a thesis - Institute of Advanced Legal Studies

20 TRUSTS IN GENERAL.
tions Act, 1882, s. 108, however, the council of a municipal corporation
may not, unless authorized by act of parliament, sell, mortgage,
or alienate any corporate land without the approval of the
Local Government Board (51 & 52 Yict. c. 41, s. 72), or in the
case of a site for a place of worship, under the Places of Worship
Sites Acts, 1873 and 1882, of the Treasury. Eestrictions have also
been imposed on ecclesiastical corporations by a great number of
statutes; and also on the principal universities, and some colleges
and other institutions, and on the alienation of crown land. (See
Dart, Yendors and Purchasers, vol. i. 6th ed. 20.)
A statutory corporation is restricted as regards the alienation of
its property by the purposes of its incorporation as denned by its
memorandum of association or special act. (See Williams,
Vendor and Purchaser, vol. ii. 856.)
II.—CAPACITY TO BE A TRUSTEE.
Infants.—An infant is not incapable of being a trustee, but
since he cannot make a binding disposition of property (exceptions
excepted), he cannot effectively act as such. In King v. Bellord
(1863, 1 H. & M. 343), for example, a testator devised land to A.,
B., and C., in trust, at their discretion to sell it. C. was an infant,
and it was held that, as a consequence, the trustees could not sell.
Moreover, apparently, he cannot be made liable for a breach of
trust (Whitmorev. Weld (1685), 1 Yern. 326; Hindmarsh\. Southgate
(1827), 3 Russ. 324) ; though Lord Justice Fry said, in the
case of In re Games (1885, 31 Ch. D. at p. 151), that he could
conceive circumstances under which an infant trustee might be
made liable for moneys received by him. When this was said, the
trustee before the court had attained full age. When an infant is
appointed a trustee, the court will appoint a new trustee in his
place. (In re Shelmerdine (1861), 33 L. J. Ch. 474.)
Lunatics.—Lunacy does not prevent a person from acquiring
or holding property, but since it renders him incapable of
disposing of it to some extent, it renders him incapable of
administering it. By the Lunacy Act, 1890, therefore (s. 116),
powers of management and administration are conferred on the
judge in lunacy; and by s. 128 it is provided that in the case of a
trustee becoming lunatic his powers as trustee may be exercised
by his committee, and by s. 129 the latter may appoint new
trustees under a power vested in the lunatic.