Soc'y of Home for the Friendless v. State
| Citation | 78 N.W. 726,58 Neb. 447 |
| Parties | SOCIETY OF HOME FOR THE FRIENDLESS v. STATE. |
| Decision Date | 06 April 1899 |
| Court | Supreme Court of Nebraska |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Syllabus by the Court.
1. The institution established under the authority of the act of February 28, 1881, entitled “An act to establish a home for the friendless in the state of Nebraska, and to provide for the erection and location and government of the same,” is a state institution.
2. By section 4 of said act the Society of the Home for the Friendless, an eleemosynary corporation, was given supervision of said institution, subject to the paramount authority of the board of public lands and buildings.
3. The supervision given to said society over the Home for the Friendless was a mere privilege, and not a vested, irrevocable right. It depended upon the statute and was entirely extinguished when section 4 was repealed.
4. In establishing a home for the friendless, under the authority of said act, the board of public lands and buildings could not lawfully purchase a building site, and take the title thereto to the state in trust for the Society of the Home for the Friendless.
5. Real estate purchased by the board of public lands and buildings upon which to erect a home for the friendless was conveyed to “the state of Nebraska for the use and benefit of the Home for the Friendless.” Held, that the clause, “for the use and benefit of the Home for the Friendless,” was not designed to create a trust, but was merely descriptive of the use to which the property should be devoted by the state.
Error to district court, Lancaster county; Holmes, Judge.
Action by the state of Nebraska against the Society of the Home for the Friendless. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant brings error. Affirmed.
J. H. Broady and H. A. Babcock, for plaintiff in error.
C. J. Smyth, Atty. Gen., and W. D. Oldham, Dep. Atty. Gen., for the State.
This was an action for the recovery of real property brought by the state against the Society of the Home for the Friendless. In obedience to a peremptory instruction, the jury found in favor of the plaintiff, and judgment was rendered on the verdict. The property in dispute is a small tract of land in the city of Lincoln, upon which stands a dwelling house used as a home for destitute and friendless women and children. It is conceded that the legal title to the premises is in the state, but the defendant insists that it is the equitable owner, and therefore rightfully in possession. The essential facts are not controverted: In 1876 the defendant came into existence as a corporation, with the avowed object of affording protection and employment, or assistance, to worthy and destitute women and children until permanent homes and means of subsistence could be provided for them. By resolution of its board of directors, the society, soon after its incorporation, adopted, for business purposes, the name “Home for the Friendless,” and by this designation it has been generally known. Originally it was without a habitation; it received no assistance from the state, and, in the prosecution of its benevolent work, depended for its resources upon private charity. In 1881, however, there was, at the instance of the society, initiated a measure of legislation which resulted in the adoption of the following statute:
“Section 1. That a home for the friendless shall be established in the state of Nebraska.
Sec. 2. The location of said home shall be under the supervision of the board of public lands and buildings, and shall be located at the city or town which shall, after duly advertising for bids for its location, donate the largest amount to said home.
Sec. 3. The sum of five thousand dollars or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated out of the general fund of the treasury for the erection of said home.
Sec. 4. The government of said home shall be by and under the supervision of the Society of Home for the Friendless: provided, that nothing...
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