Visitor

England and Wales

The office of visitor arose in church government and the visitor of an ecclesiastical corporations is normally the bishop of that diocese. Outside of the church, visitors are sometimes appointed for eleemosynary foundations (those established for the perpetual distribution of the alms or bounty of the founder), such as hospitals or colleges. Blackstone, in his Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765), saw the crown as having visitorial jurisdiction over all civil corporations (i.e., non-eleemosynary lay corporations), with this being exercised through the courts.

Many visitors hold the office ex officio, as the British monarch (often exercised through the Lord President of the Council), the archbishop or bishop of a particular diocese, or as a senior member of the judiciary. Bishops are usually the visitors to their own cathedrals.

All eleemosynary corporations have a visitor as a necessity incident of their foundation; where no visitor is named, the sovereign is the visitor. Prior to the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the sovereign's visitorial jurisdiction was delegated to the Lord Chancellor; powers concerning the visitorial function of the crown are now part of the ministerial prerogative powers of the UK government.

Universities and colleges

According to Farrington, visitorial jurisdiction in universities is derived from the rectorial jurisdiction of medieval European universities as well as the rights of the founder of an eleemosynary foundation. This links the university or college visitor to the rector of a Scottish university, who originally exercised jurisdiction over most disputes both within the university and between the university and the townsfolk.

Universities and colleges in England and Wales established by royal charter are eleemosynary corporations that have a visitor; if no visitor is specified in the charter, or if none has been appointed, then the monarch is the visitor. Other universities and colleges may have a visitor, if established as eleemosynary foundation where the founder has specified a visitor. Examples include Newcastle University and Royal Holloway, University of London, both established by local acts of Parliament, and St Chad's College, Durham, incorporated as a charitable company, while Canterbury Christ Church University had a visitor when operating as a charitable trust.

The right of the visitor, and not the courts, to adjudge on alleged deviations from the statutes of academic colleges was affirmed in the case of Philips v. Bury, 1694, in which the House of Lords overruled a judgment of the Court of King's Bench.

The first university (as opposed to college) in England and Wales to be constituted as an eleemosynary foundation and thus to have a visitor was Durham University, under the Durham University Act 1832. Following this, other universities were established with visitors by royal charter or act of parliament until 1992. The post-1992 universities do not have visitors. The colleges of Oxford and Cambridge universities are, with the exception of some modern foundations, eleemosynary corporations and thus have visitors, but the universities themselves are civil corporations and thus do not have visitors.

The Education Reform Act 1988 transferred jurisdiction for most employment disputes in universities to employment tribunals, and the Higher Education Act 2004 transferred the jurisdiction of visitors over the grievances of students in English and Welsh universities to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator.

The residual powers remaining to the visitor in higher education include the interpretation and enforcement of the charter and statutes, issues over membership of committees and the appointment or dismissal of officers of the institution, compliance with the charitable objectives defined by the founder, and disputes between academics and the institution that are not employment disputes or that have been otherwise transferred to the courts or tribunals. Decisions of the visitor are subject to judicial review for failure to apply the rules of natural justice or for lack of jurisdiction, but not for errors in fact or law. For areas within their jurisdiction, the visitor has "untrammelled power to investigate and right wrongs arising from the application of the domestic laws of the chartered institution". This might extend, according to Lord Browne-Wilkinson, to having the power to remove the university council or revoke the charter in extreme cases.

There were 51 higher education providers in England with visitors in 2026.

Medical schools

Under the Medical Act 1983, the General Medical Council may appoint visitors to medical schools to report on "the sufficiency of the instruction given in the places which they visit and as to any other matters relating to the instruction which may be specified".