124 Franchises, — Corporations. [Ch.VIIL direct clause of incorporation; and yet by virtue of such char- ter, such towns have been uniformly considered as incorpo- rated (a). Nor is it necessary that the charter should expressly confer those powers, without which a collective body of men cannot be a corporation, such as the power of suing and being sued, and to take and grant property; though such powers are in general expressly given (6). A grant of incorjioration to the citizens or burgesses of such a city or borough, especially an old grant, is good, without the words " their successors (c)." A grant of lands to the men or inhabitants of Dale, hcere- dihus et successmibtis suis, rendering rent, makes them a corpo- ration as to these lands {d) : and if the King grant hominibus de Islington to be discharged of toll, this is a good corpora- tion to this intent but not to purchase (e). If the words of the charter be doubtful, they may it seems be explained by con- temporaneous usage (/) : and this, added to the wording of a charter in various respects, may establish a corporation to be a prescriptive corporation, though there be a recent charter containing words of creation only, without words of confir- mation (g). But though it is the province of the Crown to constitute cor- porations, it cannot compel any body to accept its charter. The benefit jnima facie conferred by a grant of incorporation, may be counterbalanced by some conditions with which it is accompanied : and it has therefore become an established rule that the grant must be accepted by the voluntary consent of a majority of those men whom it is intended to incorporate, otherwise the grant will be void {h). A patent procured by some few persons only shall not bind the rest ; nor can a town be incorporated without the consent of the major part of the inhabitants {i) ; nor even then is it compulsory on any one to become a member (Jc). If however a smaller number than a majority of an indefinite part of an existing corporation be sufficient to constitute a lawful assembly for doing corporate (a) Vld. Firm. Burg. c. II. and Ma- (<f) 21 Edw. 4, 59. dox, Hist. ofExch. 402, the Charter of (/) 3 T. R. 279; 288, note. 4 T. Dunwich. R. 421. 4 East, 338. 5 Taunton, 752. (A) Vid. 10 Co. 29, b. See Peak, E. 4th ed. 131. (r) Broirnl. and Goulds. 2nd part, (^) 1 4 F^t, 348. 292. (A) Rol. R. 226. (rf) 21, 24, ^e>, 7 Edw. 4, 3. 2 Hen. (0 2 Brownl. 100. 7,13. Cro. El. 35. (/) 1 T. R. 588. acts
