126
about one-quarter of the customary and
regular charge therefor. :
“T find that the salaries of the officers
of the appellant are reasonable and
moderate in amount, and that there
are certain instances of professors in
the University who because of their
financial ability and zeal and devotion
to the interests of the appellant, have
-been and are accustomed either to serve
without salary, or to give their salaries
to the use of the appellant.”
The counsel for the University were
Bristol, Stoddard & Bristol. The
members of this firm are Louis fi.
Bristol, Yale ’59; Henry Stoddard,
Yale Hon. ’88, and John W. Bristol,
Yale ’77.
The counsel for the Assessors were
Jacob P. Goodhart, Yale ’855., who is
Town Counsel; John W. Alling, Yale
‘62: William H. Ely, and William B.
Stoddard.
The decision of the court in full is |
as follows:
The Decision.
In 1887 the Corporation of the Presi-
dent and Fellows of Yale College in
New Haven was authorized to use the
title “Yale University,’ and gifts re-
ceived and contracts made under either
of said names were declared to be valid.
The powers of the Corporation were
not otherwise changed. (10 Special
Laws, p. 467.)
In October, 1895, the University filed
with the assessors of the town of New
Haven a list of the property owned
by it subject to taxation for the year
1896. The list contained seven pieces
of land valued at $57,680. To this list
the assessors added certain buildings
used for dormitories and dining hall,
with the land on which they stood,
valued at $214,990, and also added cer-
tain vacant building lots, dwelling
houses and factories, valued at $167,-
112, The plaintiff appealed. to the
board of relief, which board confirmed
the action of the assessors. This ap-
peal is’ an application to the Superior
Court alleging that the board of relief
acted illegally in confirming the action
of the assessors and praying for appro-
priate relief. The alleged illegality de-
pends on the meaning given to two
statutes, viz.: Section 3820 of the gen-
eral statutes, the act of 1834 amending
charter of the College appearing also
in section 3822 of general statutes.
First. Section 3820 of general stat-
utes provides that: “Buildings or por-
tions of buildings exclusively occupied
as colleges, academies, churches or pub-
lic school houses or infirmaries” shall
be exempt from taxation. If buildings
used by the College exclusively as dor-
mitories and dining halls for its. stu-
dents are buildings exclusively occupied
as a college, then the action com-
plained of in adding to the list dormi-
tories and dining hall was illegal; if
such use is not a college occupation,
then said action was legal.
MEANING ‘OF THE WORD COLLEGE.
The word “college,” used to denote
a constituent of or the equivalent of
“university,” has acquired a definite
meaning. As first used, “college” in-
dicated a place of residence for stu-
dents, and occasionally an ‘‘universitas”’
or “studium generale.’ The expres-
sions “universitas studii’ and uni-
versitatis collegium” occur in early
official documents. A suggestion of the
modern university appears in the Col-
lege and library of Alexandria, founded
and endowed by Ptolemy Soter. Here
the museum provided from the first
lodgings and refectory for the profes-
sors, and later similar. provisions were
made for the students. A writer of the
twelfth century speaks of the “hand-
some pile of buildings, which has
twenty colleges, whither students be-
take themselves from all parts of the
world.” :
The university in Europe developed
about the year 1200, It was a com-
munity organized for the study of all
branches of knowledge and authorized
by pope, king or emperor to confer de-
grees upon those found competent to
instruct others. |
At Bologna, perhaps the earliest or-
ganized university, we find colleges al-
most from the beginning. Such col-
lege was a separate house, with a fund
for the maintenance of a specified
number of poor students. Similar col-
leges existed in Paris, Oxford and
other universities. At first little more
_ panionship,
ee eo) AU MINS
than lodging rooms and refectory, they
grew, especially in England, to be the
home of the students for all purposes.
The instruction and discipline of the
university was through the colleges.
The conditions of the early universi-
ties were peculiar. Vast throngs of
students were gathered at one place;
they were divided into “nations,” each,
as at Paris, with its own proctor or
procurator; they were further divided
among faculties, each with its dean.
The divisions into nations and faculties
were cross divisions; and another cross
division was that into colleges and
halls (hall sometimes meaning an un-
organized college and sometimes used
as synonymous with college). With
changes in conditions, the college was
largely eliminated from the continental
universities, while in England the uni-
versity became practically the associ-
ated colleges.
THE ENGLISH PROTOTYPE.
Merton College, Oxford, founded in
1264, was the prototype of the English
college. That College consisted of the
chapel, refectory and dormitories.
Here the scholars, called fellows, in
token of the spirit of equality and com-
lived under one govern-
ment, educational and moral, and pre-
pared to take the degree granted by
the University. As the colleges in-
creased all non-collegiate students were
driven away. The vagabonds or
chamber-dekyns, i. e., camera degens,
living in lodgings as opposed to those
who lived in a college, disappeared.
Each student in a college must belong
to the university and each student of
the university must be attached to a
college. And the heads of the colleges
administered the university. Thus was
developed the English theory of the
university; where the honors and influ-
ence of the studium generale are gained
and enjoyed by students living and
working under government of their
respective colleges.
As Neuman says, the university, to
enforce discipline, developed itself into
colleges, and so the term college ‘‘was
taken to mean a place of residence for
the university student, who would there
find himself under the guidance and in-
structions of superiors and_ tutors,
bound to attend to his personal inter-
est, moral and intellectual.’”’ (See pas-
sim, Vol. 3, Neuman; Hist. Sketches;
Lyte’s History of University of Ox-
ford; Vols. 1 and 2 Huber’s English
Universities; Ency. Brit., University).
The college and university, however,
were sometimes united in one corpora-
tion. Neuman says, ‘The University
Toulouse was founded in a college; so
was Orleans.” ‘Trinity College, Dub-
lin, styled in its charter (1591), ‘““The
College of the Holy Undivided Trinity
of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin,” is
both university and college, and has
ever since been recognized by the
Queen as a “mater universitatis’; but
the hope was not realized and the uni-
versity and college have ever since re-
mained one, called in common speech
indiscriminately “Trinity College, Dub-
lin,” “Dublin University,” . “The Uni-
versity of Trinity College, Dublin.”
Morischal College, Aberdeen, was
founded in 1593 as a college and a uni-
versity, with power of conferring de-
grees. And so at the beginning of the
seventeenth century the students of an
English university lived in colleges,
were instructed and governed through
colleges, whether the university in-
cluded a number of colleges or a sin-
gle college; and among the buildings
indispensable for every college were
the great hall or dining room and the ©
living rooms or dormitories.
In establishing universities in the
new world the limitations of the people
compelled the founders to follow the
example of Trinity College, Dublin,
_ and Morischal College, Aberdeen, and
not that of Oxford and Cambridge.
Upon the same corporation was con-
ferred the power of the university in
granting degrees and of the college in
government; and such community and
the buildings required for its use were
known as “The College.” The first ap-
propriation to endow a “university” in
Virginia was made in 1607. In 1660 an
act of the colonial legislature endowed
“The College,” and in 1693 William the
Third established the university, de-
scribed in the charter as “certain place
of universal study or perpetual college
of divinity, philosophy, languages and
other good arts and sciences,’ and
named it “The College of William and
Mary in Virginia.”
WV es Ses ee
THE FOUNDING OF HARVARD.
The settlers of New England early
felt the need of a local university, and
the first step was the erection of a col-
lege, i. e., a building where the stu-
dents were to be lodged, fed and in-
structed, while pursuing the university
studies and qualifying for its degrees.
In 1630 the general court at Boston ad-
vanced £400 for this purpose, and sub-
sequently appointed Newtown as the
seat of the university, and for this rea-
son changed the name of the town to
Cambridge. (2 Mather’s Magnalia, pp.
7, 8, 9, 19, 20. Quincy’s History of
Harvard.) In 1642 the court estab-
lished overseers of a “college founded
in Cambridge.” In 1650 the charter
was granted. The statutes immediately
adopted provided that all students ad- -
mitted to the College “must board at
the commons,” and also provided for
preferring the first and second degrees
in arts.
While the College exercised some of
the privileges of a university, doubt was
felt as to the power of the general court
to confer such privileges. The Colo-
nial charter of 1692 was construed as
authorizing the court to erect a univer-
sity, and immediately, as Mather says,
the general assembly granted ‘a char-
ter to this University,’ authorizing it
to grant degrees, “‘as in the universities
of England.” This charter expired
within three years from failure to re-
ceive the royal approval, and the Col-
lege was. subsequently reorganized
under the charter of 1650. The degree
of D.D. was conferred by the College
in 1693 on Increase Mather, its Presi-
dent, who in conferring the degrees at
the first commencement after the new
charter, maintained that “the right of
establishing universities (academias) is
reserved to all those and to those only
who hold the sovereignty in the state,”
and that the general court, under the.
charter of 1692, possessed such sover-
eignty. No other degree of doctorate
was conferred until 1771, when Nathan-
iel Appleton was made doctor of di-
vinity, and a few years later George
Washington was made doctor of laws.
The Massachusetts constitution of
1779 recognized “the University at
Cambridge,” and ratified and confirmed
all the rights and privileges it had been
accustomed to exercise.
THE FOUNDING OF YALE,
The colonies of Connecticut and New
Haven were at first unable to erect a
college by themselves, and. for some
years contributed to that at Cambridge.
The plan of the College at New Haven
was early mooted and in 1654 steps
were taken towards its consummation.
Davenport wished to direct the bene-
faction of Governor Hopkins to the
founding of a college and the court of
that colony acceded to that plan. The
difficulties attending the union of the
colonies of New Haven and Connecti-
cut obstructed the execution of the
plan, and eventually the funds were
appropriated to the Hopkins Grammar
School. In 1608 the plan was revived,
and ten of the principal ministers
agreed to stand as trustees to found,
erect:.and govern . 2.7 college, = Théy
formed themselves into a society in
New Haven in 1700, and the same year
at a meeting at Branford, they (in the
language of “Trumbull) “founded the
University of Yale College.” (1
IP. list.” of Conn., “202.5 in: t7or
the general court of Connecticut
granted to the said trustees the privi-
lege of founding, endowing and order-
ing a “Collegiate school,” and authori-
zed them to acquire and hold real es-
tate not exceeding the value of £500
per annum and personal property to
any amount for the use of said school
and for erecting and endowing the
same. (4 Col. Rec. 363.) The act did
not purport to establish a college and
university, unless by indirection; but
the trustees, following the example of
Harvard, nroceeded at once to grant
degrees in arts. Until 1716 the school
was migratory; the trustees then de-
cided that it should be established at
New Haven, and this decision was con-
firmed by the legislature the following
year. (6 Col. Rec. 30.) In pursuance
of this authority, aided by appropria-
tions by the colonial government as
well as by gifts from Governor Yale
and other benefactors, a college house
“for the entertainment of scholars,”
was so far finished in 1718 as “to be
fit for the reception and accommoda-
tion of all the students.” It contained
nearly fifty studies and was furnished
with a convenient hall, library and
kitchen. At the commencement of that
year, in the presence of the authorities
of the colony, the trustees did “with
one consent agree, determine and or-
dain that our college house shall be
called by the name of its munificent
patron, and shall be named Yale Col-
lege.” (2 Trum. Hist. Conn. I1.)
PRESIDENT CLAP’S RULES.
In 1745, under the energetic rule of
President Clap, a body of statutes was
drawn up, derived partly from the laws
and customs of the College, partly
from the laws of Harvard, and partly
from the University of Oxford, and the
same year the general court assuming
the right of exercising within its juris-
diction the powers of sovereignty be-
longing to an independent govern-
ment, not inconsistent with express
statutes of England, which is always
claimed, though with much fear and
trembling and with great caution,
granted a charter somewhat like in
form to a royal patent, erecting a cor-
porate university and college under the
name of “The President and Fellows
of Yale College in New Haven,” en-
dowing it as University and College
with the power of self-government and
of making all reasonable laws and or-
dinances for that purpose, and with the
power of conferring all such degrees
as are usually given to colleges and
universities, and with the power to ap-
point a scribe or register, a treasurer,
tutors, professors, steward, and _ all
such other officers and servants usually
appointed in colleges or universities
for the promotion of good literature
and for the well ordering and manag-
ing the affairs of said College.
AN ESSENTIAL FEATURE OF THE COL-
LEGE.
It is plain that the College thus
erected involved as an essential feature
the educatien and government of uni-
versity students in college houses un-
der college officers. The “college or
universities” referred to in the charter
were the universities in England ad-
ministered by associated colleges or the
single colleges endowed with the privi-
leges of a university. In both, the “col-
lege’ involved necessarily buildings for
the residence and entertainment of the
officers and students. The general
court again and again contributed to
the erection of such buildings. When
in 1753 the trustees of the College of
New Jersey (now Princeton Univer-
sity), applied to the general assembly
of Connecticut for leave to set up a
lottery to raise money “to build a pub-
lic house for. entertaining the students
and better answering the good ends
designed in founding and erecting said
College,” the assembly granted the
liberty “‘on consideration of the matters
in said petition and for the encourage-
ment of religion and learning.” (10
Col. Rec. 217.) The “college” and the
building for entertaining the students
under college government were in-
separable. In 1818 Yale College con-
sisted of three college buildings for
housing the officers and students, a
lyceum, a chapel, a kitchen, and large
dining room; and it was this College
whose charter was confirmed by our
constitution of 1818.
A SETTLED MEANING.
The settled meaning of “college” as a
building or group of buildings in
which scholars are housed, fed, in-
structed and governed under college
discipline, while qualifying for their uni-
versity degree, whether the university
includes a number of colleges or a sin-
gle college, is now attacked. We have
deemed it proper to trace this meaning
with sufficient ‘detail to demonstrate
the utter unreason of the attack. This
peculiar function of a college is inher-
ent in the best conception of the univer-
sity. This meaning has been attached
to the English word for eight hundred
years; it was the only meaning known
at the time our first American colleges
were founded; it was recognized and
distinctly affirmed in the charter of
Yale College; it has since been affirmed
by repeated acts of legislation, and has
received the sanction of constitutional
confirmation. It was impossible for
the legislature to express its meaning
more clearly than in the language of
