People ex rel. Attorney-General v. Dashaway Ass'n

Citations

• 84 Cal. 114
• 24 P. 277
• 1890 Cal. LEXIS 771

Syllabus

<p>Corporations — Forfeiture of Franchise — Quo Warranto. — Corporations are creatures of the law, and when they fail to perform duties which they were incorporated to perform, and in which the public have an interest, or do acts which are not authorized or are forbidden them to do, the state may forfeit their franchises, and dissolve them by an information in the nature of a quo warranto.</p> <p>Id.—Willful Acts and Neglects of Officers — Approval of Corporation. — Upon a public inquiry into the acts or neglects of a corporation, with a view to the forfeiture of its charter, the willful acts and neglects of its officers are regarded as the acts and neglects of the corporation, and will render the corporation liable to a judgment or decree of dissolution, unless it is made to appear that the agent has departed from his duties as prescribed by the corporation, or violated his instructions in the performance of the acts complained of and relied upon as a basis of forfeiture.</p> <p>Id.—Grant of Franchises — Implied Condition — Principle of Forfeiture—Perversion — Usurpation — Public Interest'. — The grant of corporate franchises is always subject to the implied condition that they will not be abused. The principle of forfeiture is, that the franchise is a trust, and the terms of the charter are the conditions of the trust, and if any one of the conditions be violated, it will work a forfeiture of the charter. But to work a forfeiture, the case must either he one of perversion by an act inconsistent with the nature of the grant and destructive of its ends, and which amounts to an injury to the public, who are interested in the 'franchise, or it must he one of usurpation by the exercise of an unauthorized power, regardless of any interest or injury to the public.</p> <p>Id. — Corporation Organized to Promote “ Temperance ” —Perversion of Funds — Injury to Publio—Charitable Use—Uncertainty of Terms — Construction. — An information in the nature of a quo warranto will not