The Modern Cy-prFs Doctrine: Applications and Implications

It's unusual in the precise and qualified world of law to find instances where 'near enough is good enough'. This book explores one such instance of increasing importance and influence.In the legal doctrine of 'cy-pres', when literal compliance is impossible, the intention of a donor or testator should be carried out 'as nearly as possible'. This has been codified in its traditional legal context of the law of charitable trusts in several jurisdictions. However in the last 30 years, the cy-pres doctrine has marched into other legal territory where 'as near as possible' is considered sufficient, for example where damages sought for environmental pollution have been applied towards clean-up programmes rather than individual claimants, or in a case concerning price-fixing of vitamins, money from awarded damages was applied to healthcare organisations rather than awarded to the innumerable victims. The doctrine has also been suggested as being potentially useful in the case of racial trusts, a topic of increasing importance in countries with a history of colonial immigration and indigenous land loss.This book dscusses the cy-pres doctrine as applied across the common law world in all of its modern manifestations. The doctrine and its modern-day applications will be of interest to researchers working in civil procedure, trusts, charity law, property law, corporations law, jurisprudence, equitable remedies and statutory interpretation. Developments across the Commonwealth jurisdictions and the United States are covered.