Law Dictionary
Letter C
Charitable Uses And Trusts
Legal definition for Indian law research
Definition
Charitable uses and trusts. 9 Geo. 2, c. 26, commonly called 'The Mortmain Act,' 1735, after reciting that ifts or alienations of land in mortmain (see MORTMAIN) were prohibited by Magna Charta and other whole-some laws as prejudicial to the common utility, and that such public mischief had greatly increased by many large and improvident dispositions, made by languishing or dying persons to charitable uses, to take place after their deaths to the disherison of their lawful heirs, enacted that no lands or other hereditaments whatsoever, nor money, or personal estate to be laid out in land should be given to any person or bodies corporate, or charged by any person in trust, for any charitable uses, unless such gift, etc., should be made by deed (thus entirely excluding gifts by will) executed twelve months before the death of the donor and be enrolled in the court of Chancery within six calendar months after execution, and be without any power of revocation for the benefit of the donor.
The (English) Settled Land Act, 1925, s. 29(4), however, provides that assurances of land or personal estate to be laid out in land or separate instruments declaring the charitable trusts executed after 1925 need not be so enrolled, but that they must be sent to the Charity Commissioners within six months or such extended time as the Commissioners may allow to be recorded in their books; this enactment does not apply to registered land or to instruments required to be sent to the Board of Education by s. 117 of the (English) Education Act, 1911 (11 & 12 Geo. 5, c. 51).
The (English) Mortmain Act of 1735 excepted dispositions of lands to or in trust for either of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, or any of the colleges therein, or to or in trust for the colleges of Eton, Winchester, or Westminster, for the better support and maintenance of the scholars upon the foundations thereof; and various Acts of Parliament passed from time to time have also specially exempted devises of lands or moneys charged thereon to the trustees of the British Museum for the benefit of that institution (5 Geo. 4, c. 39 s. 3); or to the Governors of Queen Anne's Bounty (2 & 3 Anne, c. 11, s. 4; 43 Geo. 3, c. 136, s. 1; and 45 Geo. 3, c. 84, s. 3); the commissioners of Greenwich Hospital, and of the Royal navy Asylum; the members of the Seamen's Hospital Society; the governors of St. George's Hospital, and of the Foundling Hospital (13 Geo. 2, c. 29); and of public schools (32 & 33 Vict. c. 58, s. 2); also public parks, museums, or libraries (34 & 35 Vict. c. 13); together with a few other public charities.
The strictness of the Act was further relaxed in the case of gifts of land for charitable purposes, such as parks, universities, schools, museums, places of worship, endowment or augmentation of livings, literary and scientific institutions, etc. A list of the various statutes enabling land to be acquired for charitable purposes will be found in Bourchier and Chilcott, and by 24 Vict. c. 9, which provided that a conveyance for charitable uses should not be void by reason of containing certain stipulations for the donor's benefit, and dispensed with a deed in the case of copyholds. The Mortmain Act itself, together with eight amending Acts, is repealed by the consolidating (English) Mortmin and Charitable Uses Act, 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c. 42), which re-enacts them in substance, though the phraseology is much altered; and see the (English) Charitable Trusts Act, 1914 (4 & 5 Geo. 5, c. 56).
An important amendment of the law of charitable uses was effected by the (English) Mortmain and Charitable Uses Act, 1891 (54 & 55 Vict. c. 73), to the effect that money secured on land and other personal estate arising from or connected with land (which, as 'savouring of the realty' had been held to be within the Act of Geo. 2) may be devised to charitable uses, and that even land itself maybe so devised, though the Act provides that it must be sold within one year from the death of the testator unless the court or the Charity Commissioners allow it to be retained. The (English) Settled Land Act, 1925, has effected some further changes chiefly affecting the formalities of conveyance and the transmission of legal estate without altering the substantive incidents of the law relating to gifts of land to charities or their right to hold or convey it.
As a rule, trustees of charities cannot sell land unless it is wholly maintained by voluntary contributions; see (English) Charitable Trusts Acts, 1853 (16 & 17 Vict. c. 137), s. 241, and 1855 (18 & 19 Vict. c. 124), s. 29, without the authority of a Statute or the court, or under an authorized scheme or with the approval of the Charity Commissioners, of whom many of the powers relating to education were transferred to the Board of Education (O.C., 11th August, 1902).
The (English) Settled Land Act, 1925, s. 29(4), however, provides that assurances of land or personal estate to be laid out in land or separate instruments declaring the charitable trusts executed after 1925 need not be so enrolled, but that they must be sent to the Charity Commissioners within six months or such extended time as the Commissioners may allow to be recorded in their books; this enactment does not apply to registered land or to instruments required to be sent to the Board of Education by s. 117 of the (English) Education Act, 1911 (11 & 12 Geo. 5, c. 51).
The (English) Mortmain Act of 1735 excepted dispositions of lands to or in trust for either of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, or any of the colleges therein, or to or in trust for the colleges of Eton, Winchester, or Westminster, for the better support and maintenance of the scholars upon the foundations thereof; and various Acts of Parliament passed from time to time have also specially exempted devises of lands or moneys charged thereon to the trustees of the British Museum for the benefit of that institution (5 Geo. 4, c. 39 s. 3); or to the Governors of Queen Anne's Bounty (2 & 3 Anne, c. 11, s. 4; 43 Geo. 3, c. 136, s. 1; and 45 Geo. 3, c. 84, s. 3); the commissioners of Greenwich Hospital, and of the Royal navy Asylum; the members of the Seamen's Hospital Society; the governors of St. George's Hospital, and of the Foundling Hospital (13 Geo. 2, c. 29); and of public schools (32 & 33 Vict. c. 58, s. 2); also public parks, museums, or libraries (34 & 35 Vict. c. 13); together with a few other public charities.
The strictness of the Act was further relaxed in the case of gifts of land for charitable purposes, such as parks, universities, schools, museums, places of worship, endowment or augmentation of livings, literary and scientific institutions, etc. A list of the various statutes enabling land to be acquired for charitable purposes will be found in Bourchier and Chilcott, and by 24 Vict. c. 9, which provided that a conveyance for charitable uses should not be void by reason of containing certain stipulations for the donor's benefit, and dispensed with a deed in the case of copyholds. The Mortmain Act itself, together with eight amending Acts, is repealed by the consolidating (English) Mortmin and Charitable Uses Act, 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c. 42), which re-enacts them in substance, though the phraseology is much altered; and see the (English) Charitable Trusts Act, 1914 (4 & 5 Geo. 5, c. 56).
An important amendment of the law of charitable uses was effected by the (English) Mortmain and Charitable Uses Act, 1891 (54 & 55 Vict. c. 73), to the effect that money secured on land and other personal estate arising from or connected with land (which, as 'savouring of the realty' had been held to be within the Act of Geo. 2) may be devised to charitable uses, and that even land itself maybe so devised, though the Act provides that it must be sold within one year from the death of the testator unless the court or the Charity Commissioners allow it to be retained. The (English) Settled Land Act, 1925, has effected some further changes chiefly affecting the formalities of conveyance and the transmission of legal estate without altering the substantive incidents of the law relating to gifts of land to charities or their right to hold or convey it.
As a rule, trustees of charities cannot sell land unless it is wholly maintained by voluntary contributions; see (English) Charitable Trusts Acts, 1853 (16 & 17 Vict. c. 137), s. 241, and 1855 (18 & 19 Vict. c. 124), s. 29, without the authority of a Statute or the court, or under an authorized scheme or with the approval of the Charity Commissioners, of whom many of the powers relating to education were transferred to the Board of Education (O.C., 11th August, 1902).
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