43 Neb. 184 | Neb. | 1895
This is an appeal from the district court of Otoe county-The appellants, by their petition in the said court, alleged
Lest we should be misunderstood it is proper at this juncture to state that we recognize the difficulties which might surround this case under certain conditions. Mr. Ebright’s authority is alleged to have been derived from that of the board of public lands and buildings. The rules and regulations of the institution under consideration depend for their validity upon the powers possessed by Mr. Ebright and the board which appointed him. If the petition had been framed on the theory that neither the board of public lands and buildings nor its appointee had authority to adopt rules and regulations for the government of the institution for the blind, and that its management was not subject to their control, questions would have been presented which by the allegations and admissions of ap
In the case of State v. Bacon, 6 Neb., 286, the main question which now confronts us was stated as the second essential proposition to be determined under the pleadings and the evidence in this language: “Does the institution for the education of blind persons come within the exception of section 19, article 5, of the constitution?” The essential facts stated in the case just cited were that under the provisions of the act whereby was established the institution with which we have now to deal the board of public lands and buildings assumed control and had removed the respondent from his position as principal of said institution. By mandamus this board, as relator, sought to compel defendant, the deposed principal, to deliver up the books, records, furniture, and papers in his possession belonging to said institution. The first question involved, as stated in the opinion delivered by Gantt, J., was this: “Has the state board of public lands and buildings the power to appoint and remove officers of state institutions properly under their supervision and control ? ” There was a concurrence of all the judges of this court in denying the right to remove, and this was a negative of such a right of removal, even by officers properly under the supervision and control of said board. From this predicate the denial of the writ of mandamus prayed necessarily followed, and, therefore, there existed no need for the discussion of the second proposition. It was nevertheless discussed, Gantt, J., maintaining the affirmative and Maxwell, J., and Lake, C. J., sustaining
In the act creating this institution there was no reference' by name to an asylum, the designation is always an institution. It therefore would seem that there was attached to the word “asylum” too much importance in all the-opinions filed in State v. Bacon, supra. It is true that in the act approved February 13, 1877 (Sessiou Laws, 1877,
“ Sec. 8. The object of said institution shall be to promote the intellectual, physical, and moral culture of the deaf and dumb by a judicious and well adapted course of instruction, that they may be reclaimed from their lonely and cheerless condition, restored to society, and fitted for the discharge of the duties of life.”
This institution, whose object is thus defined with respect to the deaf and dumb of Nebraska, might perhaps be considered as falling within the fourth definition of the word “asylum ” as given in the Century Dictionary, to-wit: “An institution for receiving, maintaining, and, so far as possible, ameliorating the condition of persons suffering from bodily defects, mental maladies, or other misfortunes, as an asylum for the blind, for the deaf and dumb, for the insane, etc., a Magdalen asylum.” These considerations illustrate the danger of attempting to define the status of an institution by resort only to a term by which it at times has been loosely designated.
In the opinions filed in State v. Bacon, supra, the word “ asylum” was applied to the institution for the blind, notwithstanding the fact that by the legislature no such descriptive term had been used in the act which provided for its creation and maintenance. By the act approved February 13, 1877, the legislature in its enumeration of the subjects of the powers and duties of the board of public lands and buildings included the asylum for the deaf and dumb and grounds, and the asylum for the blind and grounds. This court in Re Board of Public Lands and Buildings, 18 Neb., 340, held that the board just referred to had no power under said act to appoint or remove officers of state institutions, that power, by the adoption of
Affirmed.