Dead Hand – by F.H. Goff

asteries and other religious bodies in mortmain, and more recently, acting both directly and through a Charity Commission appointed by it, has diverted funds to other uses than those indicated by the founder. With the co-operation of the Attorney General, the Commissioners have often intervened to suppress fraud and to correct abuses in management. But there are still thousands of Foundations in England which are harmful and devoid of merit.

Unfortunately no legislative body in the United States possesses this power. The Supreme Court of the United States held in the Dartmouth College Case that the legislature of the State of New Hampshire had no power to alter a charter granted by the British Crown to the Trustees of Dartmouth College in any material respect.

The original grant provided for a board of twelve self-perpetuating trustees. The amending Act passed by the legislature of that State, in 1816, increasing the Board of Trustees to twenty-one (the additional members being appointed by the Governor) and creating a Board of twenty-five overseers (of whom twenty-one were to be appointed by the Governor), was held to be void because it impaired the obligation of an implied contract between the State and the founders when the charter was issued.

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