There was a story in the national papers here a few months ago which I thought raised an interesting question.
I can’t recall the exact details but one hundred years ago a very rich man left a fund which after one hundred years had passed was to help pay off the UK national debt.
It reached a very substantial amount, something like £300’000’000, however that of course is only a drop in the national debt. There was a court case around whether the money should instead be used for charitable purposes.
It was decided that the money should be used for its original purpose.
I’m not sure regarding this one, certainly that amount of money would do a lot of good and the original person would probably agree it was used for that purpose if he had known, but he didn’t and his original intentions were clear. We probably shouldn’t start interpreting bequests like that because it would open up its own problems.
If he did this 100 years ago, he was probably concerned about the national debt, and the loss of life, involved in World War I. Maybe he lost a son or three?
If my understanding of his motives are correct, this is, perhaps, his way to pay for the guilt he has in surviving and becoming wealthy.
Just pay down the debt. It’ll be fine. If there are actual WW1-era debt instruments still in existence, use this money to pay that down specifically (if possible).
There’s a better chance of it all going to it’s intended purpose if it’s just added to funds dedicated to paying the national debt. That 300 mil would be whittled down by administrative, marketing, and fundraising costs if given to a private charity. Either way, it’s better than those people who leave millions to their pets.
Does anyone have a compelling argument for using the funds for anything other than what they were intended to be used for? I’m interested in who took this to court. What standing did they have?
The devil is in the details. The fund, which started with £500,000, was not to be touched until it had grown big enough to pay off the entire national debt. Of course it never came close, not even a tenth of a percent. It never will. So they asked the courts to allow it to be used in some way.
For reasons I don’t understand, the size of the fund varies considerably in every article I found. Still a nice chunk of change to anybody else than a national government.