Court Opinion

ID: 9706699
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 01:49:41.891958+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:24.496217
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice KeingbiEE, also dissenting: I wish to express my dissent from the majority opinion, not only as to plaintiff’s standing to maintain this action on its own relation but also as to the substantive decision that sales of markers and memorials by defendant for use in its cemetery are ultra vires. In my opinion the scope to be given to the power to operate a cemetery should not depend upon whether the corporation possesses in addition special privileges not enjoyed by business corporations generally. The majority apparently recognize that as to corporations not in the preferred class of defendant the authority to own and operate a cemetery carries with it the implied or incidental power to sell monuments for installation in that cemetery. But because the defendant corporation possesses certain other and unrelated privileges, it is held that this ordinary rule of construction is not applicable. I fail to see what logical bearing the existence of such additional powers has upon the question of what activities are fairly incidental to a particular business expressly authorized. No doubt a strict construction is to be given the provisions granting special privileges, such as tax exemptions or the right of eminent domain. But the issue here concerns only the ordinary business purpose of operating a cemetery. The determination of whether that purpose fairly includes the furnishing of grave markers or monuments within the cemetery should be made in accordance with the rules of construction commonly applied to such powers. To hold that a given power means one thing when possessed by corporations with special privileges, and another when possessed by ordinary corporations, is to invite confusion and inconsistency into the law. The economic effect of the special privileges is a question with which this court should have no concern, and cannot provide justification for departing from the ordinary rules in construing powers such as the one here involved. Matters of policy are for the legislature rather than the courts. People ex rel. Paxton v. Bloomington Cemetery Assn. 353 Ill. 534, upon which the majority opinion relies to support its conclusion, presented an entirely different factual situation. In that case the issue was whether the powers granted by the charter included the right to prevent the use of any grave boxes or vaults other than those furnished by the cemetery. Manifestly such a claim goes far beyond the mere right to sell monuments to lot owners desiring to purchase from the cemetery rather than from a separate supplier. The holding that a right of exclusive sale is not an incident to the power to operate a cemetery can provide no authority for a similar conclusion as to the mere right to sell to persons voluntarily choosing to purchase from it. I think the judgment of the superior court of Cook County is correct, and should be affirmed.