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England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Decisions |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Decisions >> Routier & Anor v Revenue & Customs [2016] EWCA Civ 938 (16 September 2016) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2016/938.html Cite as: [2016] WLR(D) 496, [2016] BTC 38, [2016] STI 2653, [2016] STC 2218, [2017] PTSR 73, [2016] EWCA Civ 938 |
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ON APPEAL FROM THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
CHANCERY DIVISION
The Hon Mrs Justice Rose
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
(VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COURT OF APPEAL, CIVIL DIVISION
LORD JUSTICE TOMLINSON
and
LORD JUSTICE KITCHIN
____________________
(1) Peter Routier (2) Christine Ann Venables (as executors of the late Beryl Coulter) |
Appellants |
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- and - |
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The Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs |
Respondents |
____________________
David Yates (instructed by General Counsel and Solicitor for HM Revenue & Customs) for the Respondents
Hearing date: 14 June 2016
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Crown Copyright ©
Lord Justice Kitchin:
The background
"2. To accumulate the income of the Coulter Trust and to distribute the Coulter Trust together with any accumulated income therefrom UNTO such incorporated body as may be set up by the Parish of St Ouen for the purpose of the provision of homes for the elderly of the Parish …"
Clause 2 then specifies various conditions to which it is subject.
"3. In the event that the Parish of St Ouen fails neglects or refuses to set up an incorporated body as set out above within three years of my decease, or fails or refuses to accept any of the conditions of my gift as set out above then in either of these events I DIRECT that my Trustees shall in place of the Incorporated Body, hold the Coulter Trust and distribute the same both as to income as capital UNTO JERSEY HOSPICE CARE to assist with capital expenditure required by Jersey Hospice Care as in their discretion may deem fit, and in the event that the capital expenditure is required for the construction of buildings for Jersey Hospice Care then this upon [certain conditions to which clause 2 is also subject]."
The statutory framework
"23 Gifts to charities
(1) Transfers of value are exempt to the extent that the values transferred by them are attributable to property which is given to charities.
…
(6) For the purposes of this section property is given to charities if it becomes the property of charities or is held on trust for charitable purposes only, and "donor" shall be construed accordingly."
"Charity" and "charitable" have the same meanings as in the Income Tax Acts."
""charity" means a body of persons or trust established for charitable purposes only,"
i) the first limb exempts a transfer if the property becomes the property of any body of persons or trust established for charitable purposes only; and
ii) the second limb exempts the transfer if the property is held on trust for charitable purposes only.
The first issue
"… forming part of the income of any body of persons or trust established for charitable purposes only or which, according to the rules or regulations established by Act of Parliament, charter, decree, deed of trust, or will, are applicable to charitable purposes only, and so far as the same are applied to charitable purposes only;"
"I am considering what, as a matter of ordinary language and common sense, is intended (in the absence of a special context) by the phrase, in an English Act of Parliament or other document, "body of persons established for charitable purposes only." In my judgment, applying the test I have formulated, once it is conceded that "for charitable purposes only" means "for purposes which are what the laws of the United Kingdom define as charitable and hold to fall within the special and somewhat artificial significance of that word," then it seems to me, prima facie, that a body cannot be "established" for such purposes unless it is so constituted or regulated as to be subject to the jurisdiction of the courts which can alone define and regulate those purposes."
"Still more significant to my mind is the circumstance that the formula "any body of persons or trust established for charitable purposes only" is followed by the alternative "or which, according to the rules or regulations established by Act of Parliament, charter, decree, deed of trust or will are applicable to charitable purposes only." It is, in my judgment, reasonably clear that the alternative was added in order to cover those cases in which only a part of the income is, by virtue of the Act of Parliament or other instrument named, applicable to charitable purposes, in contradistinction to those bodies of persons or trusts which are exclusively established for such purposes.
In my view, however, the alternatives are true alternatives; the distinction, that is to say, is between institutions, in other respects alike, whose income is either, on the one hand, wholly applicable to the purposes named, or, on the other hand, is, as to the relevant part only, so applicable. And since, in my judgment, it cannot be in doubt that by "Act of Parliament" is meant an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament, so it follows, in my view, that by "charter, decree, deed of trust or will" is meant an instrument of the kind specified subject to, and taking effect according to, the laws of the United Kingdom. The alternative formula must therefore be regarded as wholly limited by reference to our local law; and, if this is so, then, as it seems to me, the earlier phrase "any body of persons or trust established, etc." must be regarded as equally so limited.
In my judgment, therefore, the bodies of persons mentioned in the paragraph cannot comprehend foreign institutions such as the foundation. I have earlier stated my view that the essential word is "established." In my judgment, whatever might be the true significance of the four words "any body of persons" taken in isolation, those words in the context of paragraph (b) of section 37(1) of the Act of 1918, and particularly when immediately followed by the words "or trust established for charitable purposes only," must be limited to bodies of persons so constituted and regulated as to be (in reference to the income in question) subject to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom courts."
"There is, however, one reason underlying that principle which can, I think, properly be taken into account in reaching any conclusion on the construction of section 37, and that is the great administrative difficulty which must inevitably attend the worldwide application of the exemption. If any institution in any part of the world can lay claim to the exemption on the ground that it is established for exclusively charitable purposes, adjudication upon foreign claims for exemption will, as Mr Talbot admits, involve the twofold process of ascertaining the relevant foreign law as to the purposes which the institution concerned is empowered to pursue and then determining whether those purposes, considered, I suppose, in relation to the manners, customs, beliefs and social conditions obtaining in the foreign country concerned, are charitable purposes within the meaning of our law. This would be liable to give rise in many cases to an abstruse and controversial inquiry, hardly to be answered short of litigation in the courts. The present case is relatively simple owing to the affinity of United States law to our own, but that is an accidental circumstance, which does not displace the possibility, or indeed probability, of acute difficulty in many other cases."
"Coming last to the material head of exemption (paragraph (b)), I find it extends to any interest etc. "forming part of the income of any body of persons or trust established for charitable purposes only or which" (that is to say, which interest etc.) "according to the rules or regulations established by Act of Parliament, charter, decree, deed of trust or will, are applicable to charitable purposes only, and so far as the same are applied to charitable purposes only." Ex-concessis, "charitable purposes" in paragraph (b), as also in paragraph (a), means purposes which are charitable according to the law of the United Kingdom. "Act of Parliament" clearly means "Act of the United Kingdom Parliament." "Charter" clearly means Royal Charter granted by the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. "Decree" really means "decree of the court of the United Kingdom". As appears from what I have said regarding the references to "trustees" in the other two paragraphs, I think that "trust" and "deed of trust" in this paragraph must be taken as referring to trusts taking effect and enforceable under the law of United Kingdom, and I think that similarly "will" must in this context mean a will so taking effect and enforceable."
"In this section "charity" means any body of persons or trust established for charitable purposes only."
"In the ordinary use of language, the whole of the funds were potential emoluments. It is true that, as Charles J pointed out, 'potential emoluments' is a defined expression, and a definition may give the words a different meaning from their ordinary meaning. But that does not mean that the choice of words adopted by Parliament must be wholly ignored. If the terms of the definition are ambiguous, the choice of the term to be defined may throw some light on what they mean."
The second issue
"1. Within the framework of the provisions set out in this Chapter, all restrictions on the movement of capital between member States and between Member States and third countries shall be prohibited."
Lord Justice Tomlinson:
Lord Justice Moore-Bick: