THE CY-PRES DOCTRINE

Abstract

Recent decisions have added to uncertainty in the law of charities. The author claims that the uncertainty has two sources: 1) the singleness of the doctrine and 2) the fiction of the general charitable intent. This article attempts to expose the bad influence of these two traits by dividing the cases that apply them into three categories: 1) the impossibility cases, 2) the surplus cases and 3) the specified institution cases. The author contrasts the general charitable intent with the donor’s intention to give property out and out, in order to emphasize the confusion attributable to this distinction.