Private Law Theory

INTRODUCTION
Both England and Australia historically maintained a key common law distinction for reforming the purposes of charitable organisations. The charitable trust was subject to the rigours of the equitable cy-près doctrine which limits the circumstances in which reform can occur and subjects it to control by the court, or in England, the Charity Commission or the court. By contrast, it has been more straightforward to reform ordinary incorporated charities, following a vote of the members (though subject to consent of the Charity Commission in England). There have been recent reforms to the trust/corporations distinction in England, with the effect that the purposes of both charitable trusts and ordinary incorporated charities will be uniformly modifiable following a vote …

Ian Murray and John Picton, The Reform of Charitable Constitutional Purposes: Should Australia Follow England’s Path in Aligning Charitable Trusts and Corporations?, King’s Law Journal. Published online: 11 March 2024.