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Resolution authorising the Governor to institute
proceedings to obtain the opinion of the Judges
of the Court of Appeals in relation to an ap-
propriation made by the Act of seventeen hun-
dred and eighty-four, chapter thirty-seven, to
St. John's College.
Resolved by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That His Excellency, the Governor, be and he is
hereby authorised and required to cause such pro-
ceedings to bo instituted as may be necessary to
obtain the opinion of the Judges of the Court of
Appeals of Maryland, whether the annual appropri-
ation made by the nineteenth section of the act of
seventeen hundred and eighty-four, chapter thir-
ty-seven, of the sum of seventeen hundred and
fifty pounds current money to be applied by the
Visitors and Governor of St. John's College, to
the payment of salaries, &c., constitutes a con-
tract on the part of the State, under all the cir-
cumstances of the case, which could not be legal-
ly repealed by the act of eighteen hundred and
five, chapter eighty-five, by the Legislature of this
State; whether this latter act is not in violation
of the tenth section of the first article of the Con-
stitution of the United States, which declares
"that no State shall pass any law impairing the
obligation of contracts ;" and whether the former
act, with the circumstances of the case constituted
such a contract as would, if entered into between
individual citizens be legally binding upon them;
and that the result of such proceedings be repor-
ted to the Legislature at next session; Provided,
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Assented to
March 10, 1858.
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