churches, missionary societies, organizations such as the Y. M. C. A., the Red Cross, the W. C. T. U., the Child Welfare Association, and many others, including the great charitable foundations established by Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Mrs. Sage.

An indefinite or uncertain trust, or a trust without a beneficiary, if for a public or a charitable purpose will be sustained by the courts in most states, and will not be invalid because no trustee or beneficiary has been named. The same is true if there has been some error in defining who shall be the trustee or beneficiary, and it is possible from the context of the instrument or from certain incidents, to reach any conclusion as to whom the creator of the trust had in mind. As a rule, courts of equity will not allow a charitable gift to fail because there is no trustee, but will appoint a trustee to administer it or will do so themselves. The court will also take action of some sort where a trustee named by the creator of the trust is not in existence at the time the trust is effective, or where the trustee is unable or incapable of taking such office, or dies, is removed, or refuses to fill the office.

§ 454. Duration of a Charitable Trust

A trust of this nature is not within the rule applying to perpetuities, that is, with proper provisions it may continue for a period longer than "a life or lives in being and twentyone years. As shown by the definition given, it is further distinguished from an ordinary trust by the fact that there is no specific beneficiary or beneficiaries named. A trust of this kind is called a "public trust," while the usual or ordinary trust is known as a "private trust."

§ 455. Trustees of Charitable Trusts

The person creating the trust may not only appoint the trustee he desires to carry out his trust, but may also set out

the method or manner in which their successors are to be chosen. When this is done, the method must be followed whenever it is at all possible. When this right has not been reserved, it is for the court to appoint the new trustees.

When a trust is created, and the trustee appointed resides in a foreign jurisdiction or country, in case of his death, disability, or refusal to act, the court will assume that the foreign court having jurisdiction of the trustee will appoint a trustee to fill the vacancy.

Where an unincorporated club or association is appointed trustee, the trust will fail because there is no one capable of taking the legal title, and if the court wishes to see the trust carried out, it will have to appoint a trustee itself. Any trustee so appointed by the court, however, must not be one opposed in interest to the beneficiaries of the trust.

Trustees of charitable trusts will be held to the usual duties and will be subject to the usual liabilities of trustees. They will be subject to any limitations or directions set forth in the will or other instrument creating the trust. Apart from this they will probably frame their own rules as to meetings and procedure. These will be supplemented by the usual parliamentary procedure applicable to all action by associated individuals.

§ 456. Trustees for Public Institutions

In every state and in every city there are many public institutions-libraries, hospitals, asylums, schools, and other social activities-the properties and businesses of which are managed and controlled by boards of trustees or managers with the functions of trustees. In such institutions the duties of trustees relate more to the conduct of the institution and the careful expending of its income than to the care of investments and the handling of trust property.

Such trustees are usually appointed, and they should be

men of character and standing in the community. Those most affected by any negligence on the part of these trustees are not usually in a position to complain or to institute any attempt to remedy any wrongs. If the negligence is very excessive, some newspapers may stir up an investigation, otherwise nothing is usually done. A board of trustees of a public institution is apt to be much wedded to routine, and the superintendents and managers who do the actual work usually give reports of the work that are assumed to be correct, and the trustees generally take only such action as is indicated to them.

In some states savings banks are not organized for private profit, and boards of trustees are appointed to manage solely in the interest of the depositors. In such cases they are held to the strict liability of bank directors and are answerable for neglect and lack of business prudence.

§ 457. Educational Institutions

In charitable gifts to educational institutions, the gift is valid even though expressing no specific territorial limit; or the gift may be confined to a certain class or condition of persons, as for example, a gift for educational purposes limited to "Quaker children."

Where the territorial limit to be benefited is stated, but is not absolutely correct or exact as to boundaries, as where a gift is made to a "town" or a "vicinity," if the true meaning of the creator of the trust is apparent, the trust will be carried into effect according to the intention.

The trustees of educational institutions should be men of character, intellect, and culture. Their most important duty will be the selection of the educational head. After that their duty will be to help him carry his policy into effect. Of late years, boards of trustees have in some cases assumed the right to exercise a certain censorship over the teaching staff, and, it is charged, have brought unfair pressure against the expres

sion of opinions on the part of the professors. In some cases the duties of trustees are obscure, as where a man founded a college or endowed a chair to teach something in theology or economics in which he believed profoundly but which has since been discarded by the world of thought. It is then a question whether the trustees shall see that nothing is taught that the founder would have disliked, or whether they shall assume that if he were living he would prefer a more modern and more liberal interpretation of the old doctrines.

§ 458. Unincorporated Associations

A charitable gift to a trustee or trustees for an unincorporated society or club is perfectly valid, even though, as stated above, such an association cannot itself be a trustee. Such a gift will be valid even where the trustee or trustees appointed are the officers or trustees of the society or club which is to be benefited by the creation of the trust.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What organizations and institutions are managed by boards of trustees or directors? What responsibility do these officers assume?

2. How are directors chosen in corporations? Who may vote at corporate elections?

3. How must such boards act? Can directors be removed? What is the usual authority of a board? What is the relation of the director of a corporation to the stockholders?

4. What are included under the term "charitable trust"? In your state, if a testator is indefinite or uncertain as to who is to be the beneficiary or the trustee, what will the courts do?

5. Does the rule against perpetuities apply to property left to a charitable trust?

6. May an unincorporated association act as trustee? What rules govern trustees of charitable trusts?

7. How are libraries, hospitals, and asylums managed? What are the duties of such governing boards? How are savings banks managed in your state?

8. What are the duties of trustees of educational institutions? What kind of men should they be?

9. May an unincorporated association in your state take a bequest of personalty or a devise of land? May a trustee be named in a will to take a devise for it? Who manages the affairs of an unincorporated association?