power of a special nature, and is confined to the cases described in the acts of Assembly." In the case of the Medical College of Philadelphia, 3 Wharton, 445, the Supreme Court refused to incorporate a medical college with power to grant degrees, no such privilege being conferred by the act of 1791. These principles have controlled the courts since their enunciation and are recognized as the settled law. "In the Duquesne College Charter, 12 Pa. C. C. 491, the Alleghany county court held that the courts having power, by grant of the legislature, to charter colleges, had no power to invest them with the right of conferring degrees. Whether this power passes to and rests in an educational institution by necessary implication, is a mooted question, the right answer to which, it must be admitted, should depend somewhat on the kind of institution that claims the right. If there is a lack of legal authority at present to charter institutions of any kind with power to confer degrees, the necessity is one that appeals for legislative rather than judicial action. Pending the consummation of it, the cause of literature and of scholarship is less likely to suffer from a paucity than from a redundancy of degrees.

"For the purposes of your present inquiry, I advise you that you are not required to grant, without examination, permanent certificates under the act of 1893, except to graduates of colleges "legally empowered" to confer degrees, and the general incorporation of a literary institution under the act of 1874 does not "legally empower" it with the right." 18

Interstate comity.

582. For the purpose of establishing interstate comity in permanent licenses to teach, the superintendent of public instruction of the state of Pennsylvania be, and he is hereby,. authorized to endorse normal school diplomas and permanent certificates granted to teachers in other states in the Union: Provided, That such normal school diplomas or permanent certificates are valid licenses to teach in the states by whose authorities they were issued: And provided fur

18. Certificates to College Graduates, 14 Pa. C. C. 108, 1893.

ther, That such diplomas or certificates be accompanied by recommendations showing the holder to have taught successfully within two years, and such normal school diplomas and permanent certificates, when so endorsed, shall be available for like purpose, and have the same force and effect, as certificates of like grade, for like purpose, by the superintendent of public instruction of this Commonwealth.19

Limitation of the provisions of the act.

583. The provisions of this act shall be extended only to those states which by legislative enactment grant the same privilege to teachers of this Commonwealth. 20

Annulment.

584. The superintendent of public instruction shall have authority to annul such normal school diplomas and permanent certificates, endorsed and validated by himself or predecessors in office, upon complaint duly proven, of incompetence, cruelty, negligence or immorality on the part of the holder thereof."

Duty of teacher to make monthly report.

585. It shall be the duty of every teacher to make out and file with the board of directors or controllers of the district, at the end of each month, a report, setting forth the whole number of pupils attending school during the month, designating whether male or female, the number of days each attended, the books used and branches taught; and until such report shall have been made, it shall not be lawful for the board of directors to pay said teacher for his or her services. The reports made in pursuance of the foregoing provisions shall be regularly filed by the secretary of the board of directors or controllers, and shall at all times. be subject to the inspection of any citizen of the district.22

Power of school directors over teachers.

586. School directors shall have the appointment of all the teachers of common schools in the district, fix the

amount of teachers' salaries, and may dismiss them at any time for incompetency, cruelty, negligence or immorality.23

When teachers' contracts are valid.

587. Mr. Justice Gordon said in part: "By the act of April 11, 1862, teachers can only be selected by the school board, and so specific is this act upon this subject, that it requires the names of the members voting both in the af firmative and negative, to be récorded upon the minutes. This statute is a valuable one, intended to compel the expression of each individual member of the school board on a subject all important in the public education, and this for the very purpose of preventing jobbery, and the exercise of a one-man power, in the conduct of common schools; we are, therefore, not inclined to permit the abrogration of its force and efficiency by a weak construction designed to meet a particular case." 24

In discussing the same statutory provision for the selection of teachers, Mr. Justice Sterrett said in Dyberry School District vs. Mercer, 115 Pa. 564: "They are wise and wholesome provisions intended to correct gross abuses which had gradually crept into the administration of our school system, and hence it is not requiring too much to insist on a substantial compliance with the spirit if not the very letter of the act."

Substantial compliance.

588. The only instance in which a departure from the strict letter of the law has been allowed, are when the minutes show that all the members were present: Tobin vs. Morgan, 70 Pa. 229; or where, less than the whole number being present, the minutes set forth their names Genesee Township vs. McDonald, 98 Pa. 444, and show in each case that the resolution passed unanimously. In the lastmentioned case the conclusion, that there was a substantial compliance with the law, was reached "after a good deal of hesitation." 25

23. Act May 8, 1854, Sec. 23, P. L. 617.

24.

Dennison Township vs. Padden, 89 Pa. 395, 1879. 25. Heisey vs. Risser, 3 Pa. Superior Ct. 196, 1896.

President and secretary cannot make contract.

589. By the act of April 11, 1862, teachers can only be elected by the school board, and so specific is this act, upon this subject, that it requires the names of members voting, both in the affirmative and negative, to be recorded upon the minutes. This is the only manner in which teachers can be selected, and, from the very nature of things, this power cannot be delegated.

This statute is a valuable one, intended to compel the expression of each individual member of the school board on a subject all-important in the public education, and this for the very purpose of preventing jobbery, and the exercise of a one-man power, in the conduct of our common schools; we are, therefore, not inclined to permit the abrogation of its force and efficiency by a weak construction designed to meet a particular case.

Public officers cannot, by contract, or otherwise, make over to private persons, their functions or powers, for these are committed to them for the public welfare and not for private gain. As long as their contracts do not compromise the common good, or tend to defeat the purposes for which they are elected, they may be enforced, but when they pass this line they have no legal efficacy.26

Directors cannot elect teachers by secret ballot.

590. On June 20, 1896, Heisey was elected teacher by secret ballot, the contract was entered into between Heisey and the school board, duly signed by the president and countersigned by the secretary, providing for his employment for the ensuing school term at $40.00 per month. On July 18, 1896, the school directors held another meeting and selected Wolfersberger to the same position who performed the duties as teacher for the said district.

Heisey then filed his petition for a writ of alternative mandamus to compel the directors to reinstate him to the position to which he was elected; and upon a motion to quash, President Judge Rice said in part :

26. School District of Dennison Township vs. Padden, 89 Pa. 395, 1879.

"That no

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.....

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"The act of April 11, 1862, P. L. 472 provides : teacher shall be appointed or dismissed except by the affirmative votes of a majority of the whole.number of the directors or controllers thereof; and the names of the members voting, both in the affirmative and the negative, shall be so entered on the minutes of the board by the secretary." The relator claims that he was elected or chosen a teacher by a majority, but admits that it was by a secret ballot and that the names of the members voting in the affirmative and the negative were not entered on the minutes. Where the directions of a statute are given with a view to the proper, orderly and prompt conduct of business merely, the provision may be regarded as directory. But where the fair interpretation of a statute, which directs acts or proceedings in a certain way, shows that the legislature intended compliance with such provision to be essential to the validity of the act or proceeding, the statute must be regarded as mandatory. Of this latter nature is the statutory provision under consideration. It relates to a power conferred on the directors which concerns the public, and the method of exercising it is prescribed in order that the public may know whom to hold responsible for action which so deeply concerns them.

To hold that it is merely directory, and that the board may at pleasure substitute a secret ballot, and thus make it impossible for the secretary to record the affirmative and negative votes, would defeat the manifest purpose for which it was enacted...... Here there was neither literal nor substantial compliance with the law. Indeed, where the election is, as it was in this case, by secret ballot, the secretary has no means of ascertaining how the members voted, and therefore it is impossible for him to comply with the law by recording the names of the members voting in the affirmative and negative. We are unable to agree with the relator that the failure of the directors to conduct the election and to have the result recorded, as provided by law, does not affect the validity of his appointment and his right to be inducted into the place to which he was chosen. It was incumbent on him to show an appointment to the place