The beneficiary principle is a policy of
English trusts law
English trust law concerns the protection of assets, usually when they are held by one party for another's benefit. Trusts were a creation of the English law of property and obligations, and share a subsequent history with countries across the ...
, and trusts in
Commonwealth jurisdictions, that trusts which do not have
charitable
The practice of charity is the voluntary giving of help to those in need, as a humanitarian act, unmotivated by self-interest. There are a number of philosophies about charity, often associated with religion.
Etymology
The word ''charity'' or ...
objects, as under the UK
Charities Act 2006
The Charities Act 2006 (c 50) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom intended to alter the regulatory framework in which charities operate, partly by amending the Charities Act 1993. The Act was mostly superseded by the Charities Act ...
sections 2 and 3, and also do not make the trust property available for the benefit of defined people (i.e. beneficiaries), are void.
Law
In ''
Morice v Bishop of Durham'' it was said "every
on-charitabletrust must have a definite object. There must be someone in whose favour the court can decree performance."
[(1804) 9 Ves Jr 399] With a charitable trust, this power of enforcement is usually vested in the
Attorney General. However, such conceptual objections seem less strong since the decision of the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
in ''
McPhail v Doulton
, also known as ''Re Baden's Deed Trusts (No 1)'' is a leading English trusts law case by the House of Lords on the certainty of beneficiaries. It held that so long as any given claimant can clearly be determined to be a beneficiary, or not, a ...
''
971
Year 971 ( CMLXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* Battle of Dorostolon: A Byzantine expeditionary army (possibly 30–40,000 men) ...
AC 424 where
Lord Wilberforce
Richard Orme Wilberforce, Baron Wilberforce, (11 March 1907 – 15 February 2003) was a British judge. He was a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary from 1964 to 1982.
Early life and career
Born in Jalandhar, India, Richard Wilberforce was the son of ...
rode roughshod over objections to widening the class of valid
discretionary trust
A discretionary trust, in the trust law of England, Australia, Canada and other common law jurisdictions, is a trust where the beneficiaries and/or their entitlements to the trust fund are not fixed, but are determined by the criteria set out in ...
s on the basis that there would be difficulty ascertaining beneficiaries for the court to enforce the trust in favour of.
Where the objects of a trust are a purpose rather than an individual or individuals, there is much greater risk that a trust would not be enforceable due to lack of certainty. Cases such as ''Morice v Bishop of Durham'' (1805) 9 Ves Jr 399 and ''
Re Astor''
952
Year 952 ( CMLII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place Europe
* Summer – At the Reichstag in Augsburg (assembled by King Otto I), joined by German nob ...
Ch 534 re-affirm the court's disinclination to enforce trusts that are not specific and detailed. The common law exceptions to the general prohibition on purposes trusts tend to relate to specific and detailed matters, such as maintenance of a specific tomb, or caring for a particular animal.
There are two exceptions to the rule. The first one is specific animals as seen in the case of Re Dean (1889) 41 Ch. D 552. The second exception is when the trust is created to build or maintain a tomb or a monument as in the case of Re Hooper
932
Year 932 ( CMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
* Summer – Alberic II leads an uprising at Rome against his stepfather Hugh of Provence ...
1 Ch 38. The problem is that these are very limited circumstances.
United States
In various jurisdictions in the United States, the beneficiary principle has been abolished, so that a trust can be for a purpose, even if it is not charitable, and the courts will enforce it.
See also
*
English trusts law
English trust law concerns the protection of assets, usually when they are held by one party for another's benefit. Trusts were a creation of the English law of property and obligations, and share a subsequent history with countries across the ...
Notes
{{reflist, 2
References
*
English trusts law