Cy pres doctrine
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In common law jurisdictions the cy pres doctrine (pronounced as see-pray) is a legal doctrine of the Court of equity. It allows the Court to amend the terms of a charitable trust as near (Cy-prés) as possible to the original intention of the testator or settlor, where the original intended purpose is impossible, impracticable or illegal. This prevents the trust from failing. For example, if you were to leave a set amount of money on trust on order "to provide for the continuation of the sunday school scheme at St. Mary's Church in Stoke" and for some reason this church ceases to exist, the doctrine can be invoked in order to use the money to provide for a similar scheme.
In the United States, Cy Pres applies only to charitable trusts where the original particular purpose of the trust has become impossible or impractible, and the terms of the trust do not specify what is to happen in such a situation. A typical example would be a trust established to turn public opinion against slavery. Once slavery was abolished, the trusts stated purpose had become impossible to effect. The court will then modify the particular purpose of the trust, leaving it within the same general charitable purpose. In the slavery example, for instance, a court could decide that, while the particular purpose was bringing an end to slavery, the general purpose was to help African Americans, and alter the provisions of the trust to focus on this new goal.
Section 412 of the United States Uniform Trust Code provides that "The court may modify the administrative or dispositive terms of a trust or terminate the trust if, because of circumstances not anticipated by the settlor, modification or termination will further the purposes of the trust." This is in essence a cy pres rule for non charitable trusts. Such a power is not found in English law, or in most common law jurisdictions outside the United States.
