Charitable immunity is a

legal doctrine A legal doctrine is a framework, set of rules, Procedural law, procedural steps, or Test (law), test, often established through precedent in the common law, through which judgments can be determined in a given legal case. For example, a doctrine ...

which holds that a

charitable organization A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

is not liable under

tort A tort is a civil wrong, other than breach of contract, that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with cri ...

law. It originated in 19th-century

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

. Between the 1940s and 1992, almost every state in the United States had abrogated or limited the charitable immunity doctrine. The doctrine has also been abandoned in Britain and Canada. 184 D.L.R. (4th) 445, Ontario Court of Appeal, Court File No. C29290, Doherty, Abella and Feldman JJ.A., Heard: April 14, 1999, Judgment rendered: April 10, 2000

History

The early form of charitable immunity in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

did not provide

immunity Immunity may refer to: Medicine * Immunity (medical), resistance of an organism to infection or disease * ''Immunity'' (journal), a scientific journal published by Cell Press Biology * Immune system Engineering * Radiofrequence immunity ...

from

suit A suit, also called a lounge suit, business suit, dress suit, or formal suit, is a set of clothes comprising a suit jacket and trousers of identical textiles generally worn with a collared dress shirt, necktie, and dress shoes. A skirt su ...

; it only protected segregated funds held in a recognized equitable trust for the organization. In ''Heriot's Hospital'', plaintiff Ross brought an action against a charitable trust which had been established for a home for fatherless boys, contending that he had been excluded from the home even though he was fatherless and otherwise qualified for the charitable benefits. By the time his case was determined, Ross was too old for admission, and the question was whether he was entitled to damages from the trust funds. The House of Lords held that he was not. In the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

, Lord Cottenham, ''in dictum'', pronounced that an award of damages out of a trust fund "would not be to apply it to those objects which the author of the fund had in view, but would be to divert it to a completely different purpose". ''Heriot's Hospital'' was not a tort claim and did not address the issue whether a charity is liable to those whom it has wrongfully injured. ''Heriot's Hospital'' repeated an earlier dictum from Lord Cottenham in ''Duncan v. Findlater'', 6 Cl. & Fin. 894 (1839), which decided, unremarkably, that highway trustees, under a public road act, were not liable for the negligence of independent contractors. A blanket waiver from suit for charities did not exist anywhere at common law until it was adopted in England in 1861. Moreover, the concept of immunity had no sooner crept into English law than it was decisively repudiated. By 1866, the dictum of ''Duncan v. Findlater'' (and by implication that of ''Heriot's Hospital'') was overruled by ''Mersey Docks Trustees v. Gibbs'', LR 1 HL 93, 11 Eng Rep 1500 (1866).''Georgetown College v. Hughes'', 130 F.2d 810, 816-17 (1942) (discussing history of doctrine).

Variations

The doctrine has especially been relevant, or discussed, in the context of

child sexual abuse Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in Human sexual activity, sexual activit ...

and

medical malpractice Medical malpractice is a legal cause of action that occurs when a medical or health care professional, through a negligent act or omission, deviates from standards in their profession, thereby causing injury or death to a patient. The negligen ...

. Under the charitable immunity doctrine, it was still possible to sue employees or volunteers of charitable institutions, so the doctrine's existence encouraged other legal arguments, such as the " captain of the ship" argument that a surgeon is responsible for everything that happens in an operating room.

References

{{reflist * Charity law Legal immunity