Diggs v. Morgan College

Stockbridge, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. Morgan College is a corporation chartered by the Acts, of 1890, Chapter 326, as amended by the Acts of 1900, Chapter 357. The purpose for which the corporation was formed was for furnishing instruction in the higher branches of learning to members of the negro race. Section 5 of the Act of 1900 defines the powers of the corporation, as. follows.: “The said Morgan College shall have the power to found, establish and maintain a school or schools of education, learning and training, establish and maintain scholarships, professorships, lectureships, chairs of instruction and auxiliary schools, and to have, hold and acquire by gift, grant, purchase, devise or any other mode land and property, both real and personal, for the purpose of supporting such schools, scholarships, professorships, lectures and chairs, and for the purpose of investing the funds of said corporation and carrying on its work and plans.” The bill in this, case after reciting the formation of the corporation, and definition of its powers, alleges that on the 1st June, 1917, Morgan College, the defendant, acquired about seventy acres, of land at the intersection of the Ilillen road and Grindon lane; that the amount of land so acquired was in excess of any proper and legitimate need of the defendant, and that the defendant, has announced that it intends, to use a portion of the tract as building lots, to establish thereon a residential negro- colony.

The bill further sets out that, the plaintiffs, own and occupy property immediately adjacent to the tract so acquired by Morgan Oollege, and that its. use for the purposes named would materially depreciate the value of the plaintiff’s property, and work an irreparable loss, upon them. The bill ac ²⁶⁶ cordingly prays for an injunction against the college, its officers, etc., from developing and dividing the seventy acre tract or any part of it, for the purpose of establishing a residential negro colony thereon. The legal ground upon which this relief is asked, as set out in the bill, is that the defendant has not the power under its charter to purchase real estate for the purposes of development and its resale, in the manner and for the purpose alleged. A demurrer was filed to the bill, which was sustained by the Circuit Court for Baltimore County, and the bill dismissed.

It is from t-hat action of the Court that the present appeal is taken. A number of different grounds were set- up’ in the demurrer, but only two of them have been pressed on this appeal. These are: “1. Has a Court of Equity jurisdiction to grant relief at the instance of individuals suffering irreparable injury as the result of such ultra vires acts ? 2.

Are the threatened acts of Morgan College, above set forth, ultra vires V’ A construction of charter powers, as raised by the second of these questions, has been a matter of frequent consideration in the courts of this State. In the case now under consideration the charier powers are exceedingly broad. Authority is given to “have, hold and acquire * * * land and property both real and personal for the purpose of supporting such school, scholarships, professorships, lectureships and chairs, and for the purpose of investing the funds of said corporation and carrying on its work and plans." There is no definite limitation either upon the acreage or value of any land which the institution may own, occupy, use and enjoy. Most of the cases where an attack similar to the present one is made are based upon a charter limitation of the extent or value of the property wjhich may be acquired by the corporation.

No fact is better known than that educational institutions require today far more extensive room than they did fifty, or even twenty-five years ago, and hence in institutions of more ²⁶⁷ recent creation we see an acquisition of property far greater than was required when they were begun, or than their founders anticipated that they would require at the time, and it is accordingly a natural sequence that in planning a school or college today more land will be obtained, if practicable, than is immediately required for the erection of buildings to accommodate present needs. The purpose; is to provide for future growth. This is peculiarly applicable in the case of schools and colleges which have for their aim the education of the colored population, for it is a well recognized fact that in the present demand for general education the colored race may be expected, in the not distant future, to require far more room for expansion than in corresponding white schools. The demurrer of course concedes the verity of every alleged fact that is well pleaded.

It must, therefore, be assumed that it is not the purpose of the trustees