DEBATES IN CHARITY LAW Charitable organisations occupy a central place in society across much of the world, accounting for billions of pounds in revenue. As society changes, so does the law which regulates nonprofit organisations. From independent schools to foodbanks, they occupy a broad policy space. Not immune to scandals, sometimes nonprofits are in the news for all the wrong reasons and so, when they are in the public eye, regulators must respond to high profile cases. In this book, a team of internationally recognised charity law experts offers a modern take on a fast-changing policy field. Through the concept of policy debates it moves the field forward, providing an important reference point for develop- ing scholarship in charity law and policy. Each chapter explores a policy debate, setting out the fault-lines in play, and often offering proposals for reform. Two important themes are explored in this edited collection. First, there is a policy tension in charity law between its largely conservative history and the need to keep up-to-date with social change. This pressure is felt acutely along key fault- lines, such as the extent to which a body of law which developed before the advent of legislated human rights is able to adapt to a rights-based world, and the extent to which independent schools – historically so closely linked with charity – might deserve their generous tax-breaks. The second theme explores the law from the perspective of a good-faith regulator, concerned to maximise the usefulness of charities. From the need to reform old organisations, to the need to ensure that charities enjoy the right amount of regulatory freedom in a world of payment-by- result contracts, the book critically charts the policy justifications for regulatory intervention, as well as the costs that such intervention might bring. Debates in Charity Law will be of interest to both academic researchers and students of the nonprofit sector, looking to understand the links between law, social change and regulation. It will also help and guide nonprofit employees and volunteers, showing how their sector is shaped and moulded by the law. ii Debates in Charity Law Edited by John Picton and Jennifer Sigafoos HART PUBLISHING Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Kemp House, Chawley Park, Cumnor Hill, Oxford, OX2 9PH, UK 1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA HART PUBLISHING, the Hart/Stag logo, BLOOMSBURY and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published in Great Britain 2020 Copyright © The editors and contributors severally 2020 The editors and contributors have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as Authors of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. While every care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of this work, no responsibility for loss or damage occasioned to any person acting or refraining from action as a result of any statement in it can be accepted by the authors, editors or publishers. All UK Government legislation and other public sector information used in the work is Crown Copyright ©. All House of Lords and House of Commons information used in the work is Parliamentary Copyright ©. This information is reused under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/ open-government-licence/version/3) except where otherwise stated. All Eur-lex material used in the work is © European Union, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/, 1998–2020. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Library of Congress Control Number: 2020931286 ISBN: HB: 978-1-50992-683-1 ePDF: 978-1-50992-685-5 ePub: 978-1-50992-684-8 Typeset by Compuscript Ltd, Shannon To find out more about our authors and books visit www.hartpublishing.co.uk. Here you will find extracts, author information, details of forthcoming events and the option to sign up for our newsletters. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This collection brings together expertise from charity law scholars from around the globe, including our wonderful colleagues in the Charity Law and Policy Unit at the University of Liverpool. We both have been enriched by workshops and seminars over the years with our colleagues and many of the contributors to this volume. Informal discussions and general bonhomie have also made this a stimu- lating place to work on this topic. We would like to thank each of our authors for their important contribution. We appreciate your time and effort, as well as your willingness to respond to editorial feedback throughout this process. The field of charity law is rich, with work ranging from the theoretical to the practical, and we are confident that we have brought together an engaging sampling of the very best that the field has to offer. We would also like to extend our thanks to the editorial team at Hart Publish- ing, in particular Kate Whetter, for her patience and insight in developing this project to publication. Dr Karen Atkinson, also of the Charity Law and Policy Unit, has provided peerless editorial assistance. Her contribution goes beyond even this, however, as she has provided insight through thoughtful comments on chapters’ structure and rigour. This volume was immeasurably improved by her participation, and we are grateful. We also thank the academics who have given their time to peer review this work. The critical feedback we received on the book proposal was very helpful. The peer review provided for individual chapters has helped to tighten and focus arguments, as the very best peer reviewing can. This book is the tip of the iceberg, buoyed up by the huge voluntary contribution that makes academic research work. Finally, we would like to thank our families and friends for their help and encouragement. In particular, John would like to thank Arthur and Marian Picton for their support over the years. Jen would like to thank Mike and Gabriel, who make it all worthwhile. John Picton and Jennifer Sigafoos September 2019 vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������v List of Contributors �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ix 1. Fault Lines in Charity Law ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������1 John Picton and Jennifer Sigafoos 2. Independence and Accountability in the Charity Sector ������������������������������������13 Matthew Harding 3. Debating the Extent of Party/State Control Over Overseas Nonprofit Organisations: Charity Law Debates in China ����������������������������������37 Mark Sidel 4. Regulating Egoism in Perpetuity �������������������������������������������������������������������������53 John Picton 5. Deploying Communitarianism Bankruptcy Theory to Rescue Insolvent Charities and Maintain Charitable Purposes �����������������������������������������������������81 John Tribe 6. When Should Charities be Allowed to Discriminate? The Case of Single-Sex Services and Transgender People �������������������������������������������������103 Jennifer Sigafoos 7. Regulating Charitable Activities through the Requirement for Charitable Purposes: Square Peg Meets Round Hole ���������������������������������������������������������129 Adam Parachin 8. Redefining the Regulatory Space? The First Forays of the Irish Charities Regulatory Authority �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������155 Oonagh B Breen 9. Independent Schools in Scotland: Should they be Charities? ���������������������������179 Patrick Ford 10. Licking their Own Lollipops: What do Charities and the Public Think about the Regulation of Charitable Activities? ���������������������������������������207 Eddy Hogg 11. Commissioning of Services by Charities in the Third Decade of the Contract Culture: Lessons Learned (or Not Yet) ������������������������������������231 Debra Morris viii Table of Contents 12. Regulating the Digital (Currency) Revolution: Unravelling the Technological Challenge Faced by Charities �����������������������������������������������257 Matthew Robert Shillito 13. Social Housing – Charities and Vulnerable Groups �����������������������������������������279 Warren Barr 14. Charity Law and Policy: Looking Forward �������������������������������������������������������301 Jennifer Sigafoos and John Picton Index ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������313 LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Warren Barr is Professor of Law at the University of Liverpool. Oonagh Breen is Professor of Law at University College Dublin. Patrick Ford is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Dundee. Matthew Harding is Professor of Law at the University of Melbourne. Eddy Hogg is Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Kent. Debra Morris is Professor of Law at the University of Liverpool. Adam Parachin is Associate Professor of Law at York University. John Picton is Lecturer in Law at the University of Liverpool. Matthew Shillito is Lecturer in Law at the University of Liverpool. Mark Sidel is Doyle-Bascom Professor of Law and Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Jennifer Sigafoos is Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Liverpool. John Tribe is Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Liverpool.