ABSTRACT
The Dartmouth College case tested the doctrine through a struggle for control of the college. In Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward, 17 US 518, the US Supreme Court held that the Contracts Clause of the Constitution prevented a state from infringing on the property rights of an institution chartered by the crown. To regain control, the original trustees, who were represented by Daniel Webster, brought an unsuccessful suit in the state courts against the state- appointed trustee. Dartmouth College was chartered to be a "private eleemosynary" institution, and the charter included establishment of a perpetual succession of trustees to act on behalf of the original donors and ensure its private status. The "whole power of governing the college is transferred from trustees appointed according to the will of the founder" to the state, and its will is substituted for that of the donors "in every essential operation of the college."
