Parallel Statutes: Another Look at the Origins of Australia's Not-for-Profit Associations Legislation
Adelaide Law Review, Vol. 57, No. 30, 2009
Monash University Faculty of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2009/43
29 Pages Posted: 21 Apr 2011
Date Written: 2009
Abstract
In the middle third of the 19th century Upper Canada (now Ontario) followed by South Australia passed statutes for the legal recognition of religious bodies. The latter statute has already been the subject of a brief history. This article considers the background to the enactment of Upper Canada's statute and whether South Australia's might have been a copy of it. The article concludes that not only was there no evidence of copying, but that the background to the enactment of the two statutes was very different. In particular, Upper Canada was concerned with confirming its identity and self-image as an island of Britishness - with all that that implied in the first third of the 19th century- in an American sea, while South Australia was promoting its self-image as a 'Paradise of Dissident.' The two statutes, while somewhat similar on the surface, were thus motivated by rather different considerations.
Keywords: Ontario, South Australia, incorporation, not-for-profit, statute, 19th century
JEL Classification: K00, K19, K20, K22, K29, K30, K39, K40, K49
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation