MHS Resources: Act of Incorporation 1879

An Act to incorporate the Historical and Scientific Society of Manitoba. Assented to 25th June, 1879.

WHEREAS the persons hereinafter named have formed themselves into a Society and have petitioned for an Act of Incorporation for such Society therefore,

HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, enacts as follows:

Body Corporate

1. The Hon. E. B. Wood, William Cowan, M. D., Alexander McArthur, Rev. Professor George Bryce, Alexander Begg, S. R. Parsons, Rev. Canon John Grisdale, Donald Codd, A. H. Whitcher, James H. Rowan, E. W. Jarvis, John F. Bain, James Stewart, the Hon. John Norquay and the Hon. Joseph Royal, and all other person or persons as are now or shall from time to time become members of the said Society shall be united into a Society and shall be one body corporate and politic, by the name of The Historical and Scientific Society of Manitoba, and by that name shall have perpetual succession and a common seal with power to break and alter the same, and by that name to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded in all courts whatsoever, and to hold any estate, real or personal, or mixed, and the same to grant, sell, lease, mortgage, or otherwise dispose of, for the use and benefit of the said Society, and to receive, by request, donation or purchase, property, real or personal, and shall hold the same in perpetuity as a sacred trust for the use and purposes of the said Society; Provided always, that no member of said Society shall be in any way liable or chargeable with the payment of any debt or demand due by the said Society beyond the extent of the entrance fee and the annual subscriptions remaining unpaid by the said member.

Society may make by-laws, etc.

2. The said Society shall have power to make a constitution, by-laws, rules regulations, not being contrary to law or the provisions of this Act.

Objects of the Society

3. The object of said Society shall be the collection and preservation of publications, manuscripts, antiquities, curiosities, specimens of natural history and the formation of a library and museum; Provided that in the first place and chiefly such publications, manuscripts, specimens and other objects collected and preserved shall pertain to the social, political and natural history of America.

4. The affairs of the said Society shall be managed personally by Executive Council shall be composed of the following nine persons, namely: Rev. Canon Grisdale, Donald Codd, A. H. Whitcher, James H. Rowan, E. W. Jarvis, John F. Bain, James Stewart, Hon. John Norquay, Hon. Joseph Royal, and the following persons who shall be the provisional officers and ex-officio members of the Executive Council, namely: Hon. Chief Justice Wood, President; Wm. Cowan, M. D., First Vice-President; Alex. McArthur, Second Vice-President; Rev. Prof. Bryce, Corresponding Secretary; Alex. Begg, Recording Secretary; S. R. Parsons, Treasurer; and the said Executive Council and the said officers shall be the Executive Council and officers respectively of the said Society until an election of a new Executive Council and officers shall take place according to the constitution of the said Society, at the annual meeting of said Society to be held on the second Tuesday in February which will be in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty, and until their successors shall have been elected; and thereafter, on the second Tuesday in February in each year, the annual meeting of the said Society shall be held, at which the annual election of the said Executive Council and officers respectively shall take place in accordance with the constitution of the said Society.

Provided that the number of the Executive Council may, by amendment of its constitution made at an annual or general meeting called for that purpose, be increased or diminished, and provided further that the constitution of the said Society may in any respect be amended at any such meeting as aforesaid.

Page revised: 24 January 2010