The Curious Case of the National Fund

Martin Ellison

No 19782, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: Changing attitudes to government debt influenced a recent High Court judgement on the National Fund, a British charity set up in 1928 with donations left to accumulate until they grew sufficient to repay in full the National Debt of the United Kingdom. Based on a belief that the Fund would never become large enough, in 2018 the Attorney General applied under cy-près jurisdiction to allow the charity to repay only part of the National Debt. The argument was that changing attitudes to debt have rendered the charity's aim impracticable, even though it was at the time it was set up.

JEL-codes: H62 H63 H68 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-12
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