Re Compton
A trust for the education of the descendants of named people was not charitable, because it was based on a personal relationship rather than a public benefit.
Facts
A testatrix left her estate on trust for the education of the descendants of three named people, who were members of her own family. The question was whether the trust was charitable.
Legal principle
The Court of Appeal held that the trust was not charitable. Lord Greene MR said that a gift under which the beneficiaries are defined by reference to a personal relationship to a named individual or individuals cannot be charitable, because it lacks the public character required of charities, however large the class may be. The trust was a family trust, not a trust for the benefit of a section of the public. This is the origin of the personal nexus test, later applied in Oppenheim.
Related cases on charitable trusts
- Chichester Diocesan Fund and Board of Finance Inc v Simpson [1944] AC 341
- Dingle v Turner [1972] AC 601
- Re Finger's Will Trusts [1972] Ch 286
- Gilmour v Coats [1949] AC 426
- Re Harwood [1936] Ch 285
- Re Hetherington [1990] Ch 1
- Income Tax Special Purposes Commissioners v Pemsel [1891] AC 531
- IRC v Baddeley [1955] AC 572
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