"Hubert Picarda's book is obviously of great significance to all charity lawyers. We have all been waiting for this new edition with baited breath!" Christopher McCall QC
"The book is therefore not only a comprehensive and up to date guide on the whole area of the law and practice relating to charities, but at all times provides practical and detailed synergy of the law and procedure...
I feel sure that this book will prove to be a vital and important addition to the library of any Charity law practitioner." Henry Frydenson, STEP Journal, 2010
"A reader picking up the book and reading it from start to finish would find themselves on a sensible (and enjoyable) journey through the law and practice of charities...
The text does not assume a detailed knowledge of charity law and is therefore suitable for a relative newcomer to this field. However, the text also contains sufficiently detailed analysis for it to be a valuable resource for the seasoned practitioner looking to deal with the latest conundrum presented by a client." Private Client Business, Issue 3, 2011
"There is no need for me to add my endorsement to a work which is recognised throughout the common law world as a work of exceptional scholarship and which clearly and correctly deals with principles of law applicable to charitable trusts and arrangements." Mr Justice P W Young AQ, Australian Law Journal, (2011) 85 ALJ 185
"Lawyers heap praise on the 'learned, academic and fascinating' authority that is Hubert Picarda QC, who advises on an array of both non-contentious and hotly disputed charity cases. His 'suberb, detailed analysis of charity law' is such that he is the author of one of the gold standard textbooks on charity law." Chambers Directory, 2011
Thoroughly updated and revised to take account of the new Charities Act 2006, this new edition of The Law and Practice Relating to Charities covers the creation, administration and marketing of charities. It provides an invaluable source of practical advice on the registration of new charities, appeals and fundraising, administration, jurisdiction, court proceedings, trading, taxation and rating. It considers duties of charitable trustees and the updating of charitable trusts.
The new fourth edition takes into account the major changes brought about by the Charities Act 2006 including:
• the new categories of charitable purposes
• explanation of the new Charity Tribunal and Charitable Corporations (CIOs)
• details of the new procedure for Charity Tribunal appeals, reviews and references
• discussion of the new accounting procedures and the significant revisions to the taxation position of Charities
• details of all the changes to the registration requirements for charities and the revised constitution and workings of the Charity Commission.
It is almost eleven years since the last edition of this important practitioner’s textbook appeared, and the most important change is the advent of the Charities Act 2006 comprehensively integrated throughout the book.
The book is helpfully grouped into eight major parts, namely:-
- What is a charity;
- Foundation of charities;
- Schemes;
- Running the charity;
- Jurisdiction;
- Litigation;
- Taxation;
- Miscellaneous.
Then there are four useful appendices, namely:-
- The Charity Act 1993;
- The Charities Act 2006;
- The first tier tribunal rules; and
- The upper tier tribunal rules.
Each of the parts is sub-divided into sections as one would expect, bringing the law right up to date. So, for example, under the sub-heading Public Benefit in Part 1, there is a detailed analysis of public benefit under the Charities Act 2006, and there is an interesting and rich chapter on the important areas of advancement of education, and interesting important and previously ignored cases are drawn to the reader’s attention, eg University College of North Wales v Taylor [1908] S140 and Smith v Kerr [1902] 1 Ch 774 at 778 CA.
Under the sub-heading “reformulated and new charitable purposes under the Charities Act 2006 not falling within property education or religion”, there is a painstaking and comprehensive analysis of such areas as the advancement of health and the saving of life, the advancement of citizenship or community development the advancement of the arts, culture, heritage or science, the advancement of human rights etc, the advancement of environmental protection or improvement, and so on.
There is a spirited discussion in Chapter 16 on Politics, where again the author has undertaken a very detailed analysis of the areas of party politics, peace and international understanding bodies whose object is to change the existing law, eg McGovern v ALG the Amnesty Case, trusts to influence government policy, and a careful analysis of CC9, the latest Charity Commission Guide to political campaigning of March 2008.
While the important Aid/Watch case was heard by the High Court of Australia on 15 and 16 June 2010, judgment was reserved and is still awaited (and accordingly it is not dealt with in the text), and it will be interesting to see whether or not the author’s views accord with the decision reached.
Then there is a useful chapter on human rights augmented by excellent footnotes (as is the case with all the footnotes throughout this Book).
Again, the reader is directed to the meticulous examination of Charitable Incorporated Organisations in Chapter 18.
This same attention to detail is to be found in the section on Perpetuities and Accumulations referred to at the end of Chapter 27.
I found the detailed Chapter 29 on the cy près principle very practically useful, as was Chapter 35 on the direction of schemes and the relaxing of rules for unincorporated charities.
Another very useful section is the discussion in Chapter 38 of the Charity Commission’s new jurisdiction regarding remuneration of trustees pursuant to the new provisions introduced by the Charities Act 2006.
Similarly, the reader will find detailed examination of spending of permanent endowment in chapter 41, accounting duties in Chapter 43 and registration in Chapter 46.
As will be clear from the author’s Preface to the current edition, he has had assistance on various chapters from Debra Morris, the well-known academic in the field of charities, and special mention should be made of...
