a sham, but which had the effect of cancelling each other out. Held: If the true nature of the transactions could be seen by looking at them all together, then … Continue reading W T Ramsay Ltd v Inland Revenue Commissioners: HL 12 Mar 1981
Right to Life Did Not include Right to Death The applicant was paralysed and suffered a degenerative condition. She wanted her husband to be allowed to assist her suicide by accompanying her to Switzerland. English law would not excuse such behaviour. She argued that the right to die is not the antithesis of the right … Continue reading Pretty v The United Kingdom: ECHR 29 Apr 2002
A petition was brought to request that a judgment of the House be set aside because the wife of one their lordships, Lord Hoffmann, was as an unpaid director of a subsidiary of Amnesty International which had in turn been involved in a campaign against the applicant, and as a party. Held: The House is … Continue reading Regina v Bow Street Metropolitan Stipendiary Magistrate, ex parte Pinochet Ugarte (No 2): HL 15 Jan 1999
No Presumption of House for both Parties When looking to the needs of parties in a divorce, there is no presumption that both parties are to be left able to purchase alternative homes. The order of sub-clauses in the Act implies nothing as to their relative importance. Courts should be reluctant to allow repeated appeals … Continue reading Piglowska v Piglowski: HL 24 Jun 1999
The court set out the general approach to applications under the 1975 Act: ‘these matters have to be considered at two stages – first in determining the reasonableness of such provision (if any) as has been made by the deceased for the applicant’s maintenance and, secondly, in determining the extent to which the court should … Continue reading In re Coventry dec’d: ChD 2 Jan 1979
The Court considered whether it had jurisdiction to make an order with respect to a company registered in New York for objects which were charitable according to the laws of England.
Held: The Revenue’s appeal against a finding that the . .
The court was asked whether the consent of the Charity Commissioners was necessary to petition the Court to appoint a new trustee of a charity established in England to promote Christian education in Jamaica.
Held: In the 1853 Act, ‘Charity’ . .
The principal issue was whether a body set up by statute and subject to the control of a minister of the Crown was a ‘charity’ within the meaning of section 45(1) of the Charities Act 1960, for which purpose it had to be subject to ‘the control of . .
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