Norris v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore

• Decision Date: 18 June 1948
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 3484.
• Citation: 78 F. Supp. 451
• Parties: NORRIS v. MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maryland

78 F. Supp. 451

NORRIS v. MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE et al.

Civil Action No. 3484.

District Court, D. Maryland.

June 18, 1948.

Charles H. Houston, of Washington, D.C., and Fred E. Weisgal, Harry O. Levin, and W. A. C. Hughes, Jr., all of Baltimore, Md., for plaintiff.

R. E. Lee Marshall, of Baltimore, Md., for defendant Maryland Institute.

Allan A. Davis, Asst. City Sol., of Baltimore, Md., for Mayor and City Council.

CHESNUT, District Judge.

The plaintiff in this case, Leon A. Norris, a young negro resident of Baltimore City and citizen of the State of Maryland, made application on September 11, 1946, to the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, a Maryland corporation, for admission as a student for instruction in art and teacher training in art. The Institute declined his application on the ground that for fifty years past it had maintained a consistent policy and practice of admitting only white persons as students. Thereafter the plaintiff filed this suit alleging that he had been denied a right solely on the ground of race and color contrary to the constitutional protection of the 14th Amendment of the Federal Constitution which provides, among other things, that "no State shall * * * deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws". The complaint prays for the following relief:

(a) A declaratory judgment that the plaintiff is entitled to be received as a student at the Maryland Institute on the same terms as other citizens and residents of Baltimore City without regard to race or color;

(b) that the Institute be enjoined from excluding him from such instruction solely because of race or color;

(c) in the alternative, if the plaintiff is not entitled to the above relief, then that the other defendant, the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, a municipal corporation, be enjoined from appropriating any public money or allocating any public property or resources to the Art Institute if it is a private corporation not under the restraints of the Federal Constitution;

(d) for damages in the amount of $20,000.

In due course the defendants have answered denying that the plaintiff is entitled to any of the relief asked against either of the defendants; extended testimony has been taken particularly with regard to the history, management and activities of the Maryland Institute, and the case has been orally argued and briefs submitted by counsel for the respective parties. It will be noted at the outset that the jurisdiction of the court with respect to the declaratory judgment prayed for raises a question of federal constitutional law as to which this court clearly has jurisdiction; but the relief by way of injunction asked in the alternative against Baltimore City is in nature essentially a taxpayer's suit of which this court would have no jurisdiction in the absence of allegation or proof that the amount in controversy exceeds $3,000, which does not exist. From the evidence in the case I find the following facts.

History of the Maryland Institute

The Maryland Institute was incorporated as a private corporation January 10, 1826¹ by citizens of Maryland, and functioned until 1835 when the school plant was destroyed by fire.² The activities of the school were resumed in 1847 and steps were taken resulting in the incorporation of the Institute as a private corporation (for a period of 30 years) on February 13, 1850. (Acts of Assembly 1849, c. 114). The charter of the corporation was extended by Chapter 313 of the Acts of Assembly 1878, and by this Act an annual grant of $3,000 was to be paid by the State to the president of the Institute, without condition other than an annual report of activities to the Governor of the State. The principal corporate purpose and power was to promote the mechanic arts and maintain schools of art and design.

Negotiations between the Institute and the City of Baltimore concerning the site of the school resulted in an ordinance dated June 6, 1850 (Ordinance No. 43 of June 6, 1850) which granted permission to the Managers of the Institute to erect a building for the Institute's use over the Market House at Centre Market (similar to Fanueil Hall in Boston) provided the plans for the building were approved by a Committee from the City Council, that the stall owners in the Market assent and that there be no interference with the use of the ground floor as a market. The City agreed to contribute $15,000 to the erection of a building on the condition that an equal amount be raised by public subscription. It was also provided that the hall to be constructed should be available rent free for any public meetings called by the Mayor. The actual cost of the building erected pursuant to this authorization was about $110,000, of which amount the City contributed approximately $20,000.³

The building erected by the Institute was occupied as the home of the School until the structure was destroyed in the great fire of February 7-8, 1904, which swept over this and surrounding blocks. The City of Baltimore, acting pursuant to Chapter 87 of the Laws of Maryland 1904, condemned the land in the Centre Market area, acting through the Burnt District Commission. A realignment of streets was made in the area and a special "Centre Market Commission" appointed by the then Mayor erected, using public funds, the present Market Place structure at a cost of about $190,000.⁴

By the Ordinance of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore dated February 27, 1907⁵ the Mayor was authorized to execute a lease of the two upper stories of this new Market Place Building to the Institute for a period of 14 years commencing May 1, 1907, at the annual rent of $500, the lessee agreeing to make necessary repairs, and the City agreeing to furnish heat. Pursuant to a later Ordinance⁶ a renewal of this lease was executed on May 11, 1921, for a period of 14 years. Since the expiration of this lease no further lease has been executed but the parties have apparently continued the relation of landlord and tenant on the same terms, being now a holdover yearly tenancy. Some years ago, the use of the ground floor for a market was discontinued and thereupon Baltimore City made some changes in the first floor to adapt it for further use by the Maryland Institute, at a cost of $25,000, but without increasing the rental of $500 a year. However, for some years past the Maryland Institute has been charged with and paid the cost of heating the building at about $2,000 or more per year.

Throughout the years from 1881 to the present the City of Baltimore has maintained a contract relationship with the Maryland Institute for the education of pupils in the schools of the Institute. These contracts have been much alike. By Ordinance No. 42 dated April 14, 1881, the City of Baltimore authorized the Mayor, City Comptroller and City Register to contract with the Maryland Institute for the instruction of a number of pupils in the School of Art and Design for a period of three years from September 1, 1881. Initially three pupils were to be appointed from each ward, and in the succeeding years one pupil was to be appointed by each member of the City Council. When a vacancy occurred the President of the Institute was to notify the member of the City Council entitled to fill the vacancy and the Councilman was then to appoint another pupil. Section 3 of the Ordinance required the President of the Institute in September of each year to report the names of the pupils so appointed and the vacancies existing, if any, and gave the Mayor the right to appoint should any member of the City Council entitled to fill a vacancy fail to do so for a period of two months. Section 4 of the Ordinance provided that the Mayor, City Comptroller and City Register should annually inspect the school and the manner in which the contract was being fulfilled, and if after such inspection the Comptroller was satisfied that the terms of the contract were being complied with he should pay the Institute $3,000 in September of each year for the education of the pupils.

A further contract in similar form, but providing for a payment of $9,000 was authorized on March 7, 1893.⁷ This authorization was for a period of eight years from September 1, 1892 (sic). This Ordinance of March 1893 was discussed at length in the case of Clark v. Maryland Institute for the Promotion of Mechanic Arts, 87 Md. 643, 41 A. 126. The same arrangement was continued for a still further period of eight years from January 1, 1901.⁸

By another Ordinance approved May 18, 1908⁹ the City authorized the extension of this contract relationship for a period of twelve years from January 1, 1909, on the same basis but at the annual figure of $12,000. This renewal, which normally would have terminated on January 1, 1921, appears never to have been formally extended but the arrangement has continued down to date, the amount of money appropriated annually varying in the later years, averaging about $25,000 a year in the recent years.

Subsequent to the fire in 1904 the Maryland Institute felt in need of larger facilities to meet its increasing enrollment. There had been a total of $101,500 in insurance outstanding on the old Market Place Building, and from this insurance about $85,000 was realized as a result of the inability of some of the insurance companies to pay the loss in full.¹⁰ The Legislature by Chapter 228 of the Laws of Maryland 1904, provided $175,000 to be used for the purchase of a lot and erection of a building for the Maryland Institute. With these available funds, plus a grant by Mr. Andrew Carnegie of $263,000 (apparently obtained by the personal solicitation of Mr. John M. Carter, then president of the Maryland Institute)¹¹ and the donation by Mr. Michael Jenkins of a lot at the corner of Mt. Royal Avenue and Lanvale Street, the new Maryland Institute Building was erected. The total cost of this new building was approximately...