Educational Endowments (Ireland) Act 1885
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1885 c. 78 |
Educational Endowments (Ireland) Act, 1885
(48 & 49 Vict.) CHAPTER 78.
An Act to re-organize the Educational Endowments of Ireland.
[14th August 1885]
Whereas it is desirable to extend the usefulness of educational endowments in Ireland:
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
1 Interpretation of terms.
1. For the purposes of this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—
‘Educational endowment’ shall mean any property dedicated to charitable uses, and which has been applied or is applicable, in whole or in part, whether by the declared intention of the founder or the consent of the governing body, or by custom or otherwise, to educational purposes:
‘Governing body’ shall mean the commissioners, managers, governors, board, committee, or trustees of any endowment, or other persons having the administration of the revenues thereof, and shall include the Commissioners of Education in Ireland:
‘The Lord Lieutenant’ shall include the Lords Justices or other Chief Governor or Governors of Ireland for the time being:
‘The Lord Lieutenant in Council’ shall mean the Lord Lieutenant acting by and with the advice of the Privy Council in Ireland:
‘The Commissioners’ shall mean the Commissioners appointed under this Act, and ‘Commissioner’ shall mean one of such Commissioners.
2 Short title.
2. This Act may be cited as theEducational Endowments (Ireland) Act, 1885.
3 Commencement of Act.
3. This Act shall, except as herein-after otherwise provided, come into operation on the first day of October one thousand eight hundred and eighty-five, which date is in this Act referred to as the commencement of this Act.
Commissioners.
4 Constitution of Commission.
4. The Commissioners shall be five in number, of whom two (herein-after referred to as the Judicial Commissioners) shall be or have been Judges of the Supreme Court of Judicature in Ireland, and three (herein-after referred to as Assistant Commissioners) shall be persons of experience in education.
The Right Honourable Gerald FitzGibbon and the Right Honourable John Naish are hereby constituted the first Judicial Commissioners.
The Judicial Commissioners shall hold office during good behaviour, they shall receive no payment for their services, and shall not be subjected to any personal liability for costs or otherwise in respect of anything done or omitted by them as such Commissioners.
Every scheme submitted for the approval of the Lord Lieutenant in Council under this Act shall be signed by both the Judicial Commissioners for the time being under their hands.
It shall be lawful for the Lord Lieutenant to appoint the Assistant Commissioners, who shall hold office during his pleasure; and, upon any vacancy occurring by death, resignation, or otherwise in the office of a Judicial or Assistant Commissioner, it shall be lawful for the Lord Lieutenant to supply such vacancy by the appointment of a qualified person. No Assistant Commissioner shall be subjected to any personal liability for costs or otherwise in respect of anything done or omitted by him as such Assistant Commissioner.
The Judicial Commissioners may from time to time, with the approval of the Commissioners of the Treasury, appoint a secretary, and such officers, clerks, and servants as they think fit.
The Judicial Commissioners may from time to time prescribe the duties of the Assistant Commissioners, and of the secretary, officers, clerks, and servants.
The Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland shall provide a suitable office in Dublin in which the business of the Commission may be transacted.
This section shall take effect on the passing of this Act.
5 Salaries and expenses.
5. The Commissioners of the Treasury shall assign such salaries as they think fit to the Assistant Commissioners, secretary, officers, clerks, and servants appointed under this Act, and, except where otherwise provided, the salaries and other expenses incurred under this Act (including the personal and travelling expenses of the Judicial Commissioners, and the travelling expenses of the Assistant Commissioners, secretary, and other officers incurred on the business of the Commission, which shall be paid on scales to be approved by the Treasury), and also any expenses incurred by the Lord Lieutenant in Council under this Act, shall be paid out of moneys to be provided by Parliament.
6 Powers of Commissioners.
6. Subject to the provisions herein-after contained, the Commissioners shall have power to prepare drafts of schemes for the future government and management of educational endowments, which schemes may provide for altering the conditions and provisions of such endowments, including the powers of investing and from time to time changing the investment of the funds or selling the properties thereof, or amalgamating, combining, or dividing such endowments, or, in the case of endowments applicable for intermediate education, transferring such endowments to the Intermediate Education Board for Ireland, to be applied by them for the purposes of the Intermediate Education (Ireland) Act, 1878, as the Scheme may direct, or (in the case of endowments applicable for elementary education) placing the schools under the inspection of the Commissioners of National Education, as the Scheme may direct, or consolidating or dividing the schools, or removing them to different localities, or authorising the governing bodies of boarding schools to discontinue the boarding departments, or readjusting, extending, or abolishing existing schemes of exhibitions or scholarships, or altering the constitution of the governing bodies, or uniting two or more existing governing bodies, or transferring endowments from one governing body to another, or establishing new governing bodies with such powers as shall seem necessary, and to insert in such schemes clauses incorporating the governing bodies, whether old or new, or vesting endowments in any existing corporate bodies in trust for such governing bodies.
A scheme may authorise any governing body to sell, demise, exchange, or surrender a lease of any land, or to dispose of any other property vested in them, and may give such directions in relation thereto, and for investing the money arising therefrom, as the Commissioners shall think fit.
Sales, demises, and exchanges of land, and the surrender of leases of land, and other dealings with property, authorised by a scheme, shall have the like effect and validity as if they had been authorised by the express terms of the trust affecting the endowment to which they belong.
Endowments subject to Commission.
7 Act not to apply to certain endowments.
7. This Act shall not apply—
(1) to any endowment belonging to, or administered by, or in the gift of the university of Dublin, or Trinity college; or
(2) to any endowment solely or mainly applicable or applied for the purposes of theological instruction, or belonging to any theological institution; or
(3) to any endowment which in the discretion of the governing body may be wholly applied to other than educational purposes; or
(4) to any endowment or part of an endowment (as the case may be) given to charitable uses, or to such uses as are referred to in this Act, at any time after the passing of this Act; or
(5) to any endowment consisting of voluntary subscriptions, or accumulations, or investments thereof; or
(6) to any endowment applicable and provided exclusively for the benefit of persons of any particular religious denomination, and which is under the exclusive control of persons of that denomination,
unless the founder or the governing body of such endowment, or the senate or governing body of such university, respectively, shall intimate in writing to the Commissioners their consent that such endowment shall be dealt with under this Act.
8 Apportionment of mixed endowments.
8. Where any part of an endowment is an educational endowment within the meaning of this Act, and part of it is applicable or applied to other charitable purposes, the scheme shall be in conformity with the following provisions (except so far as the governing body of such endowment assent to the scheme departing therefrom); that is to say,
(1) (1.) The proportion of the endowment or annual income for the time being derived therefrom which is applicable to such other charitable uses shall not be diverted by the scheme from such uses, unless, in the opinion of the Commissioners,—
(a ) there are no persons who are entitled to benefit out of such part of the endowment; or
(b ) the purposes of such part of the endowment have failed altogether; or
(c ) such purposes have become insignificant in comparison with the magnitude of such part of the endowment; or
(d ) such purposes have become prejudicial to the public welfare.
(2) (2.) The proportion of the endowment or annual income for the time being so applicable to such other charitable uses shall be deemed to be the proportion which, in the opinion of the Commissioners, is the proportion which has, according to the average of such number of years as the Commissioners shall determine, been appropriated as regards capital, or applied as regards income, to such uses; or if that proportion differs from the proportion which ought to have been so appropriated or applied according to the express directions of the instrument of foundation, or the decree of any competent court, or the statutes or regulations governing such endowment, the proportion applicable to such other charitable uses shall be the proportion which ought,...
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