Victorian Legislation Parliamentary Documentsi
Version No. 001
Anglican Trusts Corporations Act 1884
Act No. 797/1884
Version incorporating amendments as at 9 November 2000
TABLE OF PROVISIONS
Section Page
Definitions 2
Powers of Synod to pass resolution to form body corporate 3
Certified copy of resolution to be delivered to Registrar-General 3
Incorporation of trustees as body corporate 4
4A. Change of name of Diocesan Trusts Corporation 4
Property vested in bishop 5
Persons holding property in trust 6
Bishop of diocese may consent to transfer in place of trustee
deceased absent or under disability 7
Registrar-General or Registrar of Titles to make transfers to body
corporate 7
8A. Number of trustees 8
Appointment of trustees 8
Successor in office to become trustee in place of predecessor 8
The successor of bishop vacating see to become trustee in place
of predecessor 8
Property vested in trustees 9
12A. Common Funds 9
12B. Joint use or ownership of church trust property 12
Trustees appointed hereunder to be trustees of property 14
Synod in any diocese to make rules for the appointment of
corporation trustees 14
═══════════════
ENDNOTES 15
General Information 15
Table of Amendments 16
Explanatory Details 17
Victorian Legislation Parliamentary Documents1
Version No. 001
Anglican Trusts Corporations Act 1884
Act No. 797/1884
Version incorporating amendments as at 9 November 2000
An Act to provide for the creation of corporate bodies of
Trustees in which property belonging to the Church of England
in Victoria may be vested and to make further provisions in
reference thereto.
Preamble
WHEREAS by the Act eighteenth Victoria
No. XLV intituled "An Act to enable the Bishops
Clergy and Laity of the United Church of England
and Ireland in Victoria (now described as the
Church of England in Victoria under the authority
of the Amending Act 36 Victoria No. 454) to
provide for the regulation of the affairs of said
Church" certain powers are conferred upon the
members of the said Church meeting in assembly
as therein mentioned of managing the property of
the said Church:
AND WHEREAS the members of the said Church
are desirous in order the more effectively to carry
out the powers so conferred that the property of the
Church be vested in corporate bodies of trustees
and be dealt with in manner hereinafter mentioned:
BE IT THEREFORE ENACTED by the Queen's Most
Excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the
Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly of Victoria
in this present Parliament assembled and by the authority of
the same as follows:
Definitions
In this Act the following terms shall if not
inconsistent with the context have the meanings
hereinafter respectively assigned to them—
"bishop" or "bishop of a diocese" shall mean as
to the term "bishop" the bishop registered
under the title of "bishop" under the
provisions of the "Successory Trusts Act
1878" as head of the Church of England in
the portion of Victoria described in the
certificate of registrations, and shall include
the administrator of the affairs of the
dioceses during the vacancy of the see; and
the term "diocese" shall mean the portion of
Victoria described in such certificate as the
diocese of the person so registered;
"Church" shall be taken to designate and apply
to the Church now known as the Anglican
Church of Australia in Victoria;
"property" shall mean land promised or reserved
by the Crown for any of the purposes of the
said Church and all property real or personal
including money or securities for money
held by or vested or purporting to be vested
in or claimable by any person or persons
either in trust generally for the said Church
or for any special purpose in connexion
therewith or for the benefit or use of the
members thereof as such or of any person or
persons holding for the time being office
therein;
s. 1
S. 1 def. of
"Church"
amended by
No. 56/2000
s. 9(a).
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Anglican Trusts Corporations Act 1884
3
1"Synod" shall mean an assembly of the said
Church convened under the provisions of the
Act of the Legislature of Victoria passed in
the eighteenth year of Her Majesty and
numbered XLV or of any Act amending the
same;
"trusts corporation", in relation to a diocese,
means the corporate body of trustees
constituted within the diocese under this Act.
2. Powers of Synod to pass resolution to form body
corporate
The Synod in any diocese may if it thinks fit pass
a resolution expressing its desire—
(a) that there be constituted within the diocese a
corporate body of trustees for the purpose of
holding property in trust for the benefit of
the Church within such diocese;
(b) that the persons nominated in the resolution
as trustees shall be the corporation;
(c) that such trustees be incorporated under the
name specified in the resolution.
Provided always that nothing in this section shall
affect any separate trust but such trust shall
continue in force after the transfer of the trust
estate to a corporate body of trustees under the
provisions hereinafter contained.
3. Certified copy of resolution to be delivered to
Registrar-General
As soon as may be after the passing such
resolution the bishop of the diocese shall cause a
copy thereof duly certified under his hand to be
delivered to the Registrar-General, who shall
retain and register the same.
S. 1 def. of
"Church
Assembly"
amended as
"Synod" by
No. 56/2000
s. 8(a).
S. 1 def. of
"trusts
corporation"
inserted by
No. 56/2000
s. 5(a).
S. 2
amended by
No. 56/2000
s. 8(a).
s. 2
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Anglican Trusts Corporations Act 1884
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4. Incorporation of trustees as body corporate
After the registration of such resolution the
Registrar-General shall notify the same in the
Government Gazette, and thereupon the trustees
named in such notice and their successors to be
appointed as hereinafter provided shall be a body
corporate by the name stated in such notice, and
shall have perpetual succession and a common
seal and may sue and be sued and may acquire
take and hold any property in trust for the Church
in the diocese in which such resolution shall have
been passed or for any person or persons holding
for the time being any office therein and may
receive any moneys which have been or shall be
given or contributed by any person or persons to
be applied to any of the purposes of the said
Church and may take over any securities for
money held by any person or persons on behalf
thereof and may take in the name of such
corporate body any securities for money
belonging to the said Church which shall be lent
or advanced on account thereof, and shall deal
with all such property and securities so as to give
effect to the trusts to which they shall be specially
subject, or when not subject to any express trust in
such manner as the Synod of such diocese may
from time to time direct but so as not to interfere
with the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in the
enforcement of trusts.
4A. Change of name of Diocesan Trusts Corporation
(1) The Synod in a diocese may from time to time by
a resolution made with the concurrence of a
majority both of the clergy and the laity, the votes
of the clergy and those of the laity being
separately taken, and the resolution receiving the
assent of the bishop, change the name of the
S. 4
amended by
No. 56/2000
s. 8(a).
s. 4
S. 4A
inserted by
No. 10194 s. 4.
S. 4A(1)
amended by
No. 56/2000
s. 8(b).
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Anglican Trusts Corporations Act 1884
5
corporate body of trustees to a name specified in
the resolution.
(2) The bishop of the diocese shall as soon as
possible after the passing of a resolution under
sub-section (1) cause a copy of the resolution duly
certified under his hand to be delivered to the
Registrar-General who shall retain the copy and
register the resolution.
(3) After the registration of the resolution, the
Registrar-General shall notify the change of name
in the Government Gazette and upon that
notification, the change of name takes effect.
(4) A change of name under this section does not
operate—
(a) to create a new legal entity;
(b) to prejudice or affect the identity of the body
corporate constituted by the corporate body
of trustees or its continuity as a body
corporate;
(c) to affect the property, or the rights and
obligations, of the corporate body of trustees;
or
(d) to render defective any legal proceedings by
or against the corporate body of trustees—
and any legal proceedings that could have been
continued or commenced by or against the
corporate body of trustees by its former name may
be continued or commenced by or against its new
name.
5. Property vested in bishop
When any property is vested or purports to be
vested in the bishop of any diocese or has prior to
the passing of this Act been granted or conveyed
to the bishop of any diocese in order that the same
be held by him and his successors upon trust for
s. 5
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6
the benefit of the person holding for the time
being the office of bishop thereof or for any of the
purposes of the Church in such diocese or for
furthering any object in connexion therewith, all
such properties shall be held to be and from the
date of his appointment to have been and shall
become vested in the bishop for the time being of
such diocese subject to the trusts affecting the
same although such bishop has not been appointed
bishop of such diocese under letters patent from
the Crown, and such property may be transferred
by such bishop to the body corporate constituted
under the provisions of this Act within the diocese
of such bishop and shall thenceforth be held by
such body corporate subject to the trusts originally
affecting the same, and on the demise of any
bishop prior to his having made such transfer the
same shall be come vested in such body corporate
without any conveyance.
6. Persons holding property in trust
Where any persons hold any property in trust for
or on the behalf of the Church in any diocese or of
any person holding any office therein in which a
corporate body of trustees has been constituted
under the provisions of this Act, the trustees or a
majority of them may if they think fit consent to a
transfer of the trust property to such corporate
body upon the trusts to which the same is subject,
and such transfer when completed and accepted
by the corporate body shall from and after its date
operate as a discharge of all the trustees from the
duties of the trust.
s. 6
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7. Bishop of diocese may consent to transfer in place of
trustee deceased absent or under disability
In the circumstances mentioned in the next
preceding section, if by reason of death absence
from Victoria or any other disability the consent
of any trustee to the transfer as aforesaid cannot
be obtained within six months after the
constitution of the corporation as aforesaid, the
bishop of the diocese may by writing under his
hand consent to such transfer in place of any such
trustee, and if such consent be published in the
Government Gazette and in some newspaper
circulating in the place where the property to
which the consent refers is situate, and if within a
month from the last publication of such
advertisements no proceedings be taken therein by
the person in whose name such consent is given,
such consent shall upon the expiration of such
month be as effective for the purpose of this Act
as a consent given by the person in whose place
the consent is declared to have been given.
8. Registrar-General or Registrar of Titles to make
transfers to body corporate
Upon obtaining the written consent of a majority
of the trustees of any property held by them on
behalf of the Church in any diocese in which
trustees have been incorporated under the
provisions of this Act either under their own
hands or that of the bishop of the diocese as
hereinbefore mentioned, and also the consent of
the bishop of the diocese to the transfer to the said
corporate body of the trust property and the
acceptance by the corporation of the transfer to it
of such property, the Registrar-General or the
Registrar of Titles as the case may be shall make
the proper transfer thereof in his registers, and
thereupon without further conveyance or transfer
S. 7
amended by
No. 56/2000
s. 9(b).
s. 7
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Anglican Trusts Corporations Act 1884
8
the whole estate and interest of the trustees of
such property shall vest in such corporate body.
8A. Number of trustees
The Synod of a diocese may, by Act of Synod,
alter the composition, including the number, of
trustees constituting the trusts corporation of the
diocese.
9. Appointment of trustees
The trustees appointed for the purposes of this Act
and their successors shall be appointed in such
manner and shall hold their office for such term
and upon such conditions and vacancies in such
offices shall be filled in such manner as the Synod
of the diocese shall by any regulation or act from
time to time prescribe.
10. Successor in office to become trustee in place of
predecessor
When any person who has been appointed a
trustee by virtue of his office whether clerical or
lay ceases to hold such office, the successor
thereto shall upon the certificate in writing of the
bishop of the diocese of the vacating of the office
by the last holder thereof and of the appointment
of the person named therein as his successor and
of his acceptance of the office become a trustee
under his official designation in the stead of the
person last registered under such designation.
11. The successor of bishop vacating see to become
trustee in place of predecessor
When the bishop of a diocese is one of the trustees
appointed under this Act under his episcopal title
and vacates the see, his successor thereto who is
registered as bishop thereof under the Successory
Trusts Act or any Act amending the same shall on
the completion of such registration become a
trustee in the stead of the last preceding bishop.
S. 8A
inserted by
No. 56/2000
s. 6.
s. 8A
S. 9
amended by
No. 56/2000
s. 8(a).
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Anglican Trusts Corporations Act 1884
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12. Property vested in trustees
All property becoming vested in any corporate
body of trustees as hereinbefore mentioned or
which shall in any manner be acquired by such
corporate body shall so far as the same is subject
to any express trust be held managed dealt with,
mortgaged, charged or otherwise encumbered by
such corporate body in conformity with such
expressed trust, and shall so far as the same is not
subject to any express trust be held managed dealt
with, mortgaged, charged or otherwise
encumbered in such manner as the Synod in the
diocese may from time to time direct, and such
property shall be subject as to the management
thereof to the acts and regulations of the Synod in
force for the time being which are applicable
thereto.
12A. Common Funds
(1) In this section—
"Common Fund" means a Common Fund
authorized in accordance with this section to
be established and kept in the books of a
trusts corporation;
(2) Where the Synod of a diocese by resolution has so
authorized, the trusts corporation of that diocese
may, subject to the directions (if any) of the
Synod, in its discretion, invest any moneys in its
hands whether or not they are subject to any
express trust—
(a) on the separate account of any trust or
person; or
S. 12
amended by
Nos 10194
s. 5, 56/2000
s. 8(a)(c).
s. 12
S. 12A
inserted by
No. 10194 s. 6.
S. 12A(1) def.
of "Trusts
Corporation"
repealed by
No. 56/2000
s. 5(b).
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Anglican Trusts Corporations Act 1884
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(b) (if the moneys are not directed by the terms
of the trust to be invested in some other
specified manner and investment in a
Common Fund is not specifically prohibited
by the terms of the trust governing these
moneys) as part of a Common Fund
established and kept in the books of the
trusts corporation.
(3) A trusts corporation of a diocese may invest
moneys forming part of a Common Fund in any
manner in which trust moneys may be invested by
a trustee under any Act or in any manner
authorized by the Synod of the diocese.
(4) Investments made from moneys forming part of a
Common Fund of a trusts corporation of a diocese
shall not be made on account of or belong to any
particular trust or person but the trusts corporation
shall cause to be kept in the books of the trusts
corporation accounts from which may be
determined at any time the current amount at
credit in a Common Fund kept by it on account of
each trust or person.
(5) The trusts corporation of a diocese may in its
discretion make advances of moneys forming part
of a Common Fund for any purpose of or relating
to the diocese.
(6) An advance of moneys under sub-section (5) shall
be deemed to be an investment of moneys forming
part of the Common Fund and shall bear interest
at a rate fixed by the trusts corporation and the
amount advanced and the interest thereon shall be
a charge on the assets of the diocese.
(7) A trusts corporation of a diocese may sell
investments belonging to a Common Fund and
may withdraw any of the moneys belonging to a
Common Fund for any purpose of or relating to
the exercise and discharge of its powers and duties
s. 12A
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Anglican Trusts Corporations Act 1884
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under this or any other Act or under any trust or
under any direction of the Synod of the diocese.
(8) A trusts corporation of a diocese may in its
discretion at any time withdraw from a Common
Fund any amount at credit in the Common Fund
on the account of any trust or person and may
invest that amount on a separate account of that
trust or person.
(9) Amounts withdrawn from a Common Fund under
sub-section (8) shall as from the date of
withdrawal cease to have any claim for interest or
otherwise from the Common Fund.
(10) Any profits or losses upon realisation of any
investment in a Common Fund shall be credited or
debited (as the case requires) to the Common
Fund and be received or borne proportionately by
the several amounts in the Common Fund on
account of each trust or person at the time of the
realisation.
(11) As on the first day of each month a trusts
corporation of a diocese shall, in respect of each
Common Fund kept by it, determine the value of
the investments in the Common Fund as on that
day and, in respect of securities listed on a Stock
Exchange, the quotations published by the Stock
Exchange shall be prima facie evidence of value
and if there are no such quotations on that day the
valuation of the chairman or secretary of the
relevant Stock Exchange shall be prima facie
evidence of the value.
(12) Additions to, or withdrawals from, a Common
Fund shall during any month be effected on the
basis of the valuation under sub-section (11) made
as on the first day of that month.
s. 12A
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Anglican Trusts Corporations Act 1884
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(13) The trusts corporation of a diocese shall pay or
allocate the income arising from a Common Fund
proportionately to or among the trusts or persons
entitled to the income of the Common Fund in
proportion to the several amounts in the Common
Fund on account of each trust or person and the
period for which they formed part of the Common
Fund.
12B. Joint use or ownership of church trust property
(1) If an Act of the Synod of a diocese provides for a
scheme of co-operation to be entered into—
(a) with or involving a church of another
denomination or any congregation or activity
of such a church; and
(b) for the use of specified real or personal
property vested in the trusts corporation of
the diocese—
the trusts corporation may permit that property to
be used, managed and administered under and in
connection with that scheme during its
continuance in such a manner and on such
conditions as are specified in the scheme.
(2) The proceeds of sale or mortgage or any other
dealing with property referred to in sub-section (1)
may be applied in such manner as may be
determined under the scheme.
(3) The conditions referred to in sub-section (1) may
include conditions with respect to—
(a) the making of contributions of money for the
acquisition, construction, alteration,
maintenance or repair of assets vested in or
held on behalf of either or both the trusts
corporation and the co-operating church or
congregation; and
S. 12B
inserted by
No. 56/2000
s. 7.
s. 12B
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Anglican Trusts Corporations Act 1884
13
(b) the giving and taking of security or charge in
accordance with the scheme over any
property in respect of contributions of money
or money's worth made or received under the
scheme and any property vested in the trusts
corporation in any scheme is, to the extent
set out in the scheme, charged accordingly.
(4) The Registrar-General, the Registrar of Titles and
any person dealing in good faith and for value
with any property vested in the trusts corporation
is not bound to enquire whether any security or
charge referred to in sub-section (3) exists and is
not deemed to have notice of any such security or
charge by reason only of this Act or the existence
of a scheme of co-operation under this section
and—
(a) a conveyance, transfer or other assurance to
another person operates as a discharge of any
security or charge so referred to, in so far as
the property conveyed, transferred or assured
would, but for this sub-section, be so subject;
and
(b) a mortgage or charge in favour of another
person has priority over any security or
charge so referred to that affects the property
mortgaged or charged in favour of that
person.
(5) This section applies in relation to all property at
any time held by a trusts corporation of a diocese
except to the extent that any property is held
subject to any express trust expressly forbidding
its use in any manner referred to in this section.
(6) Sub-section (5) does not prevent the use of trust
property in a manner referred to in this section if
the property was merely directed to be held on
trust for the worship or purposes of the Church.
s. 12B
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Anglican Trusts Corporations Act 1884
14
13. Trustees appointed hereunder to be trustees of
property
When after the passing of this Act any land which
has been granted promised or reserved by the
Crown for any of the purposes of the Church in
any diocese in which trustees have been
incorporated under this Act shall be brought under
the provisions of the Act of the Parliament of
Victoria No. CCCXCI, the trustees appointed
under the provisions of this Act shall be the
trustees of such land.
14. Synod in any diocese to make rules for the
appointment of corporation trustees
The Synod in any diocese in which trustees have
been incorporated under the provisions of this Act
shall from time to time make rules for the
appointment of corporation trustees and the filling
up of vacancies occurring in the trusteeship for the
custody of the seal of the corporation and the
affixing the same to any document and for
verifying the affixing thereof and for carrying into
effect the provisions of this Act and may from
time to time alter or vary the same, and a copy of
every such rule and of any alteration or variation
thereof certified by the bishop of the diocese shall
be deposited with the Registrar-General and
advertised in the Government Gazette, and a duly
certified copy of any such rule regulation or
provision so registered and advertised shall be
prima facie evidence of the same having been
duly made.
═══════════════
s. 13
S. 14
amended by
No. 56/2000
s. 8(a).
General Information
Act No. 797 of 1884 was assented to on 25 November 1884 and came into
operation on 25 November 1884.
The title of this Act was inserted by section 4 of the Anglican Trusts
Corporations (Amendment) Act 2000, No. 56/2000.
Endnotes
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Anglican Trusts Corporations Act 1884
16
2. Table of Amendments
This Version incorporates amendments made to the Anglican Trusts
Corporations Act 1884 by Acts and subordinate instruments.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Anglican Church of Australia Act 1985, No. 10194/1985
Assent Date: 8.10.85
Commencement Date: 8.10.85: s. 2
Current State: All of Act in operation
Anglican Trusts Corporations (Amendment) Act 2000, No. 56/2000
Assent Date: 8.11.00
Commencement Date: 9.11.00: s. 2
Current State: All of Act in operation
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Endnotes
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Anglican Trusts Corporations Act 1884
17
3. Explanatory Details
1 S. 1 def. of "Church Assembly": Section 4 of the Church of England Act
1904, No. 1947/1904 reads as follows:
4. References in deeds and documents
Wherever in the Act passed in Victoria in the year
One thousand eight hundred and eighty-four and
intituled "An Act to provide for the creation of
corporate bodies of Trustees in which property
belonging to the Church of England in Victoria
may be vested and to make further provisions in
reference thereto" or in any deed document or
instrument made or entered into by or in
connexion with the Church of England in Victoria
any reference is made to any Assembly or
Assemblies or Church Assembly or Church
Assemblies such reference unless inconsistent
with the context shall be deemed and taken to
refer to the Synod or Synods.
Endnotes