''Re Denley’s Trust Deed''

969 Year 969 ( CMLXIX) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar, the 969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 1st millennium, the 69th year of the 10th century, and the 10th ...

1 Ch 373 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. Trust law, Trusts were a creation of the English law of English property law, property and English contract law, obligations, a ...

case, concerning the policy of the "

beneficiary principle A beneficiary in the broadest sense is a natural person or other legal entity who receives money or other benefits from a benefactor. For example, the beneficiary of a life insurance policy is the person who receives the payment of the amount of ...

". It held that so long as the people benefitting from a trust can at least be said to have a direct and tangible interest, so as to have the ''

locus standi Locus (plural loci) is Latin for "place". It may refer to: Mathematics and science * Locus (mathematics), the set of points satisfying a particular condition, often forming a curve * Root locus analysis, a diagram visualizing the position of ...

'' to enforce a trust, it would be valid.

Facts

In 1936 the settlor company, H.H. Martyn & Co. Ltd, from Sunningend Works,

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

, transferred land to trustees to, under clause 2(c), "be maintained and used as and for the purpose of a recreation or sports ground primarily for the benefit of the employees of the company and secondarily for the benefit of such other person or persons (if any) as the trustees may allow to use the same". Clause 2(j) added that the employees would cease entitlement if the number dropped below 75% of them "or if the said land shall at any time cease to be required or to be used by the said employees as a sports ground or if the company shall go into liquidation then the trustees shall ... convey the said land to the General Hospital Cheltenham or as it shall direct." It was argued that this was a non-charitable purpose trust and should fall foul of the beneficiary principle. The claimants were the trustees. The first defendant was the company, who argued clause 2(j) was void for uncertainty, and if not clause 2(c) was also void, and hence the property would be on resulting trust to the company. The second defendant was an employee representing the others, who argued that clause 2(c) is valid, and if not then clause 2(j) would be void. The third defendants was the Cheltenham Group Hospital Management Committee, which under the

National Health Service Act 1946 The National Health Service Act 1946 ( 9 & 10 Geo. 6. c. 81) came into effect on 5 July 1948 and created the National Health Service in England and Wales thus being the first implementation of the Beveridge model. Though the title 'National Hea ...

was successor to the assets of the

Cheltenham General Hospital Cheltenham General Hospital is an NHS district general hospital in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, run by Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. It provides general hospital services including Accident and Emergency. The Trust headquart ...

, argued that clause 2(c) is void, and that clause 2(j) is valid, so that they would get the grounds.

Judgment

Goff J held that the trust was valid, because it could be construed as being ultimately for the benefit of people and thus made to work. He said the following.

1 Ch 373, 382-4 Goff J applied the list certainty test from '' IRC v Broadway Cottages Trust''

955 Year 955 ( CMLV) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * August 10 – Battle of Lechfeld: King Otto I ("the Great") defeats the Hungarians (also known as Magyars) near Augsburg (Germa ...

Ch 20, although this would now be superseded given ''

McPhail v Doulton , also known as ''Re Baden's Deed Trusts (No 1)'' is a leading English trusts law case by the House of Lords on the certainty of beneficiaries. It held that so long as any given claimant can clearly be determined to be a beneficiary, or not, a t ...

''.

Notes

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References

* English trusts case law High Court of Justice cases 1969 in United Kingdom case law

Facts

Judgment

See also

Notes

References