MacLeod and Hall on Foundations of the Right of Charitable Uses @StMarys_Law @RegentLaw

Adam MacLeod, St. Mary's University Law School, and Mark David Hall, Regent University, are publishing Foundations of the Right of Charitable Uses in the Mississippi Law Journal. Here is the abstract.

In recent years, municipalities around the United States have enacted ordinances that prohibit or restrict food-sharing in public places. These ordinances make it difficult for charitable souls to share food with those most in need. In one case, a town in Arizona arrested a woman under an ordinance that prohibits sharing food in public for charitable purposes. The closest analogs to these laws are the English anti-almsgiving acts of the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. One must look that far back in history because infringements of the right of charitable uses of property are exceedingly rare. Indeed, throughout the history of our constitutional and legal tradition, the law has repeatedly and vigorously secured the right to make charitable uses of one’s property. An examination of the history and tradition of charitable uses leads to the conclusion that the right is deeply rooted in our fundamental law. This finding has widespread implications today because the right is at stake not only in the enforcement of food-sharing ordinances but also in other attempts to limit or regulate charitable activity, such as laws that constrain the freedom of charitable organizations to solicit funds, requirements that private charities serve governments’ purposes, and burdens on charities’ exercise of their right of association.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.