Head 19: Charitable and Charity Trusts Flashcards
Magistrates of Dundee v Morris (1858) 3 Macq 134
Initial Failure of charitable trust - Lacking the Machinery
A trust was set up for providing for a hospital for 100 boys.
Hospital is used in the old sense as a charitable institute used for the needy young.
The bequest was granted even though there was no machinery there at all.
The Court of Session had to draw up a detailed system of trust powers and trustee duties
Burgess’s Trs v Crawford 1912 SC 387
Initial Failure - Failure of purposes
After 2 liferents the residue was to be applied in founding and erecting and endowing an industrial school for females.
Industrial schools were private institutions set up to allow poor children to learna trade.
By the time the second liferent had expirded private industrial schools had been outlawed.
So the trust purpose could no longer be carried out.
Court said that there was no general charitable intention, what the truster has had in mind was setting up an industrial school and it could not be done.
*Pomphrey’s Trs v Royal Naval Benevolent Trust 1967 SLT 61
initial Failure - Failure of purpose
This involved a bequest to a body which never existed.
The testator left the residue of his estate to be split into 3 (3rd to army benevolent fund/ 3rd to air force benevolent fund/ 3rd to royal navy benevolent fund)
The royal navy benevolent fund did not exist.
There were equivelents but with different names.
Held that there was a general chartiable intent to benefit all of the armed forces and particular for this third to benefit the navy
So a cy-près scheme was set up to benefit the navy trusts of different names.
When the original objective of the settlor or the testator became impossible, impracticable, or illegal to perform, the cy-près doctrine allows the court to amend the terms of the charitable trust as closely as possible to the original intention of the testator or settlor to prevent the trust from failing.
