His duties. Duty of the collector. Monies how to be applied. Truftees to account. there to choose and appoint some one suitable person of their body to be president of the said board of trustees, whose duty it shall be when present, to preside at the meeting of the trustees, to order extraordinary meetings of the trustees whenever he may find it for the interest of the village so to do, to receive complaints of the breach of any of the laws, to see that all the bye-laws, rules and ordinances are faithfully executed, and prosecute in the name of the trustees all offenders against such bye-laws, to receive and lay before the trustees the returns of the fire-wardens, and who with the consent of the major part of the trustees shall appoint under his hand and the seal of the said village the company of firemen, to inspect the utensils belonging to the said village for extinguishing fires, and whose duty it shall be more particularly to see the engines and fire utensils, engine-houses and all other public property belonging to the said village suitably and properly taken care of and kept in order, and to do all such other acts and things as may be proper for him as president of the board of trustees to do; and in case of the death, absence or disability of the president to discharge the several duties before mentioned, his place shall be supplied in the manner hereafter to be provided for by the bye-laws of the said corporation. XI. And be it further enacted, That the collector shall within such time as shall hereafter be provided for by the bye-laws of the said corporation, next after the receipt of his warrant for collecting any tax that may have been ordered to be raised, collect and pay the same to the treasurer; and that all monies which may at any time be in the hands of the treasurer shall be liable to be drawn out by the trustees, or the major part of them, and applied and disposed of as shall have been directed by the freeholders and inhabitants of said village. XII. And be it further enacted, That the said trustees shall keep a just and accurate account of their necessary expenses and disbursements, and on exhibiting the same to the treasurer, shall be entitled to receive the amount Compenfation thereof out of any monies in the treasury; and that the rer, collector treasurer, collector, and assessors shall be paid for their sevand affeffors. eral services such suitable compensation as the legal voters of the said corporation or a majority of them at their annual meeting shall deem reasonable and proper. to the treafu Firemen ex militia. XIII. And be it further enacted, That the firemen who empted from may at any time hereafter be appointed in the said vilferving on juries or in the lage, and each and every of them, shall be exempted from serving as jurymen, or in the militia of this state except in cases of the actual invasion of this state or insurrections therein; Provided, That the number of firemen shall not exceed twenty. Provifo. not to hold XIV. And be it further enacted, That it shall not be law- Corporation ful for the said corporation to purchase or hold any real real etate out estate whatsoever not lying or being within the limits of of the village. the said corporation. University. TENTH SESSION. CHAP. LXXXII. An ACT to institute an University within this State, and for other Purposes therein mentioned. Passed 13th April, 1787. HEREAS by two acts of the legislature of the state Preamble. of New-York, the one passed the first day of May and the other the twenty-sixth day of November, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-four, an university is instituted within this state in the manner and with the powers therein specified; And whereas, From the representation of the regents of the said university, it appears that there are defects in the constitution of the said university which call for alterations and amendments; And whereas a number of acts on the same subject amending, correcting and altering former ones, tend to render the same less intelligible and easy to be understood; Wherefore, to the end that the constitution of the said university may be properly amended and appear entire in one law, it will be expedient to delineate and establish the same in this, and repeal all former acts relative thereto : I. Be it enacted by the People of the State of New-York, Univerfity represented in Senate and Assembly, and it is hereby enacted inftituted. by the authority of the same, That an university be and is hereby instituted within this state, to be called and known by the name or style of The regents of the university of the state of New-York; that the said regents shall always be twenty-one in number, of which the governor and lieutenant-governor of the state for the time being shall always in virtue of their offices be two; that the go- Regents vernor, lieutenant-governor, and John Rodgers, Egbert naned. Benson, Philip Schuyler, Ezra L'Hommedieu, Nathan Carr, Peter Sylvester, John Jay, Dirck Romeyn, James Livingston, Ebenezer Russell, Lewis Morris, Matthew Clarkson, Benjamin Moore, Elardus Westerlo, Andrew King, William Lynn, Jonathan G. Tompkins, John M'Donald and Frederick William De Steuben, shall be and hereby are appointed the present regents and that they and all the future regents shall continue in place during the pleasure of the legislature; that all vacancies in the regency which may happen by death or removal, or resignation, shall from time to time be supplied by the legislature, in VOL. II. E & Regents.to choose a chan chancellor, Who fhall prefide at their meet ings. To appoint meetings. the manner in which delegates to congress are appointed: that the said regents, as soon as may be after the passing cellor & vice of this act, shall convene at such time and place as the governor shall appoint and by plurality of voices by ballot choose a chancellor and vice-chancellor, to continue in office during the pleasure of the said regents; that the said chancellor, or in his absence from the said meeting the vice-chancellor, or in case both be absent, then the senior regent present (and whose seniority shall be decided by the order in which the regents are named or appointed) shall preside, and in case of division have a casting voice at all meetings of the said regents; that all meetings of the said regents after the first, shall be held at such time and place as the chancellor, or in case of his death, absence from the state or resignation, the vice-chancellor, or in case of the death absence from the state or resignation of both of them, then at such time and place as the senior regent present in the state shall appoint; and it shall be the duty of the chancellor, vice-chancellor or senior regent, as the case in virtue of the above contingencies may be, to order and call a meeting of the said regents whenever and as often as three regents shall in writing apply for and request the same, such order or call to be published in one or more of the public newspapers in the city of New-York, at least ten days prior to such Eight regents meeting; And further, That any eight of the said regents meeting at the time and place so ordered shall be a quorum, and be enabled to transact and do the business which by this act they shall be authorized or directed to do and transact; that the said university shall be and hereby is incorporated, and shall be known by the name of The regents of the university of the state of New-York, and by that name shall have perpetual succession, and power to sue and be sued, to hold property real and personal, to the amount of the annual income of forty thousand bushels of wheat, to buy and to sell and otherwise lawfully dispose of lands and chattels, to make and use a common seal, and to alter the same at pleasure. to make a quorum. University incorporated. Corporation to appoint a treasurer and fecretary. II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said corporation shall appoint by ballot a treasurer and a secretary, to continue in office during the pleasure of the corporation; that the treasurer shall keep fair and true accounts of all monies by him received and paid out, and that the secretary shall keep a fair journal of the meetings and proceedings of the corporation, in which the yeas and nays on all questions shall be entered, if required by any one of the regents present; and to all the books and papers of the corporation every regent shall always have access, and be permitted to take copies of them. And poing offere III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, Regents to That it shall and may be lawful to and for the said regents, academies vifit colleges, and they are hereby authorized and required to visit and and schools, inspect all the colleges, academies and schools which are or may be established in this state, examine into the state and system of education and discipline therein, and make a yearly report thereof to the legislature, and also to visit every college in this state once a year, by themselves or by their committees, and yearly to report the state of the same to the legislature, and to make such bye-laws and ordinances, not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the state, as they may judge most expedient for the accomplishment of the trust hereby reposed in them; and in case the trustees of the said colleges, or any of them, shall leave the office of president of the college, or the trustees of any academy shall leave the office or place of principal of the acedamy vacant, for the space of one year, it shall in all such cases be lawful for the regents, unless a reasonable cause shall be assigned for such delay to their satisfaction, to fill up such vacancies; and the persons by them appointed shall continue in office during the pleasure of the regents, and shall respectively be received by the * college or academy to which they may be appointed, and shall have all the powers and exactly the same salary, emoluments and privileges, as his next immediate predecessor in office enjoyed, if any predecessor he had, if not, then such salary as the regents shall direct, to be paid by the trustees, who shall out of the funds or estate of their college or academy, be compellable by the said president or principal to pay the same. hea ancies have one year. existed for X conter de grees, IV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, Regents may That the said regents shall have the right of conferring, by diplomas under their common seal, on any person or persons whom they may think worthy thereof, all such degree or degrees, above or beyond those of bachelor or master of arts, as are known to and usually granted by any university or college in Europe. funds. X V. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, And apply That it shall and may be lawful to and for the said regents, from time to time, to apply such part of their estate and funds, in such manner as they may think most conducive to the promotion of literature and the advancement of useful knowledge within this state; Provided always, That where grants shall be made to them for certain uses and purposes therein expressed and declared, the same shall not be applied either in the whole or in part to any other uses. VI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the regents shall annually meet on the second Thursday next after the senate and assembly at the annual session of the legislature shall have formed a quorum re X How colleges may be incor- Former char ter to the col lege in the city of New York cone Repealed 33 Style of the b 85 NEW spectively, and at the assembly chamber, immediately after the assembly shall have! adjourned; that the said regents at such meetings, and all others, may adjourn from time to time, not exceeding ten days at any one time. VII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That any citizen or citizens, or bodies corporate with in this state, being minded to found a college at any place within the same, he or they shall in writing make known to the regents the place where, the plan on which, and the funds with which it is intended to found and provide for the same, and who are proposed for the first trustees; and in case the regents shall approve thereof, then they shall declare their approbation by an instrument under their common seal, and allow a convenient time for comleting the same; and if at the expiration of the said time it shall appear to the satisfaction of the regents, that the said plan and propositions are fully executed, then they shall by act under their common seal, declare that the said col lege, to be named as the founders shall signify, and with such trustees, not exceeding twenty-four, nor less than ten, as they shall name, shall forthwith become incorporated, and shall have perpetual succession, and enjoy all the corporate rights and privileges enjoyed by Columbia college, herein after mentioned. VIII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the charter heretofore granted to the governors of the college of the province of New-York, in the city of New-York, in America, dated the thirty-first day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and fifty-four, shall be, and hereby is fully and absolutely ratified and confirmed in all respects, except that the college thereby established shall be henceforth called Columbia college; that the style of the said corporation shall be The trustees of Columbia college in the city of New-York, and that no persons shall be trustees of the same in virtue of any offices, characters or descriptions whatever; excepting also such clauses thereof as require the taking of oaths and subscribing the declaration therein mentioned, and which render a person ineligible to the office of president of the college, on account of his religious tenets, and prescribe a form of public prayer to be used in the said college; and also except ing the clause thereof which provides that the bye-laws and ordinances to be made in pursuance thereof, should not be repugnant to the laws and statutes of that part of the kingdom of Great-Britain called England, except also, that in all cases where fifteen governors are required to constitute a quorum for the dispatch of business, thirteen. trustees shall be sufficient; Provided always, That the byelaws and ordinances to be made by the trustees of the said Columbia college, shall not be contrary to the constitution and laws of this state. |