''Conservative and Unionist Central Office v Burrell''

981 Year 981 ( CMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events Births * Abu'l-Qasim al-Husayn ibn Ali al-Maghribi, Arab statesman (d. 1027) * Giovanni Orseolo, Venetian ...

EWCA Civ 2''Conservative and Unionist Central Office v Burrell (HM Inspector of Taxes)'' (1981) EWCA Civ 2 (10 December 1981)
/ref> is an

English trusts law English trust law concerns the protection of assets, usually when they are held by one party for another's benefit. Trusts A trust is a legal relationship in which the holder of a right gives it to another person or entity who must keep a ...

case ruling on the " beneficiary principle". The

Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation t ...

sought to define the party, a mixed-money, common-object body with regular spending for political purposes, as an

unincorporated association Unincorporated associations are one vehicle for people to cooperate towards a common goal. The range of possible unincorporated associations is nearly limitless, but typical examples are: :* An amateur football team who agree to hire a pitch onc ...

. The direct subject matter was on the applicability of corporation tax, which was confirmed to apply to unincorporated associations but that the set-up of the party and its rules were not such an instance. The party was a

sui generis ''Sui generis'' ( , ) is a Latin phrase that means "of its/their own kind", "in a class by itself", therefore "unique". A number of disciplines use the term to refer to unique entities. These include: * Biology, for species that do not fit in ...

body (body of its own class) meaning a lex specialis (set of special laws) should apply.

Facts

The

argued that the contributions of members of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

(formally, the Conservative and Unionist Party) took effect as an accretion to the funds (legally termed "mixed fund") which placed investments to make extra self-income, essentially controlled by the party leader due to rules in place voted on by the members and were thus the subject matter of a contract, which safeguarded and determined what happened with the members' funds. It argued that if that is so, then like a much smaller inter-members association where funds can revert with much more ease, such corporation tax should be payable.

Vinelott J Sir John Evelyn Vincent Vinelott (15 October 1923 – 22 May 2006) was a leading barrister at the Chancery bar and an English High Court judge in the Chancery Division from 1978 to 1994. He was born in Gillingham, Kent, and studied at Queen E ...

at first instance in the

Chancery Division The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (England ...

of the High Court (''Conservative and Unionist Central Office v Burrell''

980 Year 980 ( CMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Peace is concluded between Emperor Otto II (the Red) and King Lothair III (or Lothair IV) a ...

3 All ER 42) held that each contributor enters a contract with the treasurer, who undertakes to use the subscription for the association's purposes. Breach would mean liability in contract.

Judgment

The

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much ...

held there was no contract which connected the branches of the party with the members tightly among themselves (''inter se''), so the ''Re Recher'' analysis could not apply. Brightman LJ said donations to political parties give a mandate or authority as an agent to the party treasurer to add the party's funds. This must be used for party purposes. The mandate is irrevocable, but (essentially of relevance to other scenarios) the contributor has a remedy to restrain misapplication of money unless their own contribution had been spent already (the moment of spending and any misapplication judged by ordinary accounting principles). It was accepted that the same kind of temporary rescission and rare means of restraint (whether footed on contract or agency) could not apply for a dead person. Such a person could have authorised their will's personal representatives (executives) to do so. Lord Justice Lawton, referring to the

Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1970 Income is the consumption and saving opportunity gained by an entity within a specified timeframe, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. Income is difficult to define conceptually and the definition may be different across fields. Fo ...

, section 526 said:

Notes and references

;Footnotes ;References {{reflist, 2

External links

''Conservative and Unionist Central Office v Burrell (HM Inspector of Taxes)'' (1981) EWCA Civ 2 (10 December 1981)
English trusts case law History of the Conservative Party (UK) 1981 in British law 1981 in case law Court of Appeal (England and Wales) cases

Facts

Judgment

See also

Notes and references

External links