Diggs v. Morgan College

• Decision Date: 30 October 1918
• Docket Number: 2.
• Citation: 105 A. 157,133 Md. 264
• Parties: DIGGS et al. v. MORGAN COLLEGE.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

105 A. 157

133 Md. 264

DIGGS et al. v. MORGAN COLLEGE.

No. 2.

Court of Appeals of Maryland

October 30, 1918

Appeal from Circuit Court, Baltimore County, in Equity; Frank I Duncan, Judge.

Bill by Russell I. Diggs and others against Morgan College, a corporation duly incorporated under the laws of the state of Maryland. Decree for defendant, and plaintiffs appeal. Affirmed.

Argued before BOYD, C.J., and BRISCOE, BURKE, THOMAS, PATTISON URNER, STOCKBRIDGE, and CONSTABLE, JJ.

Edgar Allan Poe, of Baltimore, for appellants.

Maloy & Brady, of Baltimore, John Mays Little, of Towson, and Machen & Williams and Arthur W. Machen, Jr., all of Baltimore, for appellee.

STOCKBRIDGE J.

Morgan College is a corporation chartered by Acts 1890, c. 326, as amended by Acts 1900, c. 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, lcetureships, 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, lectureships 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 of June, 1917, Morgan College, the defendant, acquired about 70 acres of land at the intersection of the Hillen 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 College, 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 accordingly prays for an injunction against the College, its officers, etc., from developing and dividing the 70-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 purpose 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 that 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?"

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 charter 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 which may be acquired by the corporation.

No fact is better known than that educational institutions require to-day far more extensive room than they did 50, or even 25 years ago, and hence in institutions of more 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 to-day 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...