[vahik92]

Do the rules on three certainties apply to charities?

(I assume this is a charitable trust, but please correct me if I'm wrong). e.g. A leaves £X on trust to create a scholarship for poor students who study in an excellent university.

Who are poor for the purposes of this trust? What are the excellent universities? Who is obliged to create the trust (since the settlor does not mention who he's leaving the trust fund to/but surely there must be someone who must organise the scholarship)?

Thanks in advance.

[suffocation1992]

(Original post by vahik92)
Do the rules on three certainties apply to charities?

(I assume this is a charitable trust, but please correct me if I'm wrong). e.g. A leaves £X on trust to create a scholarship for poor students who study in an excellent university.

Who are poor for the purposes of this trust? What are the excellent universities? Who is obliged to create the trust (since the settlor does not mention who he's leaving the trust fund to/but surely there must be someone who must organise the scholarship)?

Thanks in advance.

Edit: tricky to say

[vahik92]

(Original post by suffocation1992)
Is your example really a charitable purpose trust, though?

Is it not educational or poverty?

I took this example from a past exam paper, I did not make it myself

[suffocation1992]

(Original post by vahik92)
Is it not educational or poverty?

I took this example from a past exam paper, I did not make it myself

Edit - my original post was wrong

[Qoph]

(Original post by suffocation1992)
I would say: for the valid formation of any trust you need; three certainties, formalities, a beneficiary capable of enforcing the trust and valid constitution. A charity is a trust; it's a charitable purpose trust. Because it is a trust, the three certainties must apply.

You do not need certainty of objects.

[wanitto]

Charitable trust = public purpose trust

Requirement of Certainty of Intention, Certainty of Subject-Matter but not certainty of objects (Morice v Bishop of Durham)

In your example: question is which charitable purpose 'heading' (from Charities Act 2006) it comes under: either "relief of poverty" or "advancement of education". Then you must deal with the public benefit requirement of the Charities Act.

"relief of poverty": (1) determine what class of 'poor' the question deals with and see whether there are precedents (Re Cohen: requires genuinely poor; Re Sanders: relief of 'working classes' is not relief of poverty)

"Advancement of education": Seems to fit within this heading... it supports education. But the cases are mostly to do with borderline cases. Though I'm not sure if it would fit in the 'public benefit'::

"Public benefit requirement": There must an identifiable benefit. Must be available to the public at large or for a sufficiently large section of the public. Eligibility to benefit is sufficient, not actual benefit. (i think it works: Dingle v Turner: purpose was to create a pension for the poor employees of Dingle: charitable; poverty cases have a lower public benefit requirement)

[ktwolves]

A leaves £X on trust to create a scholarship for poor students who study in an excellent university.
(I assume this is a charitable trust, but please correct me if I'm wrong).

There is no doubt that it is a Purpose Trust either for private purpose or charitable purpose.

In any case, there is nothing to worry about, go through the basic requirements for a charity.
You are required to deal with
1. The word poor, and how the courts have interpreted it in relations to the meaning of poverty
2. Scholarship, and the meaning of education
and comment on the different public benefit requirement for both, some ideas as explained by fellow contributors.

It does not matter, at the end of the day you decided the trust fails to be public purpose or it is a indeed a charitable
trust for either relief of poverty or advancement of education.

I would argue, having gone through the same arguments, add some spice that the trust as it is" is too vague" which I need to articulate and would fail to survive as charitable. You probably wish to play safe but I want higher marks.