Purpose trusts in English law

A purpose trust in English law is a trust created for the fulfillment of a purpose, not for the benefit of a person. These are normally considered invalid by the courts because they have no legally recognized beneficiaries, therefore nobody to enforce the trust, with the exception of charitable trusts, which are enforceable by Attorney General as they represent public interest. As well as charitable trusts, there are several exceptions to the rules against purpose trusts. If the requirement to fulfill a purpose is a request, rather than an obligation, the trust is valid; a trust will also be found valid if, while being for a purpose, it involves beneficiaries in some respect. Purpose trusts can also be valid if they are for the erection or maintenance of tombs and memorials (assuming such memorials are not overly grandiose), the maintenance of animals, and arguably the saying of masses, although these must all obey the rule against perpetuities and not continue for more than 21 years after the testator's death.

A purpose trust is a trust created for the fulfilment of a purpose, not for the benefit of a person. While charitable trusts are also for the benefit of an abstract purpose, charitable purposes for the public benefit are an exception to the standard rule regarding purpose trusts, which is that they are void. The invalidity of purpose trusts is commonly said to have been set in Morice v Bishop of Durham. In Leahy v Attorney-General for New South Wales,Lord Simonds set the principle that:

A gift can be made to persons (including a corporation) but it cannot be made to a purpose or to an object; so, also a trust may be created for the benefit of persons as cestui que trust but not for a purpose or object unless the purpose or object be charitable. For a purpose or object cannot sue, but, if it be charitable, the Attorney General can sue to enforce it.

Alastair Hudson, Professor of Equity and Finance Law at the University of Exeter, argues that this is an example of the "strict" rule against purpose trusts. A looser application was found in Cocks v Manners, a case with almost identical facts, where the court decided that the trust was valid as a gift to every member of the order individually, with the Mother Superior acting as a trustee.

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