Visitors & Governors of St. John's College v. State

Le Grand, C. J., delivered the opinion of this court. This case originates out of a Resolution, No. 4, passed by the General Assembly of Maryland, at its session of 1858. The questions in relation to which the opinion of the Judges of the Court of Appeals is desired, are: 1st. Whether the annual appropriation, made by the 19th section of the Act of 1784, ch. 37, of the sum of seventeen hundred and fifty pounds, current money, to be applied to the payment of salaries, <fcc., constitutes a contract on the part of the State, under all the circumstances of the case, which could not be legally repealed by the Act of 1805, ch. 85 ? ³⁷² 2nd.

Whether this latter Act is not in violation of the tenth section of the first Article of the Constitution of the United States, which declares, that no State shall pass any law-impairing the obligation of contracts? Std!. Whether the former Act, with the circumstances of the case, constituted such a contract as would, if'entered' into between individual citizens, be legally binding upon them ? These questions necessarily resolve themselves into but one-* and that, the first of the series.

For, if the Act of' 1784, ch. 37, created a valid and binding-contract, it cannot be denied,, and has not been in the argument of the cause, that it was incompetent to the Legislature to annul or -alter it without the consent of the grantees. We und'erstand the language of the Resolution, as confining our attention exclusively to terms of the Acts of 1784,. ch. 37, and 1803, ch. 85, and the circumstances connected with their passage, and so understanding its purport, we shall omit all notice of circumstances occurring subsequently. The record presents other questions, which, in an ordinary case, we might deem it proper to consider; but this case is-. sui generis, unlike an ordinary suit. The proceedings have-been instituted under the authority of the Legislature, for the-sole purpose of obtaining the opinion of the judges of this court upon certain specific questions propounded by the Resolution, and we, therefore, consider it proper- to confine ourselves ip those questions.

The State, on application of certain public-spirited citizens,, granted the charter of St. John’s College, and the preamble to the Act for founding the college sets out fully the motives of both- parties. It states that-, “it appears to this General Assembly,, that- many public spirited individuals, from an earnest desire to promote the founding a college or seminary of learning on the Western Shore of this State, have subscribed and'procured subscriptions-, to a considerable amount,, and there is reason to believe that very large additions will be obtained to the- same, throughout the different counties of the §aiduShore, if they were made capable, in law, to receive-arid apply the same towards founding and carrying on a cob ³⁷³ lege or general seminary of learning, with such salutary plan, and with such legislative assistance and direction, as the General Assembly might think fit, and this General Assembly, highly approving those generous exertions of individuals, are desirous to embrace the present favorable occasion of peace and prosperity, for making lasting provision for the encouragement and advancement of ail useful knowledge and literature, through every part of the State.” The third section of the Act constituted certain persons agents “for soliciting and receiving” subscriptions to the college; and the nineteenth section, “to provide a permanent fund for the further encouragement and establishment of the said eollege,” enacted, “ That the sum of one thousand, seven hundred and fifty pounds, current money, be annually and forever hereafter given and granted, as a donation by the public, to the use of the said college,” &c. By the first section of the Act of 1805, ch. 85, this donation was discontinued and ordered to remain in the Treasury,, subject to the appropriation of the Legislature to literary purposes, and for disseminating learning in the' several counties of the State. It is admitted, on behalf of the State, that individuals and corporations did, of their own funds, contribute towards the-founding of the college, the sum of thirty-two thousand dollars.

Confining ourselves to this state of case, the simple- question is: was the Act of 1784, under the circumstances, a contract within the meaning of the 10th section of the first Article of the Constitution of the United States ? By the fifth Article of the Constitution of the United States, it is expressly provided, that the “Constitution, &c.,. &c., shall be the supreme law of the land, and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding-,” and, by the 2nd section of the 3rd Article, that, “the