Contract, Property and Unincorporated Associations

9 Pages Posted: 31 Jan 2005 Last revised: 5 Mar 2018

See all articles by Hans Tjio

Hans Tjio

National University of Singapore (NUS) - Faculty of Law

Abstract

From our present learning, an unincorporated association lacks the necessary personality to hold property. . . . Yet it can be difficult to argue that the members of the association own its property beneficially, perhaps under some kind of an administrative or bare trust. The problems here are two-fold. First, the donor of the property does not normally intend for any individual member an aliquot share in the donation. The gift is really for a purpose. Second, if he does want to benefit the members, this normally includes future members, those that join subsequent to the donation. There may be problems here with remoteness of vesting. As a local High Court decision shows, the answer to the issue of property-holding can be crucial since most legal systems accord proprietary rights far greater protection than mere contractual rights.

Keywords: Unincorporated associations, ownership of property, property law, trust law, Singapore

JEL Classification: K11, K19

Suggested Citation

Tjio, Hans, Contract, Property and Unincorporated Associations. Singapore Academy of Law Journal, Vol. 5, p. 112, 1993, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=656864

Hans Tjio (Contact Author)

National University of Singapore (NUS) - Faculty of Law ( email )

469G Bukit Timah Road
Eu Tong Sen Building
Singapore, 259776
Singapore

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