Thornton v Howe
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 01 January 1862 |
| Date | 01 January 1862 |
| Court | High Court of Chancery |
English Reports Citation: 54 E.R. 1042
ROLLS COURT
31 L. J. Ch. 767; 6 L. T. 525; 8 Jur. (N.S.) 663; 10 W. R. 642.
thohnton v- HowE- April 28, May 29, 1862. [31 L. J. Ch. 767 ; 6 L. T. 525 ; 8 Jur. (N. S.) 663 ; 10 W. R. 642.] A trust " for printing, publishing and propagating the sacred writings " of Joanna Southcote, is a charitable trust, which if given out of pure personalty will be enforced and regulated. In respect t& charitable trusts for printing and circulating works of a religious tendency, this Court makes no distinction between one sect and another, unless their tenets include doctrines adverse to the foundation of all religion or be subversive of all morality, in which case this Court will declare the bequest void. The testatrix, Ann Essam, by her will dated in 1843, bequeathed as follows : - " And as to all the rest, residue and remainder of my estate, both real and personal, w hatsoever and wheresoever, that I may be possessed of, after the payment of all my just debts, funeral and testamentary expenses, I give, devise and bequeath the same unto Benjamin Howe, of No. 107 Old Street, St. Luke's, London, engineer, to hold to him, his heirs and assigns for ever. But it is my express wish and desire that the produce .of all my said real and personal estate, so devised and bequeathed to him and his \ heirs, shall be applied for and towards the printing, publishing and propagation of I the sacred writings of the late Joanna Southcote ; and I hereby constitute and appoint 'the said John Spencer sole executor of this my will." The testatrix died in 1844. The heiress at law of the testatrix filed this bill in 1861 against Howe and the Attorney-General, and it charged as follows : - "The Plaintiff charges that the trust for the printing [15] and publishing and propagation of the sacred writings of the late Joanna Southcote is either void in law, on the ground that the writings in question are of a blasphemous and profane character, or that the trust so declared is a trust for the propagation of doctrines subversive or contrary to the Christian religion, or as being a trust for a charitable purpose within the Act of 9 Geo. 2, c. 36. " The Plaintiff charges that the writings of Joanna Southcote, which are referred to in the will of the testatrix, purport to declare, maintain or reveal that she was with child by the Holy Ghost, and that a second Shiloh or Messiah was about to be born of her body, and in other parts thereof purport to be or contain revelations made to her by the Holy Ghost or by divine inspiration, and to maintain or declare that she was moved or inspired by the Holy Spirit to write the same, and that in other parts they are of a blasphemous and profane character." The bill prayed, amongst other things, a declaration " that the trust declared by the testatrix's will of her real...
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Wong, Wen-Young v (1) Grand View Private Trust Company Ltd, (2) Transglobe Private Trust Company Ltd
...the book, and if its objects be charitable in the legal sense it will give effect to the trust as a good charity: Thornton v. Howe (1862) 31 Beav. 14; but if its objects be political it will refuse to enforce the trust: De Themmines v. De Bonneval (1828) 5 Russ. 288.”… 1292. In the present ......
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Attorney-General v Henry Becher and Charles F. Becher
... ... may be cases in which the Court would feel itself at liberty to set up its own view against that of the giver [Gibson, J., referred to Thornton v. Howe ( 1 )]. The basis of the judgment in that case is, that the works of Joanna Southcott were written with a view to extending the influence of ... ...
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National Anti-Vivisection Society v Commissioners of Inland Revenue
...the scale sufficiently to one side or the other. 64 This view is, I think, in accordance with the opinion of Sir John Romilly M.R. in Thornton v. Howe, 31 B. 14, (the Joanna Southcote case), when he says ( inter alia): "If the tendency were not immoral and although the Court might consider ......
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SHIFTING PARADIGM OF INVESTMENT BY CHARITIES
...to faith-based charities, the courts have held that the law will not discriminate between different religions. See Thornton v Howe(1862) 54 ER 1042 at 1044. 43 In alignment with this broad sweep approach, all expended charitable donations are tax-free in the hands of the recipient charity b......
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...Review 159. (70) Gilmour v Coats [1949] AC 426, 459 (Lord Reid). (71) See, eg, the judicial and academic treatment of Thornton v Howe (1862) 31 Beav 14; 54 ER 1042, discussed in Pauline Ridge, 'Legal Neutrality, Public Benefit and Religious Charitable Purposes: Making Sense of Thornton v Ho......
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A CHARITY IN ALL BUT LAW: THE POLITICAL PURPOSE EXCEPTION AND THE CHARITABLE SECTOR.
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