The Saint Paul globe., 1898-06-10
OFTEDAL SIDE STAYS IN.
Supreme Court Refuses to Dust Au-s-
burg Trustees.


burg Trustees
The supreme court yesterday filed a de-
cision in the long -drawn-out and very in.
tr-cate Augsburg seminary case, which has
kept the two factions of Norwegian Luther
ans stirred to the depths for a number of
years.
The decision of the lower court (Hennepin)
is reversed, and information, uIon which the
opponents of the Oftedal faction hoped to Sc
cure writ of quo warranto and oust Oftedal
and his colleagues from the board of trus-
tees of the Augsburg seminary, is quashed.
Briefly. the Augsburg people owned a sem.-
nary at Marshall, Wis. In 1871, the peop e
of Minneapolis donated them property and
| money to the amount of $4,000 to remove In
Minneapolis.
1858 or 1889, when some changes were made
/ in the organization. Troub.es then followed
! thick and fast after and in 1893 they
eliminated in row i it was sought to
oust the old directors 20 had managed the
affairs of the seminary Tor twenty years or
more The property had in the meantim
from $50 900 to $75,000 The matter finally got
into the courts, and there has been the bitter
est kind OF fight between the two factions.
The syllabus in the decision is as follows:
State Of Minnesota ex rel Nils G. Brun ct
al, respondents VS.. Sven Oftedal ct al,
appellants.
Five persons organized themselves into a
private charitable corporation under General
Statutes 1874 chapter 81. title 3, by the name
of The Norwegian Danish EvangeiicaI Luth-
eran Augsburg seminary. The articles were
detective in that they contained no provisions
for the admission Of members. They pro-
vided for 4 board CT FIVE trustees che five
corpoIatorS being named as the first board)
and fixed the time and place for their elec,
ton, but did not state in express terms bv
whom they were to be elected.
Held that the power to amend the arti-
cles of incorporation and to admit new mem,
bers and to elect trustees was vested in the
five incorporatOrs. ~
For nearly twenty years thereafter trustees
CT the corporation were elected by an unin-
corpcrated voluntary association called The
Conference of the Norwegian Danish Evangel-
ical Lutheran Church of America, composed
of the ministers. theological professors and
delegates from the congregations, belonging
to the conference. The trustees thus elected
assumed to perform all the duties of the Of
fce with the consent of the incorporators,
who during ali that time, neither exercised
nor attempted to exercise any corporate pow
ers. .
In June, 1877, the legislature passed an act
(Special Laws 1871 CHAPTER 245l entitled "An
act rat.fyng and cor rfrEling the election of
trustees of the Norwegian-D Danish Evangelical
Lutheran Augsburg seminary"
In 1885 the trustees elected by the confer
ence assumed to amend the articles of in,
corporation as to provide for the election
of trustees by the conference.
In 1850 the "conferenceY formed union
with certain other religious bodies of sub
staptially the same faith and form of gov
ernment under the name of THE United
Norwegian Lutheran Church OF America"
In 1892 the five original incorporators
amended the articles of incorporation so as
to provide fer the admission of new members
by the existing members, and then admitted
twenty-f five new members. The thirty mem
bers, as thus constituted, thereafter elected
respondents (appellants herel to the Offices of
trus tees of the seminary corporation.
The conference of the United church elected
the reators to the same offices.
In q proceeding by information in the nature
of QUO warranto instituted by the relators to
oust the Respondents and to induct them
Held First-Tae corporation being prl-
vate one, it was Incumbent on the rel. .tors
to show title to the Offices in themselves be-
fore they could inquire into the title of the
respondents
Second-That the prospective provisions of
valid for the reason, If no other, that they
are not expressed in the title of the act.
Third-The trustees of corporation, wheth-
er de jure or only de facto officers, are mere
agert3 of the corporation and have no au-
thority to amend the articles Of incorpora-
ton.
Fourth-The usage or custom of the ICON
ference to elect the trustees of the cor
poraton, although acquiesced in by the orig
inal incorporators for twenty years did not
have the effect of admitting to membership
either the members of the conference or all
the members of the congregations belonging
to the conference.
Neither the curative act of 1877 nor the
general curative acts of 1881. or subsequent
years (G. S. 1894. sections 3402 to 3405) had
continuance of the usage or custom OF elect
ing trustees of the corporation by the con
ference"
Order reversed and cause remanded,
with directions to the court below to quash
the information Mitchell, ].