Gilmour v Coats

Lord
Simonds

Lord du
Parcq

Lord
Normand

Lord

Morton of
Henryton

Lord Reid

Lord Simonds

MY LORDS,

The Appellant, Ethel Gilmour, is the present Prioress of the Carmelite
Priory of St. Charles' Square, Notting Hill, London. In that capacity she
appeals against a judgment of the Court of Appeal, whereby that Court
dismissed an appeal from a judgment of Mr. Justice Jenkins who had in
effect declared the purposes of the Carmelite Priory not to be charitable
in the technical sense which the law ascribes to that word.

The question arises in this way. By a declaration of trust made on the
10th June, 1946, between the Respondent, Evelyn Dudley Coats, of the one
part and herself and George Bellow (therein called " the Trustees ") of the
other part a sum of £500 cash was settled upon trust after payment of
costs for investment as therein mentioned and to hold the resulting trust
fund " Upon trust if the purposes of the Roman Catholic Community situate
" and known as the Carmelite Priory, St. Charles' Square, Notting Hill, in the
" County of London, are charitable to apply the income of the Trust Fund
" to all or any such purposes . . . but if the purposes of the said com-
" munity are not charitable then upon trust to apply the Trust Fund to all
" or any of the purposes of the Converts' Aid Society of 20, Holmes Road,
" Twickenham, Middlesex." This settlement was admittedly made for the
purpose of raising the question which has now reached this House. Accord-
ingly within a short time an originating summons was issued in the Chancery
Division by the trustees, to which the present Appellant and certain persons
representing the Converts' Aid Society, who are the present Respondents,
were made Defendants, asking how the trustees ought to apply the income
of the trust fund. The question, though framed in this general way, was
intended to raise the issue whether the purposes of the Carmelite Priory
were charitable. For it was clear that the settlement created a perpetuity
in favour of that community, so that, if the purposes were not charitable,
the gift over in favour of the Converts' Aid Society would take effect.

What then were the purposes of this Carmelite Priory, which I will some-
times refer to as " the Convent " or " the community "? Upon this matter
evidence was given by the Appellant herself and by His Eminence Cardinal
Griffin, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster. This evidence
is stated at length in the very careful judgment of Mr. Justice Jenkins and
1 will refer to certain salient features of it. The whole of it has been care-
fully considered by the House.

It appears that this community is one of the communities of the Discalced
Nuns of the Order of Our Blessed Lady…