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Michigan has by law provided for the Michigan State Agricultural Society, and prescribed, among other things, that any competitors for premiums shall give full data as to soil, manures used, results obtained, etc.; and that to each county society shall annually be given the result of a special tax upon all property in the county, provided the society raises $100 or more, the whole to be expended in award of premiums, and the diffusion of information specially relating to agricultural pursuits. Such agricultural societies may hold property, not to exceed in value specified amounts for county, city, town, or village societies, which shall be exempt from taxation.

Minnesota, by general law, gives to agricultural societies power to become corporations, and specially provides for the formation of State and county agricultural societies,2 but accords no special privileges.

Missouri has a State Board of Agriculture; also county agricultural societies. The County Court may, by order, donate of the funds of the county $150 per year to such county societies, to be used in award of premiums, etc.

§ 11. Laws in certain States concerning agricultural societies. In New York, by statute, local agricultural societies may be formed, with corporate powers and police regula tions to govern their exhibitions. Any person who chooses to pay annually to the society not less than fifty cents, or more than one dollar, can become a stockholder, with all rights and privileges as such; and any person who pays ten dollars becomes a life member. The lands of such societies are exempt from taxation, and upon such associations is imposed the duty of obtaining and disseminating useful information on topics germain to agriculture.

Whenever a county society shall have raised, for the purposes of its organization, any sum of money not exceeding the amount under the general provision to which such society is limited, such amount so raised by the society is to be duplicated by the State.5

1 Compiled Laws of Michigan, 1871, p. 705, et seq.

2 Stats. at Large of Minnesota, Vol. 1, p. 452; Ibid, 466.

3 Wagner's Stats. of Missouri, Vol 1, p. 126, et seq.

4 Genl. Stats. N. Y. Vol. 3, p. 761 et seq.

Ibid, p. 760 et seq.

Similar provisions, so far as general characteristics go, are made for societies for improving the breed of horses, etc. Subsequent statutes make detailed applications of these laws.1

Ohio has made provision in this behalf, so that county or district agricultural societies shall have, from the respective counties, to them donated an amount equaling such sums as the societies may raise by contribution, donations, or fees exacted: provided, that, to raise by taxation such amount to be donated, the property in the respective counties shall not be assessed, shall not exceed half a cent to each inhabitant, and the total amount not to exceed annually two hundred dollars.

The several societies must annually offer and award premiums for the improvement of soils, tillage, crops, manures, etc., in such manner that small as well as large farmers may compete therefor. The county commissioners of the several counties are authorized to aid local agricultural societies in purchase of appropriate real property.

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In Tennessee, an "Agricultural Bureau" of the State government exists, composed of the governor, and six members appointed by the governor, and one delegate from each county agricultural society.

The county societies in each "grand division" of the State are to hold fairs, award premiums, etc.; and to each of the three grand divisions, viz., the eastern, middle, and western division, is donated annually one thousand dollars, and to each county society is awarded annually two hundred dollars.

Wisconsin has a State Agricultural Society, which is, under the law, a corporation. County societies are also provided for, with corporate powers, and the usual privileges as to conduct of all exhibitions, fairs, etc.; the State donates annually to each of the county societies one hundred dollars, and in addition thereto the board of county supervisors of each county may annually cause to be levied a tax sufficient to raise a fund of four hundred dollars, which is also to be donated to the local county agricultural society, to be used in conjunction with

1 Vol. 3, Stats. at Large, N. Y. pp. 761, 763, 765, 426, 733, 757, 759, 767, 768, 770, 771; Vol. 6, Stats. at Large, N. Y. p. 455; Vol. 7, Ibid, pp. 427, 457, 197. 2 Revised Stats. Ohio, Vol. 1, p. 61 et seq.

8 Code of Tenn. p. 127 et seq.

funds donated, raised by subscriptions, and fees in award of premiums, etc.1

§ 12. Summary of legislation for agricultural societies. -The foregoing is a fair exhibit of the statute laws which create and govern agricultural societies in the United States. In each State and Territory some recognition is accorded to this class of corporations; they are treated distinctively as a specially favored class, and no other class of associations has, by the several legislatures, been treated with more marked consideration.

These societies are private corporations; as such, are competent to hold property and sue and be sued in the several Courts; they are, however, unlike most corporate bodies, not organized with a view to their own enrichment, but for the public good. To them, corporate powers are given, not to be exercised in a manner most likely to advance the interests of the members of the society alone, or of them in their united character, but that, receiving public aid, their acts may encourage an industry upon which the well-being of the State largely depends.

§ 13. Police powers have been delegated to agricultural societies because of their quasi-public character; to them have been given, by the statutes of several States, some of the attributes and powers of a branch of the Government. Thus, to them is now allowed, on occasions of exhibitions and fairs, police powers to guard against disturbance and to enforce their rules; they may license or prevent minor exhibitions, shows, entertainments, etc., sell booths, and, for the time being, enjoy an existence apart from the body of the county in this respect. But, although the recipients of especial powers in this connection, it must not be supposed that these bodies are beyond the pale of the general law, or are shielded in any infringement thereof.

The powers conferred on them are statutory and exceptional; they must be exercised only within the limits and to the extent allowed by statute; and any abuse or excess in the use of such

1 Stats. of Wisconsin, Vol. 1, p. 1065 et seq.

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powers creates a liability against the corporation, which the law will enforce. Thus, in Commonwealth v. Ruggles,1 there was a trial in which it appeared that at the time of the assault and battery alleged, and which was the gravamen of the action, the officers of the special police of an agricultural society, at a fair, were clearing the streets of the town from a crowd of persons for an exhibition of the trotting of horses; the highway was within the limits fixed by the officers of the society for the purpose of said exhibition. The Court held that the officers of an agricultural society have no authority to fix and define bounds within which no one can be permitted to enter, except in conformity with the regulations prescribed by them, for the purpose of exhibiting horses, or establishing a race-course or trotting-ground. The power conferred on them is a statutory one, and it must be exercised within the exact limits prescribed by law; and they have no right to include a highway within the bounds set apart by them for their exhibition, so as to obstruct the public travel thereon. It is not a proper answer for them to say that there was sufficient room for public travel on the highway outside of the limits included within their lines. They had no authority to exclude public travel from any portion of the way.

§ 14. Agricultural societies subject to general laws affecting corporations.—In accepting the benefits of a corporate existence, agricultural societies assume the responsibilities of corporate bodies; they may sue and be sued, and generally must exercise vigilance to avoid the dangers of their position rather than rely upon immunity because of their quasi-public character. Only by proper provision for exhibitions, guarding against danger of accidents, and care in the matter of the business which, as a body, the society has in hand, can such immunity be obtained.

In the case of Brown and Wife v. South Ken. Agricultural Society, the plaintiffs brought an action to recover damages alleged to have been sustained by the female plaintiff by the giving way and falling of a portion of a building which was owned and used by defendants upon their fair grounds.

On the defense, it was urged that the society was but a quasicorporation, such as counties, towns, and the like, against which no action will lie unless expressly given by statute, and that such associations were only in name corporations.

The Court held that if a natural person, on his own account, had erected such a building wherein to exhibit productions of nature or art, and an injury had thus been sustained, the common law would have afforded an ample remedy. That such a society as the defendant is not in the line of "hundreds," "counties," or "towns," a quasi-corporation only, but is more properly to be regarded as an aggregate corporation, which, as defined, consists of several persons united in one society, and they are liable for negligence, or lack of that ordinary care which the law imposes, and judgment was given to plaintiffs for the personal damages sustained by Mrs. Brown.