eleemosynary corporation

English

Noun

eleemosynary corporation (plural eleemosynary corporations)

A corporation dedicated to charity.
- 1765, William Blackstone, “Of Corporations”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book I (Of the Rights of Persons), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 469:
  As to eleemoſynary corporations, by the dotation the founder and his heirs are of common right the legal viſitors, to ſee that that property is rightly employed, which would otherwiſe have deſcended to the viſitor himſelf: […]
- 1822 September, United States Law Journal, volume I, number 2, New Haven, C.T.: Gray & Hewit, →OCLC, page 298:
  An eleemosynary corporation is one that is constituted for the perpetual distribution of the free alms or bounty of the founder, to such persons as he has directed: as hospitals for the maintenance of the poor, sick and impotent.
- 1911, Lottie E. Jones, History of Vermilion County, Illinois: A Tale of Its Evolution, Settlement, and Progress for Nearly a Century, volume I, Chicago, I.L.: Pioneer Publishing Company, page 318:
  The longest drawn out, and one of the most interesting litigations arising in this county, was a suit involving the right of an eleemosynary corporation to rent for profit the corporate property, after the corporation had ceased to do business under its charter.
- 2012, Jill E. Martin, Modern Equity, nineteenth edition, London: Sweet & Maxwell, →ISBN, page 496:
  In the case of eleemosynary corporations, the founder may appoint a visitor. If none is appointed, the founder (or his heirs) is the visitor by operation of law.

References

“eleemosynary corporation”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.