R (on the application of the National Secular Society and another) v Bideford Town Council [2012] EWHC 175 (Admin), [2012] All ER (D) 79 (Feb)
Section 111 of the Local Government Act 1972 was the statutory expression of the powers implied by common law for corporations. Even if an act could have fallen into a category outside s 111 but for which no statutory authority was required at all, saying prayers would not have been one of them. That section required the prior identification of the function to which the acts in issue were incidental. The council had had no power to hold prayers as part of a formal council meeting, or to summon councillors to a meeting at which such prayers were on the agenda. Section 111 of the Act had not permitted the public saying of prayers as part of the formal meeting of the council as an incident of the transaction of its business.
On the evidence, it was clear that the saying of prayers took place, and was intended to take place, as part of
