Appendix 1 – The Dalhousie Act of 1863

26 Victoria, chap. 24, 1863. An Act for the regulation and support of Dalhousie College.

Whereas it is expedient to extend the basis on which the said College is established, and to alter the constitution thereof, so as the benefits that may be fairly expected from its invested capital, and its central position may, if possible, be realized, and the design of its original founders as nearly as may be carried out.

Be it enacted by the Governor, Council, and Assembly, as follows:

1. The Board of Governors now appointed, consisting of the Honorable William Young, the Honorable Joseph Howe, Charles Tupper, S. Leonard Shannon, John W. Ritchie, and James F. Avery, Esquires, shall be a body politic and corporate, by the name and style of the Governors of Dalhousie College at Halifax, and shall have and exercise all usual powers and authorities as such, and have the title, control and disposition of the building on the Parade at Halifax and of the property and funds belonging to the said College, and held for the use thereof by the present Governors; and all vacancies at the Board shall be filled up on recommendation of the remaining members thereof by the Governor in Council, and any of the Governors shall be removable by the Governor in Council, at the instance of the Board of Governors.
2. Whenever any body of Christians of any religious persuasion whatsoever shall satisfy the board that they are in a condition to endow and support one or more chairs or professorships in the said College, for any branch of literature or science, approved of by the Board, such body in making such endowment to the extent of twelve hundred dollars a year, shall have a right from time to time, for every chair endowed, to nominate a Governor to take his seat at the Board, with the approval of the Board of Governors and of the Governor in Council, and shall also have a right, from time to time, to nominate a Professor for such chair, subject to the approval of the Board of Governors; and in the event of the death, removal or resignation of any person nominated under this section, the body nominating shall have power to supply the vacancy thus created.
3. The same right of nominating a Professor from time to time shall belong to any individual or number of individuals who shall endow to the same extent and support a chair or professorship, and to the nominee of any testator by whose will a chair or professorship may be so endowed.
4. The Governors shall have power to appoint and to determine the duties and salaries of the President, Professors, Lecturers, Tutors and other officers of the College, and from time to time to make statutes and bye-laws for the regulation and management thereof, and shall assemble together as often as they shall think fit, and upon such notice as to them shall seem meet for the execution of the trust hereby reposed in them.
5. The said College shall be deemed and taken to be a University, with all the usual and necessary privileges of such institutions; and shall have liberty within themselves of performing all scholastic exercises for the conferring of such degrees, and in such manner as shall be directed by the statutes and bye-laws.
6. No religious tests or subscriptions shall be required of the professors, scholars, graduates, students, or officers of the College.
7. The internal regulation of the said College shall be committed to the Senatus Academicus formed by the respective chairs or professorships thereof, subject in all cases to the approval of the Governors.
8. The legislature shall have power from time to time to modify and control the powers conferred by this act.
9. The acts heretofore passed in relation to Dalhousie College are hereby repealed, except the act passed in the fourth year of his late Majesty King George the Fourth, entitled, “An Act authorizing the lending a sum of money to the Governors of Dalhousie College, and for securing the repayment thereof.”