In force March 2, 1837
AN ACT to incorporate the Rush Medical College.
1Body politic & corporate created
Name
Where located
No. of trustees
Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That Theophilus W. Smith, Thomas Ford, E. D. Taylor, Josiah C. Goodhue, Isaac T. Hinton, John T. Temple, Justin Butterfield, Edmund S. Kimberly, James H. Collins, Henry Moore, S. S. Whitman, John Wright, William B. Ogden, Ebenezer Peck, John H. Kinzey, John D. Caton and Grant Goodrich, be, and they are hereby created a body politic and corporate, to be styled and known by the name of the “Trustees of the Rush Medical College,” and by that style and name to remain and have perpetual succession. The college shall be located in or near Chicago, in Cook county. The number of trustees shall not exceed seventeen, exclusive of the Governor and
Lieutenant Governor of this State, the speaker of the House of Representatives, and the president of the College, all of whom shall be ex officio members of the board of trustees.
Object of incorporation
Sec. 2. The object of incorporation shall be to promote the general interests of medical
education, and to qualify young men to engage usefully and honorably in the professions
of medicine and surgery.
To purchase & sell property
To make by-laws
To confer degrees
Sec. 3. The corporate powers hereby bestowed, shall be such only as are essential or useful
in the attainment of said objects, and such as are usually conferred on similar bodies
corporate, namely: In their corporate name to have perpetual succession; to make contracts;
to sue and be sued, to plead and be impleaded; to grant and receive by its corporate
name, and to do all other acts as natural persons may; to accept and acquire, purchase and sell pro-
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perty, real, personal, or mixed; in all lawful ways to use, employ, manage, dispose
of such property, and all money belonging to said corporation, in such manner as shall seem to the trustees best adapted to promote the objects
aforesaid; to have a common seal, and to alter and change the same; to make such by-laws as are not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the United States, and
this State; and to confer on such persons as may be considered worthy, such academical or honorary
degrees as are usually conferred by such institutions.
Trustees may prescribe and regulate course of studies
Appoint instructors and other officers
Fill vacancies
To procure apparatus
To make rules
Sec. 4. The Trustees of said College shall have authority, from time to time, to prescribe and regulate the course of
studies to be pursued in said College; to fix the rate of tuition, lecture fees, and other College expenses; to appoint instructors, professors, and such other officers and agents as may be
needed in managing the concerns of the institution; to define their powers, duties and employments, and to fix their compensation; to
displace and remove either of the instructors, officers or agents, or all of them,
whenever the said trustees shall deem it for the interest of the College to do so; to fill all vacancies among said instructors, professors, officers or agents; to
erect all necessary and suitable buildings; to purchase books and philosophical and chemical apparatus, and procure the necessary
and suitable means of instruction in all the different departments of medicine and
surgery; to make rules for the general management of the affairs of the College.
Trustees may remove other trustees for misconduct
No removal without giving notice
Sec. 5. The board of trustees shall have power to remove any trustee from office for dishonorable
or criminal conduct; Provided, That no such removal shall take place without giving to such trustee notice of the
charges preferred against him, and an opportunity to defend himself before the board,
nor unless two-thirds of the whole number of trustees for the time being, shall concur
in such removal. The board of trustees shall have power whenever a vacancy shall occur
by removal from office, death, resignation, or removal out of the State, to appoint some citizen of the State to fill such vacancy. The majority of the trustees for the time being, shall constitute
a quorum to transact business.
Proviso
Further proviso
Sec. 6. The trustees shall faithfully apply all funds by them collected, in erecting suitable
buildings; in supporting the necessary instructors, professors, officers and agents;
and procuring books, philosophical and chemical apparatus, and specimens in natural
history, mineralogy, geology and botany, and such other means as may be necessary
or useful for teaching thoroughly the different branches of medicine and surgery;
Provided, That in case any donation, devise, or bequest, shall be made for partic-
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ular purposes, accordant with the objects of the institution, and the trustees shall accept the same, every such donaton, devise, or bequest, shall be applied in conformity with the express condition of
the donor or devisor; Provided also, That lands donated or devised as aforesaid, shall be sold or disposed of as required
by the last section of this act.
Treasurer to give bond and security
Process, how served
Sec. 7. The treasurer of said College always, and all other agents, when required by the trustees, before entering upon
the duties of their office, shall give bonds respectively, for the security of the
corporation, in such penal sum, and with such sureties as the board of trustees approve; and all process against said corporation shall be by summons, and service of the same shall be by leaving an attested copy
with the treasurer of the College, at least thirty days before the return day thereof.
Lands held in perpetuity shall not exceed 640 acres
Period
Sec. 8. The lands, tenements and hereditaments, to be held in perpetuity in virtue of this
act, by said institution, shall not exceed six hundred and forty acres; provided, however, That if donations, grants or devises of land, shall from time to time be made to
said corporation, over and above six hundred and forty acres, which may be held in perpetuity as aforesaid,
the same may be received and held by said corporation, for the period of six years from the date of any such donation, grant or devise;
at the end of which time, if the said lands, over and above the six hundred and forty
acres, shall not have been sold, then, and in that case, the lands so donated, granted,
or devised, shall revert to the said donor, grantor, or to their heirs.
Approved 2d March, 1837.
1Peter Pruyne introduced SB 152 in the Senate on February 2, 1837. The Senate passed the bill on February 8. The House of Representatives concurred on February 25. On March 2, the Council of Revision approved the bill, and the act became law.
Illinois House Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 514, 717, 802; Illinois Senate Journal. 1836. 10th G. A., 1st sess., 332, 345, 366, 536, 591, 601-602.
Printed Document, 3 page(s), Incorporation Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed at a Session of the General Assembly (Vandalia, IL: William Walters, 1837), 233-35, GA Session: 10-1