Charities: joined-up thinking. Timothy Sherwin publishes article in the Trusts and Estates, Law & Tax Journal
Timothy Sherwin’s recent paper has been published in the Trusts and Estates, Law & Tax Journal. Timothy discusses Gibbons v Smith [2020] All ER (D) 38 Jul, [2020] EWHC 1727 (Ch), a case in which he acted for the Claimants. The High Court considered for the first time in detail the scope of section 1(2) of the Recreational Charities Act 1958, now re-enacted as section 5(2) of the Charities Act 2011, and its application to prospective charities which seek to restrict membership and access to particular classes of individual. Unsurprisingly, the court held that the imposition of narrow membership requirements, in the form effectively of a private members’ club, meant that an entity could not be a charity.
In so concluding, the court provided some useful guidance both on the scope of what is now section 5 of the Charities Act 2011, as well as on the correct procedure where a claimant in an application for directions cannot find an active defendant, and on the legal effect of trusts for charities which fail but which may yet create effective private members’ clubs.
A copy of the article can be found here.
