Centre College Charter (December 1824 Amendment)

An ACT for the benefit of the Centre College

Approved, December 27, 1824

WHEREAS, the trustees of the Centre College of Kentucky, have petitioned the present General Assembly, stating that their funds are low, and that they stand in great need of pecuniary aid to sustain said institution, and that they have entered into a written agreement with the body of divines and elders of the Presbyterian Church in Kentucky, whereby they are to receive twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), currency of the United States, for the use of said institution, if said agreement can be ratified, and some small change made in the Acts of Assembly, incorporating said College; and it is deemed expedient to ratify said agreement:

Sec. 1. Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, That said arrangement or agreement be, and the same is hereby ratified; and that so soon as five thousand dollars, part of said twenty thousand, is paid into the treasury of said board of trustees, the chairman of said board of trustees, for the time being, shall acknowledge the receipt thereof on said written agreement, and shall subscribe the same, and shall acknowledge said agreement and receipt before the clerk of the County Court of the County of Mercer, or the Court of Appeals or General Court; and the said agreement in writing and receipt, shall thereupon, by order of such Court, be recorded, and copies thereof attested by the clerk, shall be good evidence in all the Courts in this Commonwealth; and upon the acknowledgment of said agreement as aforesaid, such change and modifications shall take place in the Acts of Assembly incorporating said institution, as by said written agreement is provided: Provided, however, that if there be more trustees than eleven then in office, they may retain their seats, until their number is reduced to eleven, by death, resignation, or otherwise; and such vacancies shall not be filled until such reduction of the number is made.

DEAF AND DUMB ASYLUM

Sec.2. Be it further enacted, That so soon as the aforesaid contract shall be carried into effect, by the payment on the part of the Synod of five thousand dollars to the trustees of said College, they shall pay over to the treasurer of the Kentucky Asylum for the tuition of the Deaf and Dumb, in the notes of the Bank of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, all such sums as the said trustees may have drawn from the Harrodsburg branch Bank, on account of donations by the State to said College.

Sec.3. Be it further enacted, That nothing in said Act contained shall ever be construed or interpreted so as to confer exclusive privileges or corporate powers on the said Synod or trustees, for religious or sectarian purposes; but only as authorizing them to control their own funds in said institution, according to the charter heretofore granted to said College; and no religious denomination whatever shall be excluded from having their children educated therein; but the same shall be conducted as heretofore, upon the most free and liberal principles.

Sec. 4. Be it further enacted, That the Legislature hereby reserve to themselves the right of repealing or amending this Act, in any manner or form, when they may think the public good requires it: Provided, that no repeal or change shall take place in said charter so as to give the Legislature a control over the same or its funds, or divest the said trustees of any donation, bequest or devise, which may then have been vested in said trustees, until they refund to the treasurer of the trustees, the full value of the same, to be then fairly ascertained; and the sum thus refunded, shall thereafter be subject to the disposition of the said Synod.