Charity Law Exploring the Concept of Public Benefit

This book investigates and critically evaluates the concept of public benefit within charity law in the common law world. In the course of the study the book: provides a rich account of how the concept of public benefit has developed over time in charity law jurisprudence; deepens understanding of the aspects of public benefit that remain poorly understood even today; and suggests ways in which public benefit jurisprudence might develop in an orderly and principled way so as to better address some of the core concerns of charity law and the public policy objectives that lie behind it. The book includes contributions from world leading charity law experts and jurists. Each chapter reflects on a key aspect of public benefit jurisprudence in charity law. The topics have been chosen carefully to ensure coverage of most if not all of the large unresolved questions relating to public benefit in the common law world. Each chapter is accompanied by a comment, written by an academic expert or leading practitioner. The comments complement the chapters by critically engaging with those chapters and by offering different and thought-provoking perspectives on the subject matter of the chapters. The book will be of interest to academics working in law, philosophy, economics, sociology and political science. It will also provide a valuable resource for legal practitioners and judges, government officials, especially charity regulators, and in the not-for-profit sector itself.

Table of Contents Table of Contents List of Contributors Acknowledgements [Introduction] Introduction Daniel Halliday and Matthew Harding [Chapter 1] What Does it Mean to ‘Act Charitably’? Revisiting the Purposes and Activities Distinction in Charity Law Adam Parachin [Chapter 1 Comment] Purposes, Activities and the Continued Importance of Charity Modes of Action Ian Murray [Chapter 2] Too Private to Be Charitable: Difficulties in Drawing the Line in Charity Law Debra Morris [Chapter 2 Comment] Too Private to Be Charitable: Commentary on Debra Morris’s Chapter Jennifer Batrouney AM QC [Chapter 3] Public Benefit and Charitable Class Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer [Chapter 3 Comment] Comment on Public Benefit and Charitable Class Matthew Harding [Chapter 4] Public Benefit and Public Policy: Keeping up with Discrimination? Myles McGregor-Lowndes [Chapter 4 Comment] Commentary on Public Benefit and Public Policy: Keeping up with Discrimination? Matthew Turnour and Elizabeth Shalders [Chapter 5] A No-Benefit Benefit Test: When, If Ever, Should Benefit Be Presumed or Assumed in Charity Law? Mary Synge [Chapter 5 Comment] A No-Benefit Benefit Test: Comment Pauline Ridge [Chapter 6] Weighing Benefits and Detriments in the Law of Charities Jane Calderwood Norton [Chapter 6 Comment] Some Further Reflections on Incommensurability, Public Benefit, and Autonomy: Commentary on Weighing Benefits and Detriments in the Law of Charities Daniel Halliday [Chapter 7] Public Reason, Public Benefit, and ‘Political’ Charities Patrick Emerton [Chapter 7 Comment] Comment on Public Reason, Public Benefit, and ‘Political’ Charities Jennifer L Beard [Chapter 8] Issues and Problems with the Application of the Public Benefit Test in New Zealand Law Sue Barker [Chapter 8 Comment] Comment: Purpose and Public Benefit Rosemary Teele Langford Index

Daniel Halliday is Associate Professor in Philosophy at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Matthew Harding is Professor of Law, University of Melbourne, Australia.