charter.[15] Although the charter proceeds
from the crown or the government, it is considered as the will of the
donor. It is obtained at his request. He imposes it as the rule which is
to prevail in the dispensation of his bounty in all future times. The
king or government which grants the charter is not thereby the founder,
but he who furnishes the funds. The gift of the revenues is the
foundation.[16]

The leading case on this subject is _Phillips v. Bury_.[17] This was an
ejectment brought to recover the rectory-house, &c. of Exeter College in
Oxford. The question was whether the plaintiff or defendant was legal
rector. Exeter College was founded by an individual, and incorporated by
a charter granted by Queen Elizabeth. The controversy turned upon the
power of the visitor, and, in the discussion of the cause, the nature of
college charters and corporations was very fully considered. Lord Holt's
judgment, copied from his own manuscript, is found in 2 Term Reports.
346. The following is an extract:--

"That we may the better apprehend the nature of a visitor, we are
to consider that there are in law two sorts of corporations
aggregate; such as are for public government, and such as are for
private charity. Those that are for the public government of a
town, city, mystery, or the like, being for public advantage, are
to be governed according to the laws of the land. If they make any
particular private laws and constitutions, the validity and justice
of them is examinable in the king's courts. Of these there are no
particular private founders, and consequently no particular
visitor; there are no patrons of these; therefore, if no provision
be in the charter how the succession shall continue, the law
supplieth the defect of that constitution, and saith it shall be by
election; as mayor, aldermen, common council, and the like. But
_private_ and particular corporations for charity, founded and
endowed by private persons, are subject to the private government
of those who erect them; and therefore, if there be no visitor
appointed by the founder, the law appoints the founder and his
heirs to be visitors, who are to act and proceed according to the
particular laws and constitutions assigned them by the founder. It
is now admitted on all hands that the founder is patron, and, as
founder, is visitor, if no particular vis