Opinion ID: 1963790
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: I-A The Legal Framework Which Existed Independently of the Money in Trust and Conditional Gift Statutes

Text: We must, first, examine the common law and statutory framework preceding the enactment of the money . . . in trust and conditional gift statutes to ascertain whether, against such background, these statutes may reasonably be taken as legislatively intended to be the exclusive sources of municipal authority, as of 1903, to receive gifts. [6] It is axiomatic that municipalities derive their powers from the Legislature alone, some by express statutory provision and others as incidents of their incorporation. There is no doubt that a municipal corporation is authorized to hold land, even when disconnected from any public use, since, absent a particular disabling statute, such authority is conceived to inhere in the fact of existence as a body corporate. Libby v. City of Portland, 105 Me. 370, 372-374, 74 A. 805 (1909). See also: Worcester v. Eaton, 13 Mass. 371, 378 (1816). When, however, it becomes necessary for a municipality to expend tax-derived revenues for the purchase, oras required by the instant giftthe maintenance of property, additional constitutional and statutory questions are precipitated.