Definition
“Charity,” as a legal concept, is confined to and defined by the common law. It is usually considered to date from the Statute of Charitable Uses 1601 in England and Wales, which laid the legislative foundations for the development of modern charity law. The preamble to that statute defined charity in terms of selected charitable purposes,
Religion was defined in Keren Kayemeth Le Jisroel v. Inland Revenue Commissioners (1931) 48 TLR 459 as “the promotion of spiritual teaching in a wide sense, and the maintenance of the doctrines on which it rests, and the observances that serve to promote and manifest it.” Although not mentioned as a charitable purpose in the 1601 Act since the 1879 ruling by Macnaghten LJ in Pemsel, there was never any doubt as to the legal inseparableness of charity and religion.
A body of case law precedents and related principles largely shared among the 60 or so nations that subscribe to the common-law tradition now determines when religion, religious...
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References
Flack, T. (2008). Insights into the origins of organised charity from the Catholic tradition of confraternities. Brisbane: Occasional paper for Australian Centre of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies, Queensland University of Technology.
HMSO. (1952). Report of the Committee on the Law and Practice relating to charitable trusts. London: HMSO.
Putnam, R. (2000). Bowling alone. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Titmus, R. (1970). The gift relationship: From human blood to social policy. New York: The New Press. (1997).
Westlake, H. F. (1919). The Parish gilds of mediaeval England. London: SPCK.
Further Reading
Bothwell, J. (1997). Indicators of a healthy civil society. In J. Burbridge (Ed.), Beyond prince and merchant: Citizen participation and the rise of civil society. Brussels: Institute of Cultural Affairs International.
Brady, J. (1975). Religion and the law of charities in Ireland. Belfast: Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly.
Bromley, K. (2001). The definition of religion in charity law in the age of fundamental human rights. London: Charity Law & Practice Review, 7(1), 39–91.
Luxton, P. (2001). The law of charities. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mitchell, C., & Moody, S. (2000). Foundations of charity. Oxford: Hart.
O’Halloran, K. (2018). Human rights, religion and international law. Abingdon: Routledge.
O’Halloran, K. (2016). Human rights & charity law: International perspectives. Abingdon: Routledge.
Picarda, H. (2010). The law and practice relating to charities (4th ed.). London: Bloomsbury Professional.
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O’Halloran, K. (2020). Charity and Religion. In: List, R., Anheier, H., Toepler, S. (eds) International Encyclopedia of Civil Society. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99675-2_54-1
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