In re Certain Scholarship Funds

The mandate of the New Hampshire Constitution that “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by this State on account of race, creed, color, sex or national origin” does not vest the State with the unfettered power to determine how a private individual must dispose of property acquired over his or her lifetime. From the earliest days of our country, Americans have rightly believed that they enjoy a legally protected right to choose the objects of their bounty and to bequeath their property by will, as they see fit. Neither our State nor our Federal Constitution…