confirmation of lands, for the purposes of moral and religious
instruction, could no more be rescinded than other grants. The nature of
the use was not holden to make any difference. A grant to a parish or
church, for the purposes which have been mentioned, cannot be
distinguished, in respect to the title it confers, from a grant to a
college for the promotion of piety and learning. To the same purpose may
be cited the case of _Pawlett v. Clark_. The State of Vermont, by
statute, in 1794, granted to the respective towns in that State certain
glebe lands lying within those towns for the sole use and support of
religious worship. In 1799, an act was passed to repeal the act of 1794;
but this court declared, that the act of 1794, "so far as it granted the
glebes to the towns, could not afterwards be repealed by the
legislature, so as to divest the rights of the towns under the
grant."[35]

It will be for the other side to show that the nature of the use decides
the question whether the legislature has power to resume its grants. It
will be for those who maintain such a doctrine to show the principles
and cases upon which it rests. It will be for them also to fix the
limits and boundaries of their doctrine, and to show what are and what
are not such uses as to give the legislature this power of resumption
and revocation. And to furnish an answer to the cases cited, it will be
for them further to show that a grant for the use and support of
religious worship stands on other ground than a grant for the promotion
of piety and learning.

I hope enough has been said to show that the trustees possessed vested
liberties, privileges, and immunities, under this charter; and that such
liberties, privileges, and immunities, being once lawfully obtained and
vested, are as inviolable as any vested rights of property whatever.
Rights to do certain acts, such, for instance, as the visitation and
superintendence of a college and the appointment of its officers, may
surely be vested rights, to all legal intents, as completely as the
right to possess property. A late learned judge of this court has said,
"When I say that a _right_ is vested in a citizen, I mean that he has
the power to do _certain actions_, or to possess _certain things_,
according to the law of the land."[36]

If such be the true nature of the plaintiffs' interests under this
charter, what are the articles in the New Hampshire Bill of Rights which
these acts infringe?