The Dartmouth College Causes and the Supreme Court of the United StatesShirley, John M. The Dartmouth College Causes and the Supreme Court of the United States. Chicago: G.I. Jones, 1895. 469 pp. Reprinted 2003 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. ISBN 1-58477-337-5. Cloth. * Reprint of the first edition. Dartmouth College vs. Woodward (1816-1819) established significant precedents concerning state authority and the nature of private enterprise. Dartmouth College was incorporated under a royal charter in 1769 as a private corporation. In 1816 the New Hampshire Legislature attempted to transform the college into a state institution. Daniel Webster, representing the college trustees, convinced the Supreme Court that the royal charter was a contract that could not be invalidated by subsequent state legislation. The court concurred. Its decision initiated a significant constitutional limitation on state authority. It also helped to define corporations as relatively unregulated private economic entity that contributed to the public sphere through enlightened self-interest. Shirley offers a vivid account of the case, enriched by extensive quotation of primary archival sources. |
Contents
Section 13 | 229 |
Section 14 | 249 |
Section 15 | 277 |
Section 16 | 302 |
Section 17 | 317 |
Section 18 | 328 |
Section 19 | 345 |
Section 20 | 371 |
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Common terms and phrases
aforesaid amend appointed argument authority Board of Trustees Brown Charity-School Charles River Bridge charter chief justice Circuit Court COLLEGE CAUSES consent Constitution corporation counsel Crowninshield Dartmouth College decided decision donations Eleazar Wheelock Elijah Paine fact favor Federal Federalist Fletcher founder friends funds Governor Plumer grant Hampshire Hanover impairing the obligation incorporation Indian institution Jeremiah Mason John Wentworth John Wheelock Judge Niles Judge Smith Judge Story judgment judicial June jurisdiction Kent land legislative Legislature letter to Farrar Marsh Marshall ment Moor's Nathaniel Niles obligation clause obligation of contracts Ogden Olcott old trustees opinion overseers Parliament party passed Peck person Pinkney plaintiffs political poration president province provisions purpose question reasons respect Seth Payson statutes Sturges successors Supreme Court term Timothy Farrar tion town Trustees of Dartmouth United University visitor vote Washington Webster's Priv Wirt Woodward
Popular passages
Page 442 - Property does become clothed with a public interest when used in a manner to make it of public consequence, and affect the community at large. When, therefore, one devotes his property to a use in which the public has an interest, he, in effect, grants to the public an interest in that use, and must submit to be controlled by the public for the common good, to the extent of the interest he has thus created. He may withdraw his grant by discontinuing the use; but, so long as he maintains the use,...
Page 73 - Provided notwithstanding, that the several towns, parishes, precincts, and other bodies politic, or religious societies, shall, at all times, have the exclusive right of electing their public teachers, and of contracting with them for their support and maintenance.
Page 213 - And in the just preservation of rights and property, it is understood and declared, that no law ought ever to be made, or have force in the said territory, that shall in any manner whatever interfere with or affect private contracts or engagements, bona fide, and without fraud previously formed.
Page 157 - And no subject shall be arrested, imprisoned, despoiled, or deprived of his property, immunities, or privileges, put out of the protection of the law, exiled, or deprived of his life, liberty, or estate, but by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land.
Page 119 - An act to amend the charter and enlarge and improve the corporation of Dartmouth College." Among other alterations in the charter, this act increases the number of trustees to twenty-one, gives the appointment of the additional members to the executive of the state, and creates a board of overseers, with power to inspect and control the most important acts of the trustees.
Page 431 - An Act for the further security of His Majesty's person and Government, and the succession of the Crown in the Heirs of the late Princess Sophia, being Protestants, and for extinguishing the hopes of the pretended Prince of Wales, and his open and secret abettors...
Page 442 - Their business is, therefore, "affected with a public interest," within the meaning of the doctrine which Lord Hale has so forcibly stated. But we need not go further. Enough has already been said to show that, when private property is devoted to a public use, it is subject to public regulation. It remains only to ascertain whether the warehouses of these plaintiffs in error, and the business which is carried on there, come within the operation of this principle.
Page 167 - College; provided, that nothing herein shall be construed to prevent the legislature of this commonwealth from making such alterations in the government of the said university, as shall be conducive to its advantage, and the interest of the republic of letters, in as full a manner as might have been done by the legislature of the late Province of the Massachusetts Bay.
Page 428 - By the revolution, the duties, as well as the powers, of government devolved on the people of New Hampshire. It is admitted that among the latter was comprehended the transcendent power of parliament, as well as that of the executive department.