Repository: UIHistories Project: Booklet - UI Charter of Freedom (1942) [PAGE 46]

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45 these instruments, as indeed they were to the charters of this type of corporation In Illinois of this period had a well known and understood meaning in the history and the common law of England, and must, in the light of accepted rules of interpretation of statutes, be presumed to have been used in the same sense. This historical background of the corporate nature of the University finds judicial expression in the decisions of this Court. In 1896 one Spaulding, the Treasurer of the University, misappropriated some of its securities. He was indicted under a statute of this State making it a felony for any officer of a municipal corporation of this State to appropriate funds to his own use. The indictment charged that the University was a municipal corporation, t h a t Spaulding was an officer thereof, and t h a t he converted its property to his own use. The trial court instructed the jury that the University was a municipal corporation, and Spaulding was found guilty. On appeal it was urged that the instruction given to the jury was erroneous in t h a t the University was not a municipal corporation within this penal statute. It is elemental that penal statutes are strictly construed against the State and liberally construed in favor of the defendant. It was conceded on appeal t h a t the University was a public corporation. The claim was t h a t it was not a municipal corporation. The matter was discussed quite fully in the opinion and numerous authorities cited. (Spalding v. People, 172 111. 40.) In affirming the conviction and holding inconsequential the claimed distinction between a public corporation, such as the University, and a municipal corporation, such as a city, the court said (pp. 49, 50) : "Strictly speaking, the University of Illinois is not a municipal corporation, but it is a public corporation * * * Cities and villages are strictly