School Sites Act 1841

The School Sites Act of 1841 (4 & 5 Vict. c. 38) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (the long title of which is "An Act to afford further Facilities for the Conveyance and Endowment of Sites for Schools") which allowed land-owners to sell or donate a maximum of one acre of land to charities for the provision of schooling 'poor persons'. The act covered England and Wales and Scotland was also covered until the Education (Scotland) Act 1942 (although any donated land in Scotland under the act prior to this was not affected by the latter act). The act was invoked 164 years later on 27 October 2005, in the case of [http://www.fraserandfraser.com Fraser & Fraser] v. Canterbury Diocesan Board of Finance. It was found that the Church of England had sold land given under the act (mostly for residential developments) and had kept the proceeds, despite a provision in the act that required funds raised from selling the land to be given back the family of the original donator should the land cease to be used for educational purposes. The House of Lords then declared the money be given to the descendants of the original donator of the land as the act required. Fraser & Fraser appeared on the BBC1 TV program The Heir Hunters.