The College Charter

T HE charter of a college corporation is in the nature of a contract between the state, the founder, and the objects of the charity, and, as such, usually comes within the protection of the Constitution of the United States.' This fundamental principle was first enunciated in the historic case, Dartmouth versus Woodward, where it was held by the United States Supreme Court that an act of the legislature of the State of New Hampshire altering the charter of Dartmouth College was unconstitutional on the ground that the charter was a contract guaranteed inviolable by Article i, Section Io of the Constitution of the United States and that the act impaired the contract.2 Dartmouth College was founded by authority of a charter or grant by letter under the seal of George III of England. Some years after the college was chartered, the legislature of the State of New Hampshire passed an act providing that the governor of the state and his council should appoint nine additional trustees to the then existing board of the college. the board thereafter to be known 'Dartmouth v. WFoodward, 4 Wheat. (I 7 U.S.) SI 8, 4 U.S. (L.ed.) 629, et al. 2Dartmouth v. W-Voodward. op. cit. as the board of trustees of Dartmouth University. The act vested in the new board possession of the corporate seal, funds, property, and the management of the institution. The trustees of the college refused to recognize the validity of the act and proceeded to meet and conduct business of the college under the terms of the charter from the Crown. One Woodward, incumbent secretary and treasurer of the original corporation, was appointed by the trustees of the new board to take possession of the seal, funds, property, and records of the college in the name of the new board. The trustees of the college thereupon brought action in trover in the Superior Court of New Hampshire in an effort to obtain the delivery of the seal, funds, and records of the college corporation. The New Hampshire court returned a directed verdict in favor of the new trustees. The case was appealed to the United States Supreme Court, and its decision in i8i9 reversed the decision of the lower court. Chief Justice Marshall, in delivering the majority opinion of the court, said

Charter · Constitution · Constitutionality · Corporation · Legislature · Political science · State (computer science · State legislature · Statute · Supreme court · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Law · Legal Issues in Education · Legal Systems and Judicial Processes

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