Charity Law
Charity law refers to the legal framework that governs the establishment, operation, and regulation of charitable organizations. It encompasses rules related to charitable purposes, tax exemptions, fundraising activities, governance, and accountability. Charity law aims to ensure that charitable entities operate in the public interest and comply with legal requirements to maintain public trust and confidence.
6 Key excerpts on "Charity Law"
eBook - ePubCharity Law
International Perspectives
- Juliet Chevalier-Watts(Author)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...1 An introduction to Charity Law This chapter introduces some of the concepts of Charity Law, which will provide the context and parameters for the following chapters. The chapter illustrates many of the interconnections, as well as some key differences, of the jurisdictions that are the focus of this book. The jurisdictions in question are England and Wales, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Hong Kong. A Introduction to Charity Law Charity is an ancient concept, with its roots buried deeply in history. Charity is said to be a manifestation ‘of the better side of human nature’, 1 and is ‘no doubt as old as mankind itself’. 2 Undoubtedly charity means many things to many people, although in theory, its primary concern is alleviating poverty and the suffering of others. It may also provide and promote opportunities for others to better the human condition, as well as provide for social infrastructures for the well-being of communities. It even extends as far as pursuing aspects of religious worship. Nonetheless, while charity may have taken on many forms, legally speaking, it should be distinguished from benevolence and philanthropy. It has been argued that ‘benevolence’ should not be determined as being charitable at law because it has a ‘somewhat shadowy meaning’. 3 Benevolent gifts have traditionally not been found charitable because they extend beyond that which is exclusively charitable. 4 Indeed: 5 A gift simply to ‘benevolent purposes’ is objectionable: a benevolent purpose may be (but is not necessarily) charitable...
eBook - ePub- Mohamed Ramjohn(Author)
- 2008(Publication Date)
- Routledge-Cavendish(Publisher)
...This involved an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the current legal framework of charities. In July 2003, the Government published a report entitled ‘Charities and Not-for-Profits: a Modern Legal Framework’, which summarised the results of the Strategy Unit’s recommendations. The Charities Act 2006 reflects the majority of these recommendations. Charities Act 2006 The Act is a consolidating statute and contains 80 sections and 10 Schedules. It is divided into four Parts. Part 1 deals with the definition of a charity, including the public benefit test. Part 2 deals with the regulation of charities including the objectives, functions and the constitution of the Charity Commission and an amendment regarding schemes that may be applied cy près. Part 3 regulates the fundraising activities of charities and Part 4 deals with miscellaneous, incidental matters. This commentary is in respect of Part 1 of the Act. Charity — its meaning Section 1(1) of the 2006 Act adopts a general definition of a charity which means ‘a body or trust which: is established for charitable purposes only, and falls to be subject to the control of the High Court in the exercise of its jurisdiction with respect to charities.’ This broad definition was discussed in Chapter 15. Statutory definition of charitable purposes There has been a great value in the guidance provided by Lord MacNaghten’s classification of charitable trusts in Pemsel and the approach of the courts. Despite the general words of the fourth category (other purposes beneficial to society) on which the vast majority of disputes have centred, the four heads of charity have created a degree of certainty and predictability regarding the main characteristics of charitable status. At the same time, the classification of charitable purposes and approaches of the courts have provided a degree of flexibility that has allowed the meaning of charity to adapt to the changing needs and expectations of society...
eBook - ePub- Scott Atkins(Author)
- 2015(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...15 Chapter 15 Charities This chapter considers an application of the law of trusts to a concept that has existed from at least the seventeenth century: charity. It is suggested that most people would believe that charities exist with the broadest purpose of doing good in society. This chapter looks at how charities exist in law and illustrates how charities in law are not limited to the everyday examples (such as the RSPCA or Cancer Research UK) with which you may be familiar. As You Read Look out for the following key issues: How charities are administered and the advantages of having charitable status; and The three essential requirements that an organisation must possess to be defined as a charity under the Charities Act 2011. These are that the organisation must: have a charitable purpose (as defined under section 3(1) of the Act); be shown to benefit the public (as required under section 2(1)(b) of the Act); and be wholly and exclusively charitable. 15.1 Background The first example of Parliament recognising what was, at the time, a charity, was set out in the Preamble to the Statute of Charitable Uses 1601 (sometimes colloquially known as the ‘Statute of Elizabeth’). This Preamble contained a list of what was, in Elizabethan times, seen to be charitable although, as Lord Macnaghten pointed out in The Commissioners for Special Purposes of the Income Tax v Pemsel, 1 the courts had recognised that charities could exist long before the 1601 Act. The courts used the Preamble to recognise those organisations or gifts as having charitable status if they fell within the list contained in it or fell within the ‘spirit and intendment’ of that list. Making Connections +++++++++++++++++ You should remember from your studies of the English legal system that it is, of course, not usual for the Preamble of an Act to have such a prominent role as the one to the Statute of Charitable Uses 1601 enjoyed...
eBook - ePub- Mohamed Ramjohn(Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...4 The Law of Charities INTRODUCTION Charitable trusts are valid public purpose trusts. This means simply that it is perfectly possible to establish a trust for the achievement of a purpose, provided that the purpose in law is regarded as charitable. As far as charities are concerned, it is not important if there is no human beneficiary capable of enforcing the trust, because the Attorney General can take action in respect of all charitable trusts on behalf of the Crown. Moreover, valid charitable trusts are not subject to certain aspects of the perpetuity rule and may be of unlimited duration. Furthermore, when compared to valid private trusts (that is, trusts for human objects), charitable trusts have other advantages; they enjoy considerable fiscal privileges including exemption from many taxes. Hence, many of the decided cases involve HM Revenue & Customs seeking to deny charitable status. Likewise, there are special rules applicable to the failure of charitable trusts (the principles of cy-près) which may oust the normal rules of resulting trusts, and there is a separate body of rules dealing with the administration of charities and the conduct of business by charitable trustees. Obviously it is of singular importance to be able to distinguish between charitable purposes and non-charitable purposes. The former will be valid and enforceable, as well as having other advantages over private trusts, and the latter will be void unless they fall within one of the exceptions to the beneficiary principle considered in the previous chapter. The Charities Act 2006 enacted for the first time a statutory definition of charities after centuries of reliance mainly on case law to lead the way on the type of activities that would be given charitable status. The 2006 Act introduced a statutory definition by reference to a two-step approach – the listing of a variety of charitable purposes and the public benefit test...
eBook - ePub- Mohamed Ramjohn(Author)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Chapter 7 Charitable trusts Learning Outcomes At the end of this chapter, you should be able to: Identify the privileges that are available to charities Understand the requirement of public benefit Recognise charitable purposes within the Charities Act 2011 Appreciate the need for the High Court to retain jurisdiction over charities with a foreign element Understand the cy-près doctrine Introduction The law of charities involves another form of express trust, namely a purpose trust for the benefit of the public but enforceable by the Attorney General. As a public trust, a number of privileges are enjoyed by such organisations. The law of charities has been a feature of the law of trusts for over four centuries, as evidenced by a wealth of case law. What constitutes a charitable purpose has now been enacted for the first time in the Charities Act 2006, which has been repealed and replaced by the Charities Act 2011. The definition incorporates a list of some 13 purposes as well as satisfying the public benefit requirement. Charities registered in the United Kingdom regularly conduct activities abroad and the legal issues raised by such activities involve the scope of the jurisdiction of the High Court. Finally, on the winding-up of a charitable body, the question of the destination of its funds will be considered under the cy-près doctrine. Privileges Enjoyed by Charitable Status Charitable institutions have long been endowed with special privileges not accorded to private trusts. These privileges are recognition of the admirable work that is conducted by charities, and are in respect of (a) certainty of objects, (b) the perpetuity rule, (c) taxation and (d) the cy-près doctrine. (a) Certainty of objects : Reference was made in Chapter 6 to the ‘beneficiary’ principle (i.e. the requirement that a beneficiary needs to have the capacity to enforce the trust). This principle is restricted to private trusts...
eBook - ePub- John Picton, Jennifer Sigafoos, John Picton, Jennifer Sigafoos(Authors)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Hart Publishing(Publisher)
...They will consider some of the theoretical underpinnings for why charities are afforded special treatment under some circumstances, and whether this can be justified or, perhaps, extended. In the second sub-theme, our contributors will delve still more deeply into the regulatory environment affecting charities. A new regulator and expanded regulatory powers over charities will be explored. Other contributors will tackle different issues that might previously have been considered beyond the scope of Charity Law and will show how this new legal landscape affects charities. II. Old Law, New Shoes In the first half of the book, our contributors consider some of the fundamental doctrines underpinning Charity Law, while venturing far from its equitable roots. The distance travelled from the past is sometimes thrown into high relief when the traditional common law of charity encounters modern legal concepts. The chapters from Matthew Harding and Mark Sidel begin with a key debate that must be resolved in every jurisdiction with a voluntary sector – where should the balance be between preserving the independence of the sector and ensuring adequate state regulatory control over the ordinarily considerable advantages that the sector receives from the state? In Chapter 2, Matthew Harding offers an elegant argument from the liberal perspective for the independence of the charitable sector from state regulatory control. He first considers the elements of the charity sector that might justify independence from the state. The sector produces a multiplicity of goods, driven by the diversity of purposes that are held to be charitable. The charity sector thus has a hand in a number of different enterprises, from hospitals to schools to the arts, which are publicly beneficial to society. This, on its own, is not enough to sustain an argument for the independence of the sector without two further elements: voluntarism and altruism...
