University of Utah v. Board of Examiners

In University of Utah v. Board of Examiners, 4 Utah 2d 408, 295 P.2d 348 (Utah 1956) the University was "instituted and incorporated in 1850 by an ordinance of the State of Deseret." Id. at 350. In 1892, just four years prior to statehood, the territorial legislature enacted a new comprehensive statute governing the University and repealed all other laws in conflict with its provisions (the "1892 Act"). The 1892 Act described the University as "a body corporate with perpetual succession" with "all the property, credits, effects and franchises of the existing corporation, subject to all its contracts, obligations and liabilities." Utah Rev. Stat. 2295 (1898). It vested management of the University in a board of regents. Id. Finally, it provided that the University "shall be deemed a public corporation and be subject to the laws of Utah, from time to time enacted, relating to its purposes and government." Id. In Board of Examiners, the Court examined the question of whether "Article X, Section 4 of the Utah Constitution established the University as a constitutional corporation free from the control of the Legislature, administrative bodies, commissions and agencies and officers of the State." 295 P.2d at 349. After an extensive analysis of the constitutional language and historical context of article X, section 4, this court answered the question in the negative. Id. at 371.