State v. Maryland Institute

Citations

• 87 Md. 643
• 41 A. 126
• 1898 Md. LEXIS 166

Syllabus

<p>Constitutional Law—Fourteenth Amendment of Constitution of U. S.— Exclusion of Colored Pupil From School Receiving Municipal Aid-—Contract Between School and Municipality.</p> <p>An educational institution, which receives municipal aid but is not a part of the public school syst em, may lawfully exclude colored pupils, and such discrimination is not in conflict with the 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the U. S.</p> <p>The provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution, relating to the equal protection of the law and securing the privileges and immunities of citizens of the U. S., have reference to the action of the State exclusively and not to any action of individuals or of private corporations.</p> <p>The State or a municipality may lawfully grant aid to a private educational institution from which colored pupils are excluded.</p> <p>The municipality of Baltimore made a contract with the Maryland Institute, a private school incorporated for instruction in the mechanical arts, by which the school agreed to give instruction to a certain number of pupils to be nominated by members of the City Council in consideration of a certain annual appropriation. This appropri- ■ ation was renewed by the municipality with full knowledge that colored pupils were not received by the Institute. The petitioner, a colored person, was appointed to a scholarship by a member of the City Council, and upon the refusal of the Institute to receive him applied for a mandamus. Held, that the petitioner was not entitled to be received as a pupil either under the contract between the school and the city or under the privilege clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution.</p>