14. Charitable trusts

Titles in the Core Text series take the reader straight to the heart of the subject, providing focused, concise, and reliable guides for students at all levels. This chapter focuses on charitable trusts. Charitable trusts are not subject to the beneficiary principle. These are valid purpose trusts that are enforced, not by beneficiaries, but by the Attorney-General or, more recently, by the Charity Commission. Charities are generally exempt from most taxes. The conditions for charitable status; the charitable character of public purpose trusts; trusts for the relief of poverty; trusts for the advancement of education; trusts for the advancement of religion; trusts for other purposes beneficial to the community; the law concerning the public benefit requirement; and the application of the cy-près doctrine to save charitable trusts from failure are discussed.