Court Opinion

ID: 9776051
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 19:17:24.493876+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:33.402097
License: Public Domain

Webb Hubbell, Chief Justice, concurring in part; dissentingin part. In order to reach a just result, the majority modifies Art. 5, § 20 of the Arkansas Constitution. Governmental immunity is generally a product of the common law, having been “derived by implication.” Keifer & Keifer v. R.F.C., 306 U.S. 381 (1939); Monaco v. Mississippi, 292 U.S. 313 (1934). However, immunity in Arkansas is constitutionally mandated by Art. 5, § 20, and cannot be cast aside at the whim of the judiciary. The constitution is “not an enabling, but a restraining act” [Straub v. Gordon, 27 Ark. 625 (1872)], and the duty of the judiciary is to uphold it. Muncrief v. Hall, Secretary of State, 222 Ark. 570, 262 S.W.2d 92 (1953). We could reach the same result by upholding the trial court’s finding that a charitable trust was created by Mrs. Cammack’s bequest. The University Trustees are then additionally trustees of this separate charitable trust, and they act or fail to act not as representatives of the State but as trustees of Mrs. Cammack’s charitable trust. We need not reach governmental immunity. Also, the chancellor cannot impose a reverter to the heirs. State ex. rel. Atty. General v. Van Buren School Dist. No. 42, 191 Ark. 1096, 89 S.W.2d 605 (1936). In the event of the Board’s failure to develop the bequest within a reasonable period of time, the trustees may be removed and new ones appointed to comply with the terms of the charitable trust.