Equity & Trusts Seminar 6 – Charities
PART A: CHARITIES AS A SPECIAL TYPE OF TRUST
Purpose Trusts:
o Once upon a time the only way a charity could have a legal
form would be as a charitable trust; now quite common to see
incorporated charities
o Important thing is that these charitable trusts are not trusts
for people but trusts for purposes:
Potential benefciaries have no rights:
e.g. people attending a soup kitchen (the service
users) are not the legal benefciariess it is the
purpose which is the legal benefciary (the
provision of soup to the poor)
Service users have no legal rights – they are not
the benefciary
The purpose is the object of the charity
Private benefciaries by contrast can enforce trusts:
Private benefciaries can use their position as
object of the trust to make sure the trust is being
properly carried out
Private trust has private benefciaries that can enforce
the trust in court – a charitable trust is for purposes and
those purposes cannot go to court
o Enforced by the Attorney General:
Has the power to intervene in charity cases
Can also bring cases to court against the trustees of a
charitable trust
This is a very traditional and old-fashioned mechanism –
no longer the mainstream mechanism at all for
regulating trusts
It is in some other jurisdictions e.g. in New York
the Attorney General is very present in charitable
afairs
A lot of theoretical power for the Attorney General to
intervene in charitable casess this does not actually
happen that frequently in practice
The Attorney General is the Crown’s law ofcer:
The Monarch has always been very interested in
charity and philanthropy
o Regulated by Charity Commission:
Non-Ministerial Government department
This department has a lot of regulatory powers over
charities:
PART A: CHARITIES AS A SPECIAL TYPE OF TRUST
Purpose Trusts:
o Once upon a time the only way a charity could have a legal
form would be as a charitable trust; now quite common to see
incorporated charities
o Important thing is that these charitable trusts are not trusts
for people but trusts for purposes:
Potential benefciaries have no rights:
e.g. people attending a soup kitchen (the service
users) are not the legal benefciariess it is the
purpose which is the legal benefciary (the
provision of soup to the poor)
Service users have no legal rights – they are not
the benefciary
The purpose is the object of the charity
Private benefciaries by contrast can enforce trusts:
Private benefciaries can use their position as
object of the trust to make sure the trust is being
properly carried out
Private trust has private benefciaries that can enforce
the trust in court – a charitable trust is for purposes and
those purposes cannot go to court
o Enforced by the Attorney General:
Has the power to intervene in charity cases
Can also bring cases to court against the trustees of a
charitable trust
This is a very traditional and old-fashioned mechanism –
no longer the mainstream mechanism at all for
regulating trusts
It is in some other jurisdictions e.g. in New York
the Attorney General is very present in charitable
afairs
A lot of theoretical power for the Attorney General to
intervene in charitable casess this does not actually
happen that frequently in practice
The Attorney General is the Crown’s law ofcer:
The Monarch has always been very interested in
charity and philanthropy
o Regulated by Charity Commission:
Non-Ministerial Government department
This department has a lot of regulatory powers over
charities:
