ENDOWED SCHOOLS ACTS. stets of Par liament made to prevent misapplieationsind abuse of the foundations for the snprott of secondary education in En•lond. l'Itimutely, they ]nave ail led at introdut int; system, and some c•ntral control. Ashene all was confusion :Ind individual ity. The only Diva Ds of Feet ifying any alms, fsrmerly by s suit in chatteery. ti long and ex issisite pi "et- in .ill en desxor was made to simplify this procedure. In n n lilt of the extensive reports of the Brougham Commission, the chancery courts were given power to make decrees or orders ex tending the systems of instruction. and the right of admission to any school, and to estab lish schemes for the application of its resources, having due regard to the intentions of its founder. ln 1853 a charity commission was established, that should inquire into the con ditions and management of charities, sanction legal proceedings regarding trusts, and, on the application of trustees, suggest to Parliament new schemes for the appropriation of charitable property. One of its main functions was, of course, to deal with endowed schools. This com mission was given certain judicial powers in 1860, and about the same time it was provided that schools should be open to children of all denominations except where the foundations re quired specific denominational instruction. The
seven great public boarding schools were dealt with by a separate act in 1868, and in 1869, as a result of the report of the Taunton Commis sion. an endowed schools act was passed estab lishing a eommission. which should, in the case of the other endowed schools, initiate, without waiting for applications, schemes for the reform of courses of instruction. These schemes were to be published, and a certain time was to be allowed for protests and petitions. When the original scheme or a revision thereof was ac cepted by the council on education and not objected to by Parliament, it was submitted to the Queen in council, on whose approval it became a law. lu 1874 the commission came to an end, and its functions were transferred to the Charity Commission, whose power over endowed schools had. since 1869, been suspended. Their powers have from time to time been renewed, and they have been gradually reorganizing all the endowed schools in England and Wales to which the act applies. It is expected that this work will be completed in 1903. Consult Balfour, Time Educational Systems of Great Britain and Ireland (London, 1900). See NATIONAL EDUCA TION, SYSTEMS OF.