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MCKIM v. ODOM. 417
But however they may have been originated formerly or else-
where, it is certain that they can now only be established here by
the authority of the Legislature. The multitude of bodies politic,
that have been created either by the government of the province
or of the Republic, most of which still subsist, may be considered,
in reference to their objects, as belonging to one or other of three
distinct classes.
The first kind are such as relate merely to the public police;
which, by assuming upon themselves some of the duties of the
state, in a partial or detailed form, and having neither power nor
property for the purposes of personal aggrandizement, can be con-
sidered in no other light than as the auxiliaries of the government
of the Republic; and consequently, as the secondary and deputy
trustees and servants of the people. The right to establish, alter,
or abolish such corporations, seems to be a principle evidently
inherent in the very nature of the institutions themselves; since
all mere municipal regulations must, from the nature of things, be
subject to the absolute control of the government. These institu-
tions being, in their nature, the auxiliaries of the government in the
great business of municipal rule, cannot have the least pretension
to sustain their privileges, or their existence upon any thing like a
contract between them and the government; because there can be
no reciprocity of stipulation; and because their objects and duties
are incompatible with every thing of the nature of such a compact
The power of acquiring and holding property, although almost
always given, is by no means a necessary incident to corporations
of this class; they may be established without any such capacity;
as in the instance of the commissioners for emitting bills of cre-
dit, (f) The preservation of morals, and the administration of
justice are the chief ends for which government has been insti-
tuted; and infancy, insanity, infirmity, and helpless poverty have
an undoubted claim upon the protecting care of the Republic, (g)
Bodies politic of this class having these objects in view, are city
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citizens or corporators have a vote in the election of the officers of the corporation.
Every one here, however, must have observed, that although we have, In this state,
at present, no close corporations so constituted by their charter, there are, neverthe-
less, many instances where so many proxies, of those who alone have a right to
vote, are gathered into a few hands, as, in practice, to make such bodies politic close
corporations, by means of which their then president and directors are continued in
office.
(f) 1769, ch. 14, s. 6.—(g) Montesq. Sp. Laws, b. 23, c. 29.
53 v.3
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