Charity - Law Dictionary Search Results
Home Dictionary Name: charityCharities, or Public Trusts
Charities, or Public Trusts. One of the earliest fruits of the Emperor Constantine's zeal, or pretended zeal, for Christianity, was a permission to his subjects to bequeath their property to the Church. This permission was soon abused to so great a degree as to induce the Emperor Valentinian to enact to Mortmain Act by which it was restrained. But this restraint was gradually relaxed; and in the time of Justinian it became a fixed maxim of civil law that legacies to pious uses (which included all legacies destined to works of charity, whether they related to spiritual or temporal concerns) were entitled to peculiar favour, and to be deemed privileged testaments.Lord Thurlow was clearly of opinion that the doctrine of charities grew up from the civil law; and Lord Eldon, in assenting to that opinion, has judiciously remarked, that at an early period that ordinary had the power to apply a portion of every man's personal estate to charity; and when afterwards the statute compelled a distr...
Charity Commissioners
Charity Commissioners. The Charity Commissio-ners for England and Wales are a body appointed under the provisions of the Charitable Trusts Acts, 1853 to 1925, and their powers and duties are to be found in these Acts. They exercise very extensive powers of management and control over charities, including power to authorize sales, exchanges, leases and mortgages of charity property; to frame new schemes where the original terms of the trust can no longer be literally or beneficially complied with; to investigate the accounts of charitable trusts; to sanction proceedings by the trustees and give them advice, and many other powers. There are, however, certain institutions exempted from their jurisdiction, e.g., certain universities and colleges, registered places of worship, and charities wholly supported by voluntary contributions; see s. 62 of the Act of 1853, the construction of which has given rise to great difficulties, and the judgment of Davey, L.J., in Re Clergy Orphan Corporation...
charity
charity pl: -ties : a gift for humanitarian, philanthropic, or other purposes beneficial to the public (as maintaining a public building) ;also : an institution (as a hospital or school) or organization founded by such a gift compare private foundation NOTE: Statutory definitions of what institutions and organizations qualify as charities vary. Organizations that are primarily involved in political campaigns or lobbying do not qualify as charities for tax purposes, but trusts for them may be considered charitable. In addition to tax-exempt status, charities have also generally been granted immunity from tort suits. ...
Charity
Charity, the word 'charity' which in common parlance is a word denoting a giving to some one in necessitous circumstances and in law a giving for public good. A private gift to one's own self or kith and kin may be meritorious and pious but is not a charity in the legal sense and the courts in India have never regarded such gifts as for religious or charitable purposes even under the Mahomedan Law, Fazlul Rabbi Pradhan v. State of West Bengal, AIR 1965 SC 1722 (1727). [West Bengal Estates Acquisition Act, 1953 (1 of 1954), s. 6(1)(i)]Aid given to the poor, the suffering, or the general community for religious, educational, economic, public-safety, or medical purposes, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 228.Charity, means any institution, trust or undertaking, whether corporate or not, which is established solely for charitable purposes, (English) Banking Act, 1987; (Exempt Transactions) Regulations, 1988, reg. 3(2); Halsbury's Laws of England, Vol. 3(1), para 30, p. 26....
Official trustee of charity lands
Official trustee of charity lands, the secretary for the time being of the Charity Commissioners, who is constituted a corporation sole by that name for taking and holding charity lands: see (English) Charitable Trusts Act, 1853, s. 49; Charitable Trusts Amendment Act, 1855, s. 15....
Religious charity
Religious charity, clause (13) of s. 6 defines 'religious charity' as meaning 'a public charity associated with a Hindu festival or observance of a religious character, whether it be connected with a math or temple or not', Commissioner v. Narayana Ayyangar, AIR 1965 SC 1916 (1917): (1965) 3 SCR 168. [T.N. Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1951 s. 6(13)]...
Charity dana utsarga
Charity dana utsarga, the true meaning of charity may be either dana or utsarga. In the case of dana the donor gives up his ownership over a thing, makes another the owner of it and cannot thereafter use it nor has he any control over it. When a man makes an utsarga, he no doubt gives up his ownership but gives up the thing for the benefit of all, C.I.T. v. F.I.C.C.I., (1981) 3 SCC 156 (166): AIR 1981 SC 1408....
Covenanted payments to charity
Covenanted payments to charity, the statutory provisions relating to disposition for a period which cannot exceed six years do not apply in relation to income which is payable as a covenanted payment to charity, Halsbury's Laws of England, Vol. 23, para 1183, p. 1073...
Public charity
Public charity, means something for the charitable benefit of a large and important body of poor persons. As a rule, a friendly society is not a public charity, Clark (in re:), 1 Ch D 497; Cullack v. Edwards, (1896) 2 Ch 679; Braithwaite v. Attorney-General, (1909) 1 Ch 410....
Endowed Charities Act
Endowed Charities Act [(English) 23 & 24 Vict. c. 136]. See CHARITABLE TRUSTS....
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