Abstract
In 2017, the English Law Commission proposed a raft of changes to the Law of Charity. A key proposal, which has been enacted in the Charities Act 2022 (England), was to align the law of the reform of charitable constitutional purposes so that charitable trusts and incorporated charities are similarly alterable in a newly harmonised procedure. This means that in England the traditional common law principle that charitable trusts should be more difficult to alter than incorporated charities is very soon to be abolished. This paper critically charts the process of reform in England, building up to this point, and the development of an 'English model' over time. It then assesses the law of charitable constitutional reform in Australia before moving to analyse whether or not Australia should follow England’s path. It is seen that the alignment raises a number theoretical and policy questions. It limits the ability of donors to protect their plans in future through the choice of a trust in establishing a charity. It removes a long-standing doctrinal distinction between incorporated charities and trusts so raising questions concerning the doctrinal development and coherence of the law. Finally, the alignment might potentially operate differently in Australia to England, as that jurisdiction does not have an administrative non court-based procedure for the regulation of charitable alterations.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 46 |
Number of pages | 67 |
Journal | King's Law Journal |
Volume | 35 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 11 Mar 2024 |
Keywords
- cy-pres
- charity
- corporation
- trusts law
- Australia
- England
- Law Commission