Case Name: The People ex rel. John P. Wilson, App'lt, v. Medical Society of the County of Dutchess, Resp't
Court: New York Supreme Court, General Term
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1895-02-11
Citations: 65 N.Y. St. Rep. 544
Docket Number: 
Parties: The People ex rel. John P. Wilson, App’lt, v. Medical Society of the County of Dutchess, Resp’t.
Judges: 
Reporter: New York State Reporter
Volume: 65
Pages: 544–545

Head Matter:
The People ex rel. John P. Wilson, App’lt, v. Medical Society of the County of Dutchess, Resp’t.
(Supreme Court, General Term, Second Department,
Filed February 11, 1895.)
1. Certiorari—Member or association.
Certiorari will not lie to review the action of a corporation in expelling or suspending a member.
% Associations—Expulsion—Resort to court.
An expelled member of a county medical society must seek redress by an appeal to the State Medical Society before resorting to the courts.
Certiorari to review the action of the medical society of the county of Dutchess in suspending the relator from membership.
Wood & Morschauser, for relator; F. B. Town, for resp’t.

Opinion:
Cullen, J.
This a certiorari to review the action of the respondent, which suspended the relator from membership for one year. We are met at the threshold of the case by the objection that certiorari will not lie. The action of a corporation in removing or suspending a member is doubtless, in one sense, judicial or quasi judicial. But we know of no authority for the proposition that the act of expulsion is to be treated as a judgment of a legal tribunal, to be reviewed, as such by a certiorari. There are many cases where members have been expelled from corporations, but the remedy taken has always been mandamus or action. Ang. & A. Corp. § 704; People ex rel. Deverell v. Musical M. P. Union, 118 N. Y. 101; 27 St. Rep. 963 ; Loubat v. Le Roy, 40 Hun, 546. This is also true of amotion from medical societies. People ex rel. Gray v. Medical Society of Erie Co., 24 Barb. 570, and People ex rel. Bartlett v. Medical Society of Erie Co., 32 N. Y. 187, were eases of mandamus. I can tina no reported case where certiorari had been issued to review the action of a corporation expelling or suspending a member. The nearest approach to it is an old case (Groenvelt v. Burwell, 1 Ld. Raym. 454), where it was held that certiorari would lie to review the action of medical censors in disciplining the plaintiff. The censors seem to have been granted, some special statutory power, and under it they fined the relator, and committed him to jail. That certainly partook of the nature of a legal judgment. The power of a motion exists in corporations of the character of this respondent. The power must doubtless be exercised according to the by-laws of a corporation and the rules of natural justice, and the grounds for such action must be reasonable and lawful. The member proceeded against must have a fair hearing But there is no power in the corporation to take legal testimony, nor are any particular formalities to be observed other than those required by the by-laws of a corporation. Such proceedings can hardly have sufficient semblance of judicial form, or present a sufficient record, for the courts to review'on certiorari. A further objection to the issue of the writ is that the relator is given by statute (chapter 445, Laws 1866) an appeal to the Medical Society of the state of New York. The relator should have invoked such an appeal for redress, before resorting' to the courts. Thomas v. Musical M. P. Union, 121 N. Y. 45; 30 St. Rep. 563. The writ should be quashed, with $10 costs and disbursements.
All concur.