Led by F.W. Maitland Simulacrum
About this course
A trust for a purpose rather than a person raises a fundamental question: who enforces it? Charitable trusts escape the beneficiary principle — the Attorney General stands in. Non-charitable purpose trusts are void unless they fall within narrow exceptions. The most practically important questions are: what counts as charitable, how public benefit differs across the Pemsel heads, what happens when a charitable purpose fails, and how the law handles gifts to unincorporated associations that cannot own property in their own right.
Led by F.W. Maitland Simulacrum.
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Led by F.W. Maitland Simulacrum
The question
What makes a trust 'charitable' rather than merely benevolent — and why does the classification matter so much? The module covers the advantages of charitable status, the Pemsel four-head classification as expanded by the Charities Act 2011, the differential application of public benefit, the cy-près doctrine for failed charitable purposes, the beneficiary principle and Re Denley, the perpetuity rule, and the problem of gifts to unincorporated associations.
Outcome
The student can distinguish charitable from non-charitable purpose trusts, apply the public benefit requirement differentially, explain the cy-près doctrine and the beneficiary principle, and analyse a gift to an unincorporated association using the competing interpretations. (Purpose trusts)
Sub-units