Scottish Court of Session Decisions

By disposition dated 10th May and recorded in the register of sasines 30th June 1882, Miss Mary Reid, on the narrative that

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her brother, John Reid, surgeon, had bequeathed to her his whole estate and effects, and that she had resolved, for the purpose “not only of perpetuating his memory, but also of assisting students in the sciences and practice of medicine,” to found a prize or bursary, disponed certain heritable subjects to William Tennant Gairdner, Professor of Practice of Medicine in the University of Glasgow, and his successor from time to time in saidchair, and to certain other persons, as trustees, declaring that the annual feu-duty of £26, 7s. 7d. payable from said subjects should be applied for the following purposes, viz.—(First) For payment of the expenses of the trust; “(Second) For the foundation of a prize or bursary to be called the John Reid prize, of the annual value of £25 or thereby; and it is hereby provided and declared that the competition for the said prize shall only be open to students in the sciences and practice of medicine of not less than two years standing, and who must have attended at least one course of instruction on four of the following subjects, viz., medicine, clinical medicine, surgery, clinical surgery, materia medica, physiology, or pathology, given either by a professor of the University of Glasgow or by a teacher of one or more of these several subjects in one of the medical schools of Glasgow, such course of instruction having been received in whole or in part within two years of competing for the said prize or bursary; and it is further hereby provided and declared that the said prize shall be awarded for the best original research relating to the sciences and practice of medicine, or some recognised division thereof, conducted in one of the hospitals or scientific laboratories in Glasgow; and that the said prize or bursary shall be held for not more than three years by any one holder thereof, but the said trustees and their foresaids shall have the power and liberty of awarding the same for one year or more, according to their estimate of the value of the work done, of which they shall be examiners and sole judges.”

This petition was presented by the trustees in 1893. They stated that owing to the existing arrangements for the medical curriculum in the various medical schools, and the early stage in their medical education at which the students were at present eligible to compete, the prize had not so far been useful for the object for which it had been founded, and the intention of the founder had been to a great extent defeated; and that since the institution of the prize in 1882 they had only seen it to be their duty to award it on five occasions. They proposed that the clause in the disposition should be amended so that the prize should be rendered open not only to students, but also to qualified medical men of not more than two years' standing, who should have attended at least one course of instruction in four of the subjects specified by the truster.

The petitioners accordingly craved the Court to authorise them to admit to competition for the prize the persons described in the amended clause, and to administer the prize as proposed in the amended clause.

The Court remitted to Mr Maconochie, advocate, to inquire and report. In his report Mr Maconochie stated that in his view the primary object of the truster's intention was to benefit students during their curriculum; that the proposed change would practically result in ousting students from any chance of winning the prize; and that, accordingly, in his opinion it involved not merely a change in the administration, but an alteration in the fundamental objects of the endowment. On these grounds he reported against the alteration proposed by the petitioners.

At the discussion on the report, the petitioners argued that the term “students” might include qualified medical men who were not in practice, but were still devoting themselves to the study of medicine, and from remarks which fell from the bench in the course of the discussion this view seemed to find some favour with the Court.

Mr Maconochie subsequently, by direction of the Court, communicated with the petititioners with reference to the views expressed by the Court on the petition and report, and thereafter made an additional report in which he stated that the petitioners had agreed to modify their original proposal in a way which, in his opinion, would ensure that only bona fide students would be admitted to compete for the prize. The amended clause now proposed was in these terms:—“(Second) For the foundation of a prize or bursary, to be called the ‘John Reid Prize,’ of the annual value of twenty-five pounds or thereby; and it is hereby provided and declared that the competition for the said prize shall be open to the students in the sciences and practice of medicine of not less than two years’ standing, and who must have attended at least one course of instruction on four of the following subjects, viz., medicine, clinical medicine, surgery, clinical surgery, materia medica, physiology, pathology, given either by a professor of the University of Glasgow, or by a qualified teacher of one or more of these several subjects in one of the recognised medical schools of Glasgow, and to qualified medical men of not more than two years’ standing who have taken such course of instruction in the University of Glasgow, or in one of the medical schools of Glasgow as aforesaid, and who can show evidence that they are still attached to the University of Glasgow, or to one of the medical schools of Glasgow, as bona fide students not engaged in practice, and who shall undertake to give up the prize in the event of their entering upon practice before the expiry of the term for which it has been awarded; such course of instruction having been received in whole or in part within three years of competing for the said prize or bursary: And it is further hereby provided and declared that the said prize shall be awarded for the best original research relating to the sciences and practice of medicine, or some recognised division thereof conducted in one of the hospitals or scientific laboratories

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in Glasgow; and that the said prize or bursary shall be held for not more than three years by any one holder thereof, but the said trustees and their foresaids shall have the power and liberty of awarding the same for one year or more according to their estimate of the value of the work done, of which they shall be examiners and sole judges.”

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