PART III.

LAWS RELATING TO PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

AND

INCORPORATED INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING

OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN.

[ No. 99. ]

AN ACT prescribing the duties of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and to repeal Chapter fifty-six of the Revised Statutes of eighteen hundred and forty-six, and an act to amend said Chapter fifty-six, approved March twenty-ninth, one thousand eight hundred and fifty.

Section 1. The People of the State of Michigan enact, That the Superintendent of Puble Instruction shall have general supervision of public instruction, and it shall be his duty among other things to prepare annually and transmit a report to the Governor, to be transmitted by him to the Legislature at each biennial session thereof, containing:

1. A statement of the condition of the University, and its branches, of all incorporate literary institutions and of the primary schools;

2. Estimates and amounts of expenditures of the school money;

3. Plans for the improvement and management of all educational funds, and for the better organization of the educational system, if in his opinion the same be required;

4. The condition of the Normal school;

5. All such other matters relating to his office and the subject of education generally, as the shall deem expedient to communicate.

SEC. 2. He shall make all necessary abstracts of the reports of school inspectors, transmitted to him by the clerks, and embody so much of the same in his report as may be necessary. SEC. 3. He shall prepare and cause to be printed with the laws relating to primary schools, all necessary forms, regulations and instruments for conducting all proceedings under said laws, and transmit the same, with such instructions relative to the organization and government of such schools and the course of studies to be pursued therein, as he may deem advisable, to the several officers entrusted with their care and management.

SEC. 4. School laws, forms, regulations and instructions shall be printed in pamphlet form, with a proper index, and shall have also annexed thereto a list of such books as the Superintendent shall think best adapted to the use of the primary schools, and a list of books suitable

for township libraries, with such rules as he may think proper for the government of such libraries.

SEC. 5. He shall annually, on receiving notice from the Auditor General of the amounts thereof, apportion the income of the primary school fund among the several townships and cities of the State, in proportion to the number of scholars in each between the age of four and eighteen years, as the same shall appear by the reports of the several township inspectors of primary schools, made to him for the year last closed.

SEC. 6. He shall prepare annually a statement of the amount in the aggregate payable to each county in the State from the income of the primary school fund, and shall deliver the same to the Auditor General, who shall thereupon draw his warrant upon the State Treasure r in favor of each county for the amount payable to such county.

SEC. 7. He shall also send written notices to the clerks of the several counties of the amount in the aggregate to be disbursed in their respective counties, and the amount payable to the townships therein respectively; which notice shall be disposed of as directed by an act entitled an act to amend chapter fifty-eight of the revised statutes of one thousand eight hundred and forty-six, approved March twenty-eighth, one thousand eight hundred and fifty.

SEC. 8. Whenever the returns from any county, township or city, upon which a statement of the amount to be disbursed or paid to any such county, township or city, shall be so far defective as to render it impracticable to ascertain the share of public moneys which ought to be disbursed or paid to such county, township or city, he shall ascertain by the best evidence in his power the facts upon which the ratio of such apportionment shall depend, and shall make the apportionment accordingly.

SEC. 9. Whenever, by accident, mistake, or any other cause, the returns from any county, township or city, upon which a statement of the amount to be disbursed to any such county, township or city, shall not contain the whole number of scholars in such county, township or city, between the age of four and eighteen years, and entitled to draw money from said fund, by which any such county, township or city shall fail to have apportioned to it the amount to which it shall justly be entitled, the Superintendent, on receiving satisfactory proof thereof, shall apportion such deficiency to such county, township or city, in his next annual apportionment; and the conditions of this section shall extend to all cases which accrue in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty.

SEC. 10. Upon all sums paid into the State treasury upon account of the principal of any of the educational funds, except where (other) provision is or shall be made by law, the Treasurer shall compute interest from the time of such payment, or from the time of the last computation of interest thereon, to the first Monday of April in each and every year, and shall give credit therefor to each and every school fund, as the case may be; and such interest shall be paid out of the general fund.

SEC. 11. The Superintendent shall, at the expiration of his term of office, deliver over on demand to his successor, all property, books, documents, maps, records, reports, and all other papers belonging to his office, or which may have been received by him for the use of his of

fice.

SEC. 12. Chapter fifty-six of the revised statutes of one thousand eight hundred and fortysix, and an act to amend said chapter fifty-six, approved March twenty-ninth, one thousand eight hundred and fifty, are hereby repealed.

Approved April 4, 1851.

[ No. 151. ]

AN ACT to provide for the Government of the State University, and to repeal Chapter fifty-seven of the Revised Statutes of eighteen hundred and forty-six.

SECTION 1. The People of the State of Michigan enact, That the institution established in this State, and known as the University of Michigan, is continued under the name and style heretofore used.

SEC. 2. The University shall provide the inhabitants of this State with the means of acquiring a thorough knowledge of the various branches of literature, science and arts.

SBC. 3. The government of the University is vested in the Board of Regents.

SEC. 4. The Board of Regents shall constitute the body corporate, with the right as such of sueing and being szed, of making and using a common seal, and altering the same.

SEC. 5. The Regents shall have power to enact ordinances, by-laws and regulations for the government of the University; to elect a president, to fix, increase and reduce the regular number of professors and tutors, and to appoint the same, and to determine the amount of their salaries.

SEC. 6. They shall have power to remove the president, and any professor or tutor, when the interest of the University shall require it.

SEC 7. They shall have power to appoint a secretary, librarian, treasurer, steward, and such other officers as the interests of the institution may require, who shall hold their offices at the pleasure of the board, and receive such compensation as the board may prescribe.

SEC. 8. The University shall consist of at least three departments:

1. A department of literature, science and the arts.

2. A department of law.

3. A department of medicine.

4. Such other departments may be added as the Regents shall deem necessary and the state of the University fund shall allow.

SEC. 9. The Regents shall provide for the arrangement and selection of a course or courses of study in the University, for such students as may not desire to pursue the usual collegiate course, in the department of literature, science and the arts, embracing the ancient languages, and to provide for the admission of such students without previous examination as to their attainments in said languages, and for granting such certificates at the expiration of such course or term of such students, as may be appropriate to their respective attainments.

SEC. 10. The Regents shall make provision for keeping a set of meteorological tables at the University, after the forms adopted and furnished by the Smithsonian Institution, the record of which shall be transmitted with their report to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, who shall embody the same into his report.

SEC. 11. The immediate government of the several departments shall be entrusted to the president and the respective faculties; but the Regents shall have power to regulate the course of instruction and prescribe, under the advice of the professorships, the books and authorities to be used in the several departments; and also to confer such degrees and grant such diplomas as are usually conferred and granted by other similar institutions.

SEC. 12. The fee of admission to the regular University course in the department of literature, science and the arts, shall not exceed ten dollars, but such course or courses of instruction as may be arranged under the provisions of section nine of this act, shall be open without fee to the citizens of this State.

SEC. 13. The University shall be open to all persons resident of this State, without charge of tuition, under the regulations prescribed by the Regents; and to all other persons under such regulations and restrictions as the board may prescribe.

SEC. 14. The moneys received from such source shall be paid to the treasurer, and so much thereof as shall be necessary for the purpose, shall be expended by the Regents in keeping the University buildings in good condition and repair, and the balance shall be appropriated for the increase of the library.

SEC. 15. The board of Regents shall make an exhibit of the affairs of the University in each year, to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, setting forth the condition of the University and its branches; the amount of receipts and expenditures; the number of professors, tutors and other officers, and the compensation of each; the number of students in the several departments and in the different classes; the books of instruction used; an estimate of the expenses for the ensuing year; a full transcript of the journal of their proceedings for the year; together with such other information and suggestions as they may deem important, or the Superintendent of Public Instruction may require to embody in his report.

SEC. 16. From the increase arising from the interest of the University fund, the board of Regents may erect from time to time, such buildings as are necessary for the uses of the University, on the grounds set apart for the same; but no such buildings shall be erected until provision shall be made for the payment of the existing indebtedness of the University, nor until one branch of the University shall be established in each judicial circuit of the State.

SEC. 17. The board of Regents shall have power to expend so much of the interest arising from the university fund, as may be necessary for the improving and ornamenting the University grounds, for the purchase of philosophical, chemical, meteorological, and other apparatus, and to keep the same in good condition.

SEC. 18. As soon as the income of the University interest fund will admit, it shall be the duty of the board of Regents to organize and establish branches of the University, one at least in each judicial circuit or district of the State, and to establish all needful rules and regulations for the government of the same. They shall not give to any such branch the right of conferring degrees, nor appropriate a sum exceeding fifteen hundred dollars, in any one year, for the support of any such branch.

SEC. 19. The Regents may establish and organize a branch or branches, by the creation of a trusteeship for the local management of the same, or they may, in their discretion select for a branch, under the restrictions aforesaid, any chartered literary institution in the State.

SEC. 20. The meetings of the board may be called in such manner as the Regents shall prescribe; five of them shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, and a less number may adjourn from time to time.

SEC. 21. A board of visitors, to consist of three persons, shall be appointed biennially at the commencement of the collegiate year, by the Superintendent of Public Instruction. It shall be their duty to make a personal examination into the state and condition of the University, in all its departments and branches, once at least in each year, and report the result to the Superintendent, suggesting such improvements as they may deem important; which report shall be embodied into the report of the Superintendent.

SEC. 22. The Regents and Visitors to the University shall each receive pay for the actual and necessary expenses incurred by them in the performance of their duties, which shall be paid out of the University interest fund.

SEC. 23. All orders on the treasurer shall be signed by the secretary, and countersigned by the president.

SEC. 24. Chapter fifty-seven of the revised statutes is hereby repealed.

Approved April 8, 1851.