he founders had
appointed no visitors. Then (1601) by the Charitable Uses Act
commissions were issued for inquiry by county juries. Now, apart from
the duty of visitors, inquiry is conducted by the charity
commissioners and the assistant commissioners. By subsequent acts (see
below) ecclesiastical and eleemosynary charities have been still
further separated and defined. (8) _Advice._--"Trustees, or other
persons concerned in the management of a charity, may apply to the
charity commissioners for their opinion, advice or direction; and any
person acting under such advice is indemnified, unless he has been
guilty of misrepresentation in obtaining it." (9) _Limitation of
Charity Commissioners' Powers_,--The commissioners cannot, however,
make any order with respect to any charity of which the gross annual
income amounts to L50 or upwards, except on the application (in
writing) of the trustees or a majority of them. Their powers are thus
very limited, except when put in motion by the trustees. If a parish
is divided they can apportion the charities if the gross income does
not exceed L20. (10) _General Powers of the Charity
Commission._--Subject to the limitation of L50, &c., the charity
commissioners have power (Charitable Trusts Act 1860) to make orders
for the appointment or removal of trustees, or of any officer, and for
the transfer, payment and vesting of any real or personal estate, or
"for the establishment of any scheme for the administration" of the
charity, (11) _Schemes and Remodelling of Charities._--Under this
power charities are remodelled, and small and miscellaneous charities
put into one fund and applied to new purposes. The cy-pres doctrine is
applied, by which if a testator leaves directions that are only
indefinite, or if the objects for which a charity was founded are
obsolete, the charity is applied to some purpose, as far as possible,
in accordance with the charitable intention of the founder. This
doctrine probably received its widest application in the City of
London Parochial Charities Act of 1883. Under other acts doles have
been applied to education and to allotments. About 380 schemes are
issued in the course of a year. (12) _Objects adopted in remodelling
Charities._--In the remodelling of charities for the general benefit
of the poor some one or more of thirteen objects are usually included
in the scheme. These are subscri