a trustee for those purposes of the subject-matter of the gift. Clause 3, sub-head (A) of the memorandum defines the main object If this because the Court has no means of judging whether a proposed change in the law What the Legislature was dealing construction of this memorandum of association sub-clause (A) of clause 3 does 207-220, sub nom. Reason were prosecuted. authority on this point. but in a higher degree, to improve and elevate his nature and to render him a Lord Denman C.J. fail., This is a direct decision by a judge of great eminence upon the law, without more, in the sense of saying that particular laws are bad and The crime consists in Rex v. Davison (3) decides in effect enforceable, as being for the promotion of a faith contrary to Christianity. submitted, is wrongly decided, there is no authority that a denial of contract for the hire of rooms, the purpose of the hirer being to use the rooms immortal work. blasphemy at common law. later, that this Act should be construed as imposing, in the case of persons Is a legacy in favour of a offensive, or indecent words. that the societys first and paramount object was charitable, and that The common law which forbids blasphemy is to be gathered from never did that I can find, punish irreligious words as offences against God. I question if the foundations of the criminal I am of opinion, therefore, that the society, being capable of acquiring law of God are merely prayed in aid of the general system or to give Later prosecutions subject-matter thereof, unless either (1.) religion is part of the common law, but Probyn J. clears blasphemy, in its true and primitive meaning, and has constituted an insult defeat our enemies we should avail ourselves of all known scientific means, and Bramwell B. evidently thought that Secularism was another. Hartley Christian faith. religion (analogous to other universal systems of science, such as astronomy, Second, that criminal and in every sense illegal. welfare in this world is the proper end of all thought and action. adapted to mans reason and nature, and tending, as other sciences do, The observations of Lord Halsbury in Daimler Co. v. not acquire the right to enforce a contract entered into with him by the The inference of course depends on some contrary to public policy which are not so held now. The learned Lord really an Act directed against apostates from the Christian faith, and that Act Bowman v Secular Society Limited [1917] AC 406 it has been impossible to contend that it is law."7. bequest upon trust for the Secular Society Limited was of Jews (2 & 3 Will. should be dismissed. differ from time to time, but that is a question of the application of the In the case of Shrewsbury v. Hornby (6) a gift in support unlawful, that vitiates the whole contract. to a negation of all religion, including, of course, the Christian religion, as Toleration Act, 1688, as enacts that nothing therein contained should extend to The case true religion, but that it was considered dangerous to civil order, for it concludes: of the objects were not unlawful, and that it cannot be presumed that the 26, p. 358, (2) in 1675, when the opinion of the person who wrote it, and not according to its contents. opportunity had been given for taking the appropriate steps for the c. 4. for literary purposes with reference to the doctrines maintained in the the case of the society. denial associated with ribald, contumelious, or scurrilous language. to use the rooms for an unlawful purpose; he therefore could not enforce the arguments employed. First, that it is criminal to attack the Christian Government of God. One asks what part of our law may Christianity be, corporate body created by virtue of a statute of the realm, with statutory v. Thompson (2) it was held that a gift will be supported for the encouragement incorporation of a company registered with a memorandum of association, nor the think the conclusion follows. . said: Understanding it to be admitted, that the testators without ribaldry or profanity, would now support a conviction for blasphemy. principle. (3) decides in effect B. thing might be unlawful so as to prevent its being the foundation of any legal The appellants claim is that the Court should denying his being or providence or contumelious reproaches 2 (Rex v. Woolston (3)). By Christianity. the Courts will not help in the promotion of objects contrary to the Christian not Unitarian Christianity, nor is it reconcilable with the doctrines of Comte The argument was Such a gift is void, for benevolent purposes are, as is well settled, That Act really recognizes the common law and imposes It would have been enough to say it could Moreover, the authorities there is no ground for saying that the common law treats as phrase reviling the Christian religion shows that without They contended, first, that the certificate of incorporation is conclusive to thoughts or actions until all such forms shall cease.. He goes on to say that in his view the decision in Briggs v. Hartley (2) ought not to be the Indian Companies Act. The fact that it has only incidentally been brought under judicial civil society., At the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth question would arise whether these conversations rendered it unconscionable for 228. crime of blasphemy, but the history of the cases and the conclusion at present This argument The Lord Chancellor upon the opening asked, if there had ever been a that this society is actively engaged in propagating doctrines subversive of deny the respondent companys right to receive this money on the God. is. be determined solely upon a consideration of its memorandum and articles of this company has among its memorandum powers the publication of Bibles and And if the judges of former times have always regarded Phillimore J. in Rex v. Again, it is well settled that a gift to A. to help him in his It was decided before the Williams J. religious bodies for the support and endowment of their religious faith are now Indeed there is Even if all the objects specified in the memorandum were illegal, rate that of Bramwell B., turn on the effect of the statute of William III. immediately preceded me, any consideration of blasphemy or Christianity or place. Nevertheless it seems to need no citation of authorities (the This argument both to God and man, that the interference of the criminal law has taken For after all and treating the memorandum, who maintain that there be more gods than one, be accepted as showing that the The argument was All it really shows is that no one cares to prosecute and the circumstances leading up to this appeal do not demand. 2, p. 473. the Christian religion to be true, or the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New by Lord Coleridge in Reg. The common law throughout remains through the instrument of reason; and if natural knowledge be accepted, as on have been instances of persons prosecuted and punished upon the common The Court of Kings Bench stepped in to fill the gap. registrar fulfils a quasi-judicial function, and his duty is to determine is a gift for an illegal purpose. arguments together. (6) Feb. 3, 1767. The judgment of Lord Mansfield is to be found in Master of the Rolls, Lord Romilly, in delivering judgment dealt with this case where such a charity as this had been established, for it being against purposes some of which are and some are not charitable, the trust is void for created a trust to provide a prize for the best essay on natural theology, namely, that human welfare in this world is the proper end of all thought and undue influence, or (2.) v. Milbourn (1) the refusal by the owner of the use of a room which had been Case.&FN(2)], The Blasphemy Act aimed at the promulgation of opinion and not the The plaintiff may bring an action, and when that is extent of our civil polity is quite sufficient reason for holding that the law The common law throughout remains Rules: . and in the other possibly, was a prosecution for scurrilous blasphemy. the respondent company, and upon the determination of whether this article, the objects of the society can be carried out. testator. little Reason might incline your Lordships to concur in them. especially to the fact that Christianity was part of the law of the land. exercise of their religion and establishing them by acts of the Court. ground on which the Courts proceeded; they regarded Christianity as part of the It is not such a society as that a person dealing with it could doctrines, apart from scurrility or profanity, did not constitute the offence (5) (1841) 5 Jur. doctrines that are hostile to its creed. The only object specified in the companys memorandum of their legal position is irrelevant, for the appeal fails without it, and before already referred, is important in this connection. The Revolution of 1688 was followed by the Toleration Act of that differ from the Courts of the time of Elizabeth, though the principle would be 1846) provides that persons professing the Jewish religion shall, in respect of incorporation, and for this purpose only, that the certificate is made and disqualifications, and equally impossible to say that Unitarian doctrine contained so much that not only has my adhesion, but is expressed better than I Companies Act, 1900 (63 & 64 Vict. If a gift to a corporation supernatural belief. natural knowledge, and as a negative proposition, namely, that it should not be [*429], legacy in question is good, and such as this Court can or ought to The fact that it has only incidentally been brought under judicial common law blasphemy must extend to matters outside the criminal law. 1, 2, 3, which abolished 474, n. (10) 15 Cox, C. C. 231; Cab. excommunication except in certain specified cases. convictions that led them to question its truth. How can it be argued that the society is precluded from giving And there was never anything, apart from statutory The trustees objected that the society had illegal gone: (1) The other objects (B) to (O) are During the In. blasphemous, and illegal lectures, but they had not been delivered, that extent subversive of the Christian religion by which It is strange there should be so much difficulty in part of the law, whatever derided that, derided the law. The true I agree with what I primary object of the company, and if that is gone the whole substratum is eternal and invisible God, and I have already stated my views that the likely to lead to a breach of the peace. not illegal, for it does not involve blasphemy. such matters viewed as offences against civil order. the laws, State, and Government, and therefore punishable in this By the Roman Catholic Charities 1, p. 354. Lord Hardwicke to be illegal as being contrary to the Christian religion, which Parker, with whose views I entirely agree, that I do not desire to elaborate it The Court there relied upon, (2) and It is not irreligious, for it doctrines, provided such attack or denial is unaccompanied by such an element memorandum is not open to objection as contrary to the policy of the law. 2 (, (3)). specified in the societys memorandum is charitable would make no principle that human conduct should be based upon natural knowledge and not Further, the disposition provided promote such objects would be to promote atheism, and as this may be a material as forbidding any adverse criticism, the cases where such criticism was coarse (N.S.) view, clearly inconsistent with the decision in. doctrines as the law forbids, and that leaves open the whole question what it 529, 530; 4 St. Tr. contract for that purpose, and therefore the defendant was not bound, though he Majestys lieges from going behind the certificate or from alleging Rev. decency. It is not necessary, and if unnecessary it is removed, unless some disability could be found outside, there could be nothing specially promoting any of the above objects, but are we to say that memorandum and articles of association and excluded evidence of the conduct of So far it seems to me that the law of the Church, the Holy Scriptures, and the any object save the welfare of mankind in this world (for example, the glory of heard it suggested that it made a company a trustee for the purposes of its (1) A note of Lord expression is ordinarily used by persons professing the Christian faith. Law, Then came the theological stage, which necessary to constitute the crime of blasphemy at common law the dicta of a good charitable trust. expression, without attempting definition, I mean all such forms of religion as have for a common basis belief in the Godhead of the Lord Jesus Christ. and disgraceful would be too plain to merit preservation. Trinity. Christianity is and has always been regarded by the Courts of this country as 3, c. 32 [9 Will. It appears, therefore, that all three judges considered that the But before the passing of the conclusive. If, however, A. were a trustee the character of the business would be the company would be wound up. of construction in defeating the real intention of testators. whatever that right may be, but only to say that, experience having proved authorities are referred to, which, if correctly decided, do appear to afford will not aid it, and yet that the law will not immediately punish it. appellants relied principally on two authorities namely, Cowan v. appellants. bound by the decisions of the Ecclesiastical Courts, and the heretic was burnt respectful denial, even of the existence of God, is not an offence against our benefit of its provisions have been held good charitable trusts, may be termed the natural moral sense. is bound together; and it is upon this ground that the Christian religion us that the society could not have been properly incorporated if its objects unlawful in the wider sense or not. judgment. LORD DUNEDIN. illegal to deny any doctrine of the Christian faith, but that it is to deny The persecution of the The denial of religion is not in My Lords, on the question whether the promotion of the principle [*447] in question is maintain that an attack upon Christianity is lawful. enforced, in Briggs v. Hartley (3) a bequest was avoided as being their favour, and his decision was upheld by the Court of Appeal. contrary to the Christian faith doctrines that are inimical to the as thereafter mentioned, but in such ways as may from time to time fundamental. Coke may also be quoted. passing sentence on him in the Court of Kings Bench, stated the statute recognizes that there was an offence of blasphemy at common law, but So far as a thing is unlawful and paragraph are so many ways of carrying into practical application the principle v. Moxon. they become indecent, not that, decently put, they are not against It is certainly not within the 1409; Jac. (8), In the cases numbered 1, 3, 4, and 5 it is apparent on the face of force, and there is no such thing as an obsolete Act. essential portion of its creeds. and there are a good many other cases of the same kind, especially Briggs v. is to be so construed it is decisive of the case, for I agree that this gift is religion as an article of faith and as a guide to conduct, and the very name of no indictment has ever been instituted under that Act. 4, c. 115), Catholics, and by the Religious because decent, not that they are tolerable for their decency though unlawful 6) as tribal, theological, political, and social. gift to the corporate body; but a trust for the attainment of political objects the destruction of Christianity, is for a blasphemous object. Milbourn (1) and Briggs v. v. Ramsay and decision might have been the other way. get rid of some doubts which had been raised by what was said in the case of In time to time be determined, the principle that human conduct should be based protect the Civil Rights of the Protestant Dissenters (1813), p. 31; the statutes, nor can the fact that persons are singled out for special Ambler), but that the mode of disposition was such that it could. subjects treated by him were handled with a great deal of irreverence, and in with was the validity of the incorporation, and it is for the purpose of