“In cases where ... property is conveyed without restriction to a charitable corporation ... the charitable intent of the donor is ascertained by reference to the charitable purposes of the donee.”
How later courts described this case
- “In cases where ... property is conveyed without restriction to a charitable corporation ... the charitable intent of the donor is ascertained by reference to the charitable purposes of the donee.”
- voluntary dissolution of historical society
Written by the judges who cited it.
Distinguished
Distinguished by Protestant Episcopal Church v. Barker, 115 Cal. App. 3d 599 (1981)
The cases relied on by respondents either refer to instances where the charitable trust is no longer operating as such but has sought to make itself a proprietary venture (In re Los Angeles County Pioneer Society (1953) 40 Cal.2d 852 [257 P.2d 1]), where the organization’s status as a tax-exempt charity has been questioned (Pacific Home v. County of Los Angeles (1953) 41 Cal.2d 844 [264 P.2d 539]), where the charitab…
The opinion
SCHAUER, J.
I concur generally in the reasoning and conclusion of Justice Carter. Particularly do I find no justification whatsoever for refusing to permit Pioneer to take the corrective action which it could not know it should take until this court had ruled that it could not rely on the prior final judgment or its charter from the state.
Pioneer, by its articles of incorporation and the laws of California was not a charitable corporation; it never intended or pretended to be a charitable corporation; it paid taxes as a noneharitable corporation; it was adjudicated not to be a charitable corporation. With that background it instituted a proceeding for dissolution as it had a right to do. Its every act shows the good faith of the fine citizens composing it. Now this court rules that it is a charitable corporation and in the same judgment punishes Pioneer for instituting the lawful dissolution proceeding by stripping it of its assets and giving them to another; it refuses even to permit Pioneer, despite the authorization of the statute, to discontinue the dissolution proceeding and to carry out the trust which the court adjudges to exist.
Such action in my view is contrary to fact, to law, to justice, to reason and to constitutional guarantees.