nomination or election be given; this is exprefsly decided
by one of the resolutions in the cafe of Sutton's Hospital.
—King James the first, by his letters patent bearing date
the 22d day of June, in the 9th year of his reign, granted
to Thomas Sutton licence to found an hofpital for the re-
lief of poor, aged, maimed, needy, or impotent people (a),
and a free-school for the maintenance and education of
poor children or scholars (b); " and also that the faid Tho-
mas Sutton, during his life, and, after his death, the go-
vernors thereinafter named and their fucceffors, and the
furvivors and furvivor of them, and his and their fuc-
ceffors for ever, and the governors thereof, for the time
being, and their fuccefors, fhould have full power, licence,
and lawful authority, at his and their wills and pleasures
refpectively, from time to time, and at all times there-
after, to place therein fuch MASTER or head of the faid
hospital
as to him the faid Thomas Sutton during
his life, and after his death to the said governors and their
fucceffors, and to the furvivors and furvivor of them, and
to his and their fucceffors, and to the governors thereof for,
the time being, and their fucceffors, should seem conveni-
ent (c);" and, in a subsequent (d) part of the fame letters
patent, appointed fifteen perfons by name, "and the MAS-
TER of the hofpital, and fuch perfon and perfons as should,
from time to time, be mafter or mafters of the said hofpi-
tal, during the time that they should be mafter or masters
thereof, to be the first and prefent governors of the lands,
poffeffions, revenues, and goods of the hospital of King
James, founded in the Charter-house, within the county of
Middlesex, at the humble petition and only cofts and
charges of Thomas Sutton, efquire, and that they and the

Button's

(a) 10 Co. 8 b. (d) Id. 10. 2.

(b) 10 Co. 9. 3.

(c) 10 Co. 8 b.

E 4

furvivors

furvivors of them, and fuch as the furvivors and furvivor of them should, from time to time, elect, to make up the number fixteen, when, and as often as any of them or any of their fucceffors fhould happen to decease, or be removed from being governors or governor thereof, fhould be incorporated and have perpetual fucceffion, and be one body corporate and politic

Sutton, on the 30th of October, in the fame 9th year of the King, by a writing fealed with his feal, and bearing date the fame day and year, appointed one John Hutton to be the firft mafter of the hospital (a),

It was objected (b) to the validity of this incorporation, that the King, by his letters patent, intended to make a prefent corporation, which his words exprefsly imported; but that no incorporation could be until Sutton had named a mafter, and that nomination being fubfequent to the letters patent, the latter were repugnant in themselves, and void.

To this it was anfwered (c), that fuch an objection would extend to the fubverfion of a great number of corporations; for that when a corporation is created by letters patent, power is usually given by the fame patent to the body to choose a mayor, aldermen, or bailiffs, or governors, or the like; and yet they are immediately incorporated by the fame letters patent, though the election of the mayor or other officer be future. And, it is true, adds Lord Coke, this was immediately by the letters patent a corporation in abstracto, but not in concreto till the naming of the mafter.

IN confequence of the diffolution of the monaftrics and other religious houses, the poor, who had derived a very

confiderable part of their fubfiftence from them, became a burthen to the public, and the legislature found it neceffary to encourage such as should be charitably disposed, to appropriate part of their wealth to charitable purposes, and in the 35th of Elizabeth it was enacted, "That it should be lawful for every perfon, for and during the fspace of twenty years then next ensuing, to make feoffments, grants, or any other affurances, or by laft will in writing to give and bequeath in fee fimple, as well to the use of the poor, as for the provifion, fuftentation, or maintenance of any house of correction, or abiding houses, or of any stocks or ftores, all or any part of fuch of his land, tenements, and hereditaments, and in fuch manner and form as he might have done" by a former statute (a) revived by the prefent (b).

BUT the charges of incorporation, and of the licence of mortmain, which was neceffary to carry into effect the purposes of this act, having, by fome means or other, become fo great as to difcourage many from undertaking these pious and charitable works (c); it was thought neceffary, by an act of parliament, to dispense, in certain cafes, with the licence of incorporation and mortmain, and to enable the founder to do the whole by his own act, without the immediate affent of the King to every particular foundation; it was therefore enacted, "That all and every perfon or perfons, feifed of an estate in fee fimple, their heirs, executors, and affigns, at his or their will and pleafure, fhould have full power, ftrength, licence, and lawful authority, at any time during the space of twenty years then next enfuing, by deed inrolled in the High Court of Chancery, to erect, found, and establish, one or more hofpitals, maifons de Dieu, abiding places, or houfes of cor(a) 22 H, 8, c, 12. (b) 35 El. c. 7. 1. 27. (c) 2 Inst. 722.

rection,

Law.

rection, at his or their will and pleasure, as well as for the finding, fuftentation and relief, of the maimed, poor, needy, or impotent people, as to fet the poor to work, to have continuance for ever, and from time to time to place therein fuch head and members, and fuch number of poor, as to him, his heirs and affigns should seem convenient; and that the fame hofpitals or houses fo founded, fhould be incorporated, and have perpetual fucceffion for ever, in fact, deed, and name; and of fuch head, members, and numbers of poor, needy, maimed, or impotent people as fhould be appointed, affigned, limited, or named by the founder or founders, his or their heirs, executors, or affigns, by any fuch deed inrolled; and that fuch hospital, &c. and the perfons therein placed, fhould be incorporated, named, and called by fuch name as the faid founder, &c. fhould fo limit, &c. and that the fame hofpital, &c. fo incorporated and named, should be a body politic and corporate, and should by that name of incorporation have full power, authority, and lawful capacity and ability to purchase, take, hold, receive, enjoy, and have, to them and to their fucceffors for ever, as well goods and chattels, as manors, lands, tenements, and hereditaments, being freehold, of any perfon or perfons whatsoever, fo that the fame fhould not exceed the yearly value of zool. above all charges and reprises to any one fuch hofpital, &c. without licence or writ of ad quod damnum, the ftatute of mortmain, or any other ftatute or law to the contrary notwithstanding; and that the fame hofpital, &c. and the perfons fo incorporated, &c. fhould have full power and lawful authority, by its true name of incorporation, to fue and be fued, implead and be impleaded, to answer and be anfwered, in all courts of the realm, as well temporal as spiritual, in all manner of fuits whatever

and

that

that the fame hofpital, &c. fhould have and enjoy for ever fuch a common feal or feals as by the faid founder, &c. fhould be, in writing, under his or their hand and feal affigned, &c. whereby the fame corporation fhould or might feal any manner of inftrument touching the fame incorporation, and the lands, tenements, hereditaments, goods, or other things thereto belonging, or in any wife touching or concerning the fame (a).

"PROVIDED that no perfon within age, or of non-fane memory, or women covert without their husbands, fhould have power by this act to make any fuch corporation, or to endow the fame (b).

"AND provided that no fuch hofpital, &c. fhould be erected, &c. by force of this act, unless on the foundation. or erection thereof the fame were endowed for ever with lands, tenements, or hereditaments, of the clear yearly value of ten pounds." (c)

THE act is made perpetual by a subsequent statute (d). THE words, "all and every person and perfons" in this act, extend to fuch bodies politic and corporate, as may alienate, fuch as mayor and commonalty, bailiffs and burgeffes, and the like; but not to those whose power of alienation is restrained by act of parliament (e).

THE manors, lands, tenements, or hereditaments of which the endowment is made, must be of an estate in fee fimple, either abfolute, conditional, or qualified; they must be freehold; of the clear yearly value of 10l. or more, and not exceeding the yearly value of 2ool. above all charges and reprises: but if the firft endowment be of the yearly value of 10l. or more, and under the yearly value of 200l. they may purchase, or take by gift from

(a) 39 El. c. 5. f. 1. · (d) 21 Jac. 1, c. I.

(b) f. 3.
(e) 2 Inft. 722.

(c) f. 4.

others,