The Meaning of Charity

Jonathan Garton, University of Warwick, has published Re Macduff and the Charity of the Wise at 16 Charity Law and Practice Review 21 (2013-14). Here is the abstract. 

This article argues that Re Macduff, a largely overlooked 19th century Court of Appeal decision, should be reassessed as one of the defining cases of modern charity law. In rejecting 'philanthropic purposes' as being within the spirit and intendment of the Preamble to the Statute of Charitable Uses 1601, its influence has subtly but significantly shaped the development of charity law over the past century. En route the article offers a literary and sociological analysis of the protean concept of philanthropy, as contrasted with charity, tracing its shifting meaning from its origins in ancient Greek tragedy to the activities of the great social reformers of the 19th century.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.