University v. People

• Decision Date: 01 October 1878
• Citation: 25 L.Ed. 387,99 U.S. 309
• Parties: UNIVERSITY v. PEOPLE
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

99 U.S. 309

25 L.Ed. 387

UNIVERSITY v. PEOPLE.

October Term, 1878

ERROR to the Supreme Court of the State of Illinois.

At the June Term, 1875, of the County Court of Cook County, Illinois, application, in the manner prescribed by the revenue law of the State, was made by the county collector, for a judgment against lands in that county, delinquent for the taxes levied and assessed upon them for the year 1874, for State, county, town, school, and municipal corporation purposes. In the list were embraced some four hundred and twenty-seven distinct parcels belonging to the Northwestern University.

Pending this application, the University appeared and filed its objections to judgment being entered against these parcels, and to their sale for delinquent taxes; alleging that, by an act of the legislature of Illinois, approved Jan. 25, 1851, it was created a corporation, and that by an amendment to its charter, made Feb. 14, 1855, all its property of whatever kind or description was declared to be for ever free from taxation for any and all purposes whatever; that by the terms of the charter and amendment the State contracted with it that from and after the passage of the amendment all its property of whatever kind and description should be for ever free from taxation for any and all purposes; that the charter and amendment had been accepted by it and were still in force; and that the taxes complained of had been levied without its assent and in violation of the charter and amendment.

At the trial, it having been admitted that the proper notice and return of the delinquent list had been made as required by law, the collector rested. The university thereupon offered in evidence a stipulation of counsel, that at the time and before the taxes were assessed and levied the parcels enumerated in the objections belonged to, and still belong to, the university, and are leased by it to different parties for a longer or a shorter period, and that all of the parcels are held for sale or lease, for its use and support, and for the objects contemplated in its charter; that the lands which are occupied by buildings or other direct appliances of education are not taxed or included in such parcels; that since the passage of the charter and amendment, the corporation has expended in the erection and purchase of buildings, apparatus, and other facilities and applicances for education, and for the promotion of the objects stated in the charter, over $200,000, realized from donations and the sale of lots and lands, and has built up a university with several departments, in which more than five hundred students are taught the higher branches of learning.

The charter was also offered in evidence. The first section constitutes certain individuals therein named a body corporate under the name of 'Trustees of the Northwestern University, with succession, and with power to acquire, hold, and convey real and personal property, and to make by-laws for the government of the institution,' &c. The second section regulates the term of office of the trustees, and requires the board of trustees to hold the property of the institution for the purposes of education, and not as stock for their individual benefit.

The fourth section locates the institution in or near Chicago, and gives the corporators power in their corporate name to take property by gift, grant, conveyance, or devise, and to grant, sell, devise, let, place out at interest, or otherwise dispose of the same for the use of the institution, and to apply the funds collected or the proceeds of the property to erecting buildings, supporting the teachers, officers, and servants of the institution, and procuring books and apparatus. It restricts the amount of land the corporation can hold to two thousand acres, unless it receives the same by gift, grant, or devise.

An amendment to the act of incorporation was approved Feb. 14, 1855. Its third section authorizes the corporation to take, use, lease, and dispose of property coming to the corporation charged with any trust, and to execute the trusts confided to it. Its fourth section is as follows: 'That all property, of whatever kind or description, belonging to or owned by the corporation, shall be for ever free from taxation.' The fifth section declares the act to be public, and that it shall take effect from its passage.

Another amendment, in force Feb. 19, 1867, changing the name of the corporation to 'Northwestern University,' authorized it by the latter name to exercise the powers and immunities conferred on it, and making other changes in the number of the board of trustees.

The objections were overruled, and, July 14, 1875, judgment was entered for the delinquent taxes against the lands of the university.

That judgment having been affirmed by the Supreme Court, the corporation sued out this writ of error.

So far as they bear upon this case, the provisions of the Constitution of Illinois of 1848, which was in force when the charter and its amendments were enacted; those of the Constitution of 1870, and of the act of 1872, under which the tax was sought to be collected,—are set forth in the opinion of the court.

The assignment of errors is as follows:——- The Supreme Court erred in adjudging: First, That no valid contract existed between the State and the plaintiff in error by virtue of the amended charter granted to and accepted by it, whereby it was protected by the Constitution of the United States from the taxation complained of. Second, That the provision of the amended charter exempting the property of the plaintiff in error from taxation was in conflict with the Constitution of the State, and void. Third, That the parcels of land described in these proceedings were subject to taxation for State, county, and other purposes for the year 1874, under the Constitution and laws of the State, notwithstanding their exemption by the amended charter.

Mr. Matt. H. Carpenter and Mr. Wirt Dexter for the plaintiff in error.

It is well settled that, to confer jurisdiction here to review the decision of a State court, it is not necessary that the record should show in ipsissimis verbis that a Federal question was presented, or that the pleadings in the case should either refer to the particular clause in the Federal Constitution relied upon, or set out the general law of the State which is alleged to be in violation of that Constitution. Furman v. Nichol, 8 Wall. 44; Murray v. Charleston, 96 U. S. 432, and cases cited; Murdock v. City of Memphis, 20 Wall. 590.

The question of the invalidity of a State statute and of the authority exercised thereunder, on the ground of their repugnancy to the Constitution, was directly raised and presented below. The Federal right claimed by and decided adversely to the plaintiff was necessarily involved in the judgment rendered. The jurisdiction of this court is therefore clearly established. Home of the Friendless v. Rouse, 8 Wall. 430; Parmelee v. Lawrence, 11 id. 36; McManus v. O'Sullivan et al., 91 U. S. 578; Bolling v. Lersner, id. 594.

This court has enforced the obligations of similar contracts of exemption. Jefferson Branch Bank v. Skelly, 1 Black, 436; State Bank of Ohio v. Knoop, 16 How. 369; Wilmington Railroad v. Reid, 13 Wall. 264; Humphrey v. Pegnes, 16 id. 244; Pacific Railroad Co. v. Maguire, 20 id. 36; The Washington University v. Rouse, 8 id. 439; Home of the Friendless v. Rouse, supra.

The enforced collection of this tax is in violation of the contract, if there was one, between the State and the plaintiff in error; and the sole question, therefore, is as to the existence of such a contract. The decision of it requires this court to determine, not only whether the amended charter exempting the institution from taxation is in its terms a contract, but also whether the legislature had the power to grant it.

The decision of a State court, holding that as a matter of construction a particular charter does not constitute a contract, is not binding on this court. The question of construction is an original one to be determined here. Jefferson Branch Bank v. Skelly, supra; Bridge Proprietors v. Hoboken Company, 1 Wall. 117; Butz v. City of Muscatine, 8 id. 575; State Bank of Ohio v. Knoop, supra; Delmas v. Insurance Company, 14 Wall. 661.

In regard to the exemption of such property as might be deemed necessary for school purposes the Constitution conferred discretion upon the legislature, and the judgment of the latter exercised in making the exemption under consideration is not subject to judicial review. Cooley, Const. Lim. 168, 173; Luther v. Borden et al., 7 How. 1; Bank of Rome v. Rome, 18 N. Y. 42; People v. Mahoney, 13 Mich. 400; Wynehamer v. People, 13 N. Y. 429; People v. Draper, 15 id. 532; Commonwealth v. Hartman, 17 Pa. St. 119; Sharpless v. Mayor of Philadelphia, 21 id. 147.

It is a rule of universal application, that a proper respect for a co-ordinate branch of the government requires that a court must be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt before it will declare a law unconstitutional. Fletcher v. Peck, 6 Cranch, 128; Ogden v. Saunders, 12 Wheat. 213. The rule is the same whether the question involves the construction of a law or of the Constitution itself. Cooley, Const. Lim. 184, and cases cited; Twitchell v. Blodgett, 13 Mich. 162; Martin v. Mott, 12 Wheat. 19; Masier v. Hilton, 15 Barb. (N. Y.) 657; State v. County Court of Boone County, 50 Mo. 317; Carpenter v. Montgomery, 7 Blackf. (Ind.) 415; Franklin v. State Board of Examiners, 23 Cal. 173.

In any view, the exemption under consideration was clearly for school purposes, and should be sustained as a proper exercise of the legislative power.

Such an institution as this university coming into life, without direct donations from the State itself, must have something more than the mere land on which the building stands. There must be a source of revenue which will support its professors, and keep the...