“We would say that the organisation was wrongly registered. We have examined the Trust Deed and we note from Picarda page 56 (see Nottidge v Prince (1860), that the Agapemonites was (sic) held not to be a religious body. It does seem to us from the knowledge of this organisation that its purposes were never exclusively charitable. We are therefore proposing to remove the charity from the register forthwith”
“I am come again for the second time as the Bridegroom of the Church and the Judge of all men, for the Father has committed all judgment unto me because I am the Son of Man. And you, each one of you, must be judged by me… It is not up there – in heaven – where you will find your God, but in me who am united with the Father”
“…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…”
“She [Joanna Southcote] was, in my opinion, a foolish, ignorant woman, of an enthusiastic turn of mind, who had long wished to become an instrument in the hands of God to promote some great good on earth. By constantly thinking of this, it became in her mind an engrossing and immovable idea, until at last she came to believe that her wish was accomplished, and that she had been selected by the Almighty for this purpose. Of course she had, during her life, many followers, and probably has some now, as every person will have who has attained to such a pitch of self-confidence as sincerely to believe himself to be the organ of communication with mankind specially selected for that purpose by the Divine Author of his being” and at pp.20-21: “The testatrix, it is clear, was a disciple or believer in Joanna Southcote, who, from her writings, it is clear, was a very sincere Christian but she laboured under the delusion that she was to be made the medium of the miraculous birth of a child at an advanced period of her life, and that thereby the advancement of the Christian religion on earth would be occasioned. But her works, as far as I have looked at them, contain but little upon this subject, and nothing which could shake the faith of any sincere Christian. In truth, although her works are in a great measure incoherent and confused, they are written obviously with a view to extend the influence of Christianity”
“It seems to me that two of the essential attributes of religion are faith and worship; faith in a god and worship of that god”
“It may be that the tenets of a particular sect inculcate doctrines adverse to the very foundations of all religion, and that they are subversive of all morality”
“In this country certain sects have been held not to be religious institutions. Thus the “Church” of the Agapemonites was held not to be a religious institution…”
“Another way of putting that question is to ask whether anyone would have a legitimate complaint if the whole were applied for charity….If, upon an examination of the objects of the trust, as expressed by its wording construed against the appropriate factual matrix, the answer to that question is that no-one could object to an exclusively charitable application, the provision satisfies the condition”
“The question which I have to decide, therefore, appears to me to reduce itself to one of the construction of the testator’s will – i.e. whether the testator has given the property to charity, in perpetuity, subject to an executory gift in favour of the residuary legatee, or whether he has given it for a limited period, leaving the undisposed of interest to fall into residue”
“Where in terms an absolute and perpetual gift to charity is made with a gift over on cesser which fails for remoteness or some other reason, the original perpetual gift to charity remains; but, on the other hand, where there is a gift to charity for a limited period then the undisposed of interest reverts to the grantor”
“As in the case before me, there was in that case a gift neither expressed to be in perpetuity nor, on the other hand, limited in duration. At 1103, he continues: “Thus, in the present case, if there had been no gift over on the failure of the orphanage, it would hardly have been suggested that upon subsequent failure of it there would have been a resulting trust. Where, however, the donor uses language showing an intention that in some circumstances he contemplates a failure of the purpose or indicates that his gift is only to be for a limited time or purpose, then it becomes a question of construction, whether he has made an out-and-out or perpetual gift to charity or not, and that is not inaptly expressed by asking whether he has evinced a general charitable intention”
“What, however, seems to me clear is that the donor desired the charity to continue only while it could be carried on as an orphan girls’ home by the committee of management and subject to the general supervision and general meetings of subscribers as detailed in the schedule. When that particular charity came to an end, in my judgment, she evinced the clearest possible intention that the property was to go over to the non-charitable purpose mentioned in her will. She has said quite clearly that, on failure of the trusts…it is to be held upon the new trust…”