AN ACT

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INCORPORATE THE LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY,

OF NEW-YORK.

PASSED MARCH 25, 1815.

WHEREAS the members of a Literary and Philosophical Society, instituted in the city of New-York, have petitioned for an act of incorporation, and the Legislature, considering it their duty to encourage all laudable attempts to promote the useful arts, to diffuse knowledge, and to enlighten the human mind: Therefore,

Be it enacted by the people of the state of New-York, represented in Senate and Assembly, That De Witt Clinton, James Kent, David Hosack, John M. Mason, Josiah Ogden Hoffman, Hugh Williamson, Samuel Latham Mitchill, Wright Post, Cadwallader D. Colden, Brockholst Livingston, Thomas Eddy, John Bowden, Peter Wilson, Charles Wilkes, Robert Fulton, Peter Augustus Jay, John H. Hobart, Archibald Bruce, Robert Adrain, William James M‘Neven, Nathaniel Bowen, John C. Osborn, Frederick W. Geisenhaimer, William Johnson, John Pintard, John Anthon, Jacob Van den Heuvel, John W. Francis, Alexander McLeod, Thomas R. Mercein, James S. Stringham, John Griscom, James Renwick, John A. Smith, Lewis Simond, Richard Riker, Thomas Y. How, William Harris, Andrew Ellicott, Jacob Morton, Rufus King, Richard Harison, Samuel Bard, Gouverneur

Morris, Thomas Addis Emmet, John Wells, John Stevens, John R. Murray, Simeon De Witt, Samuel Jones, jun. David B. Ogden, Benjamin De Witt, Samuel F. Jarvis, Gulian C. Verplanck, Samuel Harris, Samuel Akerly, William Sampson, and such other persons as now are, and may from time to time become, members of the said society, shall be, and hereby are, constituted a body coporate and politic by the name of "THE LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF NEW-YORK," and that by that name they shall have perpetual succession, and shall be persons capable of suing and being sued, pleading and being impleaded, answering and being answered unto, defending and being defended in all courts and places whatsoever, and may have a common seal, with power to change or alter the same from time to time, and shall be capable of purchasing, taking, holding, and enjoying, to them and their successors, any real estate in fee-simple or otherwise, and any goods, chattels, and personal estate, and of selling, leasing, or otherwise disposing of the said real and personal estate, or any part thereof, at their will and pleasure; Provided always, that the clear annual value or income of such real and personal estate, shall not exceed the sum of five thousand dollars: Provided, however, that the funds of the said corporation shall be used and appropriated to the promotion of the objects stated in the preamble to this act, and those only.

And be it further enacted, that the said society shall, from time to time, for ever hereafter, have power to make, constitute, ordain, and establish such by-laws and regulations as they shall judge proper for the election of their officers, for prescribing their respective functions, and the mode of discharging the same; for the admission of new members; for the government of the officers and members thereof; for collecting annual contributions from the members toward the funds thereof; for regulating the times and places of meeting of the said society; for suspending

or expelling such members as shall neglect or refuse to comply with the by-laws or regulations; and for the managing and directing the affairs of the said society: Provided such by-laws and regulations be not repugnant to the constitution and laws of this state, or of the United States.

And be it further enacted, that the officers of the said society shall consist of a president, three vice presidents, twelve counsellors, two recording secretaries, two corresponding secretaries, one treasurer, two curators, and such other officers as the society may judge necessary, who shall be annually chosen, and who shall continue in office one year, or until others shall be elected in their stead; that if the annual election shall not be held at any of the days for that purpose appointed, it shall be lawful to make such election at any other day, and that nine members of the said society, of whom the president, or one of the vice presidents, shall be one, assembling at the place and time designated for that purpose by any by-laws or resolutions of the society, shall constitute a legal meeting thereof.

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And be it further enacted, that De Witt Clinton shall be the first sident, James Kent, David Hosack, and John M. Mason, the first vice presidents, Josiah Ogden Hoffman, Brockholst Livingston, Robert Fulton, Robert Adrain, William Johnson, Cadwallader D. Colden, Archibald Bruce, Peter Augustus Jay, John Bowden, Peter Wilson, Wright Post, and William James M'Neven, the first counsellers; Hugh Williamson and Samuel Latham Mitchill, the first corresponding secretaries; Jacob Van den Heuvel and James Renwick, the first recording secretaries; John Pintard and John W. Francis, the first curators; and Thomas Eddy, the first treasurer; who shall hold their respective offices until the second Thursday of January next, and until others shall be chosen in their places.

And be it further enacted, that this act is hereby declared to be a public act, and that the same shall be construed in all courts favourably and benignly, for every beneficial purpose therein intended, and that no misnomer of the said corporation in any deed, gift, grant, demise, or other instrument of contract or conveyance shall vitiate or defeat the same : Provided the corporation shall be sufficiently described to ascertain the intention of the parties.

State of New-York, Secretary's Office. I certify the preceding to be a true copy of an original act of the Legislature of this state on file in this office. March 26, 1814.

ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL,

Deputy Secretary.