''Re Bucks Constabulary Widows and Orphans Fund Friendly Society (no 2)''

979 Year 979 ( CMLXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * March 24 – Second Battle of Pankaleia: An Ibero-Byzantine expeditionary ...

1 All ER 623 is an

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 ...

case, concerning the policy of the "

beneficiary principle The beneficiary principle is a policy of English trusts law, and trusts in Commonwealth jurisdictions, that trusts which do not have charitable objects, as under the UK Charities Act 2006 sections 2 and 3, and also do not make the trust property ...

" and

unincorporated associations A voluntary group or union (also sometimes called a voluntary organization, common-interest association, association, or society) is a group of individuals who enter into an agreement, usually as volunteers, to form a body (or organization) to ac ...

Facts

The Bucks Constabulary Fund Friendly Society was set up to give relief to widows and orphans of deceased members. It was an unincorporated association registered under the Friendly Societies Act 1896. It had no rules for how assets should be distributed if it was wound up. It was disputed whether surplus assets should go to the Crown as ''

bona vacantia Unowned property includes tangible, physical things that are capable of being reduced to being property owned by a person but are not owned by anyone. ' (Latin for "ownerless goods") is a legal concept associated with the unowned property, which e ...

'', or be distributed among the members equally on a per capita, or another basis.

Judgment

Walton J held that the present members of the association shared in the surplus property equally. Unless there is a rule to the contrary, past members have no rights in a group’s assets, unless by death or resignation the society is reduced to one member. If so, the one cannot claim to be the association, as one cannot associate with oneself. So the property must be regarded as ownerless, and go to the Crown as bona vacantia.

Significance

The ratio from this case is largely irrelevant following ''

Hanchett‐Stamford v Attorney‐General is an English trusts law case, concerning the destination of property that is held by unincorporated associations when they wind up. The High Court applied the view that while the association exists, assets are held jointly by the members but a ...

009 009 may refer to: * OO9, gauge model railways * O09, FAA identifier for Round Valley Airport * 0O9, FAA identifier for Ward Field, see List of airports in California * British secret agent 009, see 00 Agent * BA 009, see British Airways Flight 9 * ...

Ch 173 in which dissolution by membership falling below two entitles the surviving member to the remainder of the unincorporated associations assets.

Notes

{{reflist, 2

References

* English trusts case law High Court of Justice cases 1979 in United Kingdom case law Widowhood in the United Kingdom

Facts

Judgment

Significance

See also

Notes

References