Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-01-17
VENERABLE FUND.
a REVOLUTIONARY RELIC.
Decisssn b. the sspssne Cesu sf the Case sf
ssnsu = Palmer Asassss sas Prince VIII.
liam s<hssl Dssrd.

Decisisn b. the Sspseme Cesrt sf the Case sf
ssasrs = Palmer Asassss the Prince vii.
liam s<hssi nssrd.
The case Of Stuart and Palmer rs.
The County School Board Of Prince
William was decided in the Court Of
Appeals on Thursday; Judge Lacy de-
livering the opinion. 1t was contro-
versy concerning sum which was in
the hands Of the vestry Of Dettingen
parish, in Prince William county,
before the dissolution of the vestries
by law after the Revolution, it being a
fund Of &600 bequcathed to the vestry
by the will Of Samuel Jones, deceased,
the proceeds to be applied by the yes-
try to the education of the poor chill
dren Of that county.
The vestries having been dissolved
by an act Of the Legislature Of Virginia
Of 1885, the fund was placed in the
hands Of the overseers Of the poor. By
the act Of 1919 it was taken out of the
hands of the overseers Of the poor and
placed in the hands OF school commits
sioners, and by an act Of the Legisls-
ture of 1868, the events Of the war rem
dcring the fund unproductive Of annual
profit for the benefit Of the beneficial
rics, the fund. was taken out Of the hands
Of the school commissioners and placed
in the hands of the Second Auditor
Of the State, who was directed to collect
and invest it as part of the liter
airy fund Of the State, the annual pro-
ceeds Of the same to be applied as be-
fore. Henry W. Thomas, Second
Auditor. collected the fund, and John
Randolph Tucker, then Attorney-Gen-
eral of the State, executed by authority
of the said act release Of the deed by
which this fund was secured upon GER
tain lands in Fauquier, the deed itself
providing that the debtor should have
the right to pay this debt when he so
desired. In 1872, by the general
school law. it was provided that the
school board of the county should sue
ceed to all the rights and property held
by any person for the benefit of public
free schools.
In August, 1881, the County School
Board of Prince William filed its bill in
the Circuit Court Of Fauquier county to
subject the lands formerly bound for
the debt in question, upon the claim
that the act of the Legislature placing
this fund in the hands Of the Second
Auditor, to be held by him as part of
the literary fund Of the State, to be in
vested and the proceeds annually ap-
piled, in accordance with the will Of the
donor, for the education of the poor
children, was null and void, and the
release of the Attorney-General there
under was Of no cAect--on the ground
that the Legislature of 1868 was rebel
Legislature that the act in question
was a so-called law by so-called Le-
gislature, and was unconstitutional; that
the act was ultra uires.
The Circuit Court sustained the con-
tention of the said School Board, de-
clared the act of the Legislature Of 1863
void, and of no effect,
set up the lien on the land in the hands
of Stuart & Palmer, who had since be-
come the purchasers of the land, and
decrced a sale of the same to satisfy
the said debt as if it had never been
paid.
The Court Of Appeals reversed the
Circuit Court, and sustained the act of
the Legislature as the act of de facto
Government, acting within the legiti-
mate scope Of its actual powers, and
held that the Government which had its
seat at Richmond during the late civil
war had been recognized as such by the
act Of the restored Government passed in
1866, and this act had been sustained
by every court where it had been called
in question, citing the case of Dinwid-
die rs. Stuart & Palmer, in the Court
of Appeals Of Virginia, and the case of
Texas rs. White, 7th Wallace. The
act of 1863 was not an act in aid of the
war against the United States, but was
an act for the protection Of rights of
1t was concerning public
fund, dedicated to a public use by the
donor; il was originally placed in the
of body of public officials,
which body afterwards ceased to exist
as such by virtue of the fundamental
changes in the structure Of the Gov
1t had become necessary
for the Legislature, nearly one hundred
years ago to take charge Of this fund
and place it in such hands as in its dis
cretion seemed best fofits preservation,
there being no hand to hold il; that
from time TO time since the Legislature
had exercised this care and supervision
Of this fund without question, and the
County School Board only claimed their |
right TO control it by one of these acts.
while they claimed under one act they |
lenied the validity of the other, as an act |
Ultra rires that by the very terms of
he bequest the debtor was entitled to |
pay the fund at his pleasure that the |
'und in 1863 had ceased, by reason Of |
he state of the country, to pay any |
annual rent or interest," its benefits |
we're cut off from the bencticiaries, the |
and being wholly mproductive of any |
annual rent. II was fund peculiarly |
inder the control of the Legislature,
laying been dedicated to public uses,
md belonging to class Of persons un-
Ter the special protection and guardian
hip of the Legislature. 1t was fund
which, by an ancient act, originating in
he necessities of the times soon
Ifter the revolutionary war, had
'cen taken in charge Of by the Legs
ature for its protection and preserva-
ion; that the Legislature, in a time of
var and in the midst of the greatest un-
ertamty as to the stability of all values,
lad thought proper to stretch forth its
Iand and place it once more in what
vas by it regarded as safe custody, to
'e applied, as before, in accordance
nth the terms Of the trust by which it
vas created that the result Of that ac-
ion was immaterial to the question
he Legislature had acted within the