DOUBT AND CERTAINTY IN THE LAW OF CHARITIES

Abstract

Recently, so-called law reform of the law of charities has been more like law remise. Indeed, the Charitable Trusts (Validation) Act, 1954 gave once-failed “charitable trusts” a second stab at validation. But the Act was not framed to deal with future dispositions; it was only intended to operate on those that took effect before a certain date in 1952. Why, asks G.H.L. Fridman, was the Act not framed in general terms so as to provide a satisfactory measure of law reform? The author re-examines the issues that drove the first wave of law reform in this area, this time in light of recent cases and the validating legislation, and presents draft legislative proposals on this salutary basis.