Effect of the Charities Act 2006 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Effect of the Charities Act 2006 - Essay Example The Statute of Elizabeth, referred by many to as The Statute of Charitable Uses 1601 was the first legal conception of the charities trust. The Act defined charity in its preamble as, land, profits, and goods set aside for the benefit of the society from soldiers to school going children and the poor and elderly1. The Mortmain and Charitable Use Act 1888 changed a lot of the Statute of Elizabeth but maintained the introductory part of charities as per the Act. In a court ruling in the Goodman v Saltash Corporation [1882] 7 App Cas 633 case, the court was in favor that, goods were given to people in a town or village as charitable2. The Charities Act 1960 revoked all the previous statutes on charities leaving the interpretation of the term charities to fall under the purview of the law of England and Wales. Â  The designation of a charitable organization in the United Kingdom’s statute law, according to the Charities Act 2006, is an institution whose establishment is for charitable purposes alone. Some of the charitable purposes according to the Act include; the advancement of education, religion, and prevention of poverty. The charitable purposes also include the advancement of citizenship, health, animal welfare, arts, culture, heritage, and amateur sport, among others3. However, for the purposes of convenience in classifying the aims of charity, Lord Macnaghten in 1891 when ruling the Commissioners for Special Income Tax v Pemsel [1891] AC 531 case put the aims under four heads. These heads are; the reprieve of poverty, the advancement of education, the advancement of religion, and any purposes that are of benefit to society4. In order for an organization to be fully a charitable organization, one ought to be able to identify benefits rising from organizations to the advantag e of the society.