Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008

Meaning of “charity”

1.—(1) For the purposes of the law of Northern Ireland, “charity” means an institution which—

(a) is established for charitable purposes only, and

(b) falls to be subject to the control of the Court in the exercise of its jurisdiction with respect to charities.

(2) The definition of “charity” in subsection (1) does not apply for the purposes of a statutory provision if a different definition of that term applies for those purposes by virtue of that or any other statutory provision.

(3) A charity shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to have a permanent endowment unless all property held for the purposes of the charity may be expended for those purposes without distinction between capital and income, and in this Act “permanent endowment” means, in relation to any charity, property held subject to a restriction on its being expended for the purposes of the charity.

(4) The Commission may direct that for all or any of the purposes of this Act an institution established for any special purposes of or in connection with a charity (being charitable purposes) shall be treated as forming part of that charity or as forming a distinct charity.

(5) The Commission may direct that for all or any of the purposes of this Act two or more charities having the same charity trustees shall be treated as a single charity.