Bank of Ireland Trustee Company Ltd v Attorney General

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 30 July 1957
• Date: 30 July 1957
• Court: High Court

Bank of Ireland Trustee Co., Ltd.

and

Attorney General

- Purpose merely charitable - Legacy duty - Exemption - Stamp Duties Assimilation Act, 1842 (5 6 Vict., c. 82), s. 38.

A testatrix by her will made, inter alia, the following pecuniary bequest: "£2,000 to Sister Therese of the Carmelite Convent, Blackrock, County Dublin, or should she predecease me then to the Prioress for the time being of the Convent to be applied in cither case to the repair and/or improvement of the Convent." Sister Therese survived the testatrix. The discalced Carmelite nuns, who are the community of the Carmelite Convent, Blackrock, are a contemplative order who do not devote themselves to exterior works of mercy, but exclusively to penance and to the contemplation of God. They are obliged by their Rule to engage frequently in intercessory prayer to God for the outside world. Every convent of the order is obliged to maintain, and does maintain, a chapel in which the public can assist daily at the Mass heard by the nuns and at other acts of divine worship performed by the nuns. Held that such bequest was for a purpose merely charitable and was therefore exempt from legacy duty. Maguire v. Attorney GeneralIR...