In Hogg v Four Lakes Association, a published Michigan Court of Appeals decision, the court held that the provisions of the General Corporation Act (enacted after the Summer Resort Association Act and, more significantly after the 1963 Constitution was adopted) control over the provisionsn of the Summer Resort Associations Act and allow summer resort association to have perpetual existence rather than an existence limited to 30 years.
The 1908 Constitution limited any corporation to a term of 30 years. The Summer Resort Association Act, passed in 1929, contained a provision limiting association existence to 30 years. The 1963 Constitution eliminated the 30 year limitation. The General Corporation Act, passed in 1968, provided, in pertinent part, that "Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the term of existence of every domestic corporation heretofore incorporated or hereafter incorporating under any law of this state may be perpetual or may be for a limited period of time, as fixed by its articles, or amendment thereto made before the expiration of its corporate term….”
The Court of Appeals found that the later provision of the General Corporation Act was sufficient to abrogate the provision of the earlier-adopted Summer Resort Association Act that limited resort associations to 30 years.
Interestingly, the same issue had been decided by another panel of the court of appeals in 2013, but since that decision was unpublished, this court was not bound to follow it.