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P graduated from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathy with the degree of doctor of osteopathy. He served an internship, took the full medical boards in New York, and was given an unqualified license to practice medicine and surgery in that state. P was admitted to practice in Michigan, Florida, and New Jersey. His New Jersey admission by the State Board of Medical Examiners constituted an unrestricted license to practice medicine and surgery within the borders of our State. P is the only licensed physician in Newfield, is the plant physician for a Newfield company engaged in heavy industrial work and for an additional company engaged in the making of glassware, and is the school physician for Newfield's public school as well as for a Catholic School in the same community. P is the only osteopathic physician fully licensed to practice general medicine and surgery in the metropolitan Vineland area which is said to have a population approximating 100,000. In 1961, P sought to file an application for admission to the courtesy staff of D which is located in Vineland about a mile from his home. D was incorporated in 1921, is operated as a general hospital, and is the only hospital in the Vineland metropolitan area. Its certificate of incorporation sets forth the purposes for which it was formed including, first, the care of sick and injured persons residing in Vineland, second, the care of sick and injured persons residing in Vineland, second, the care of sick and injured persons residing in the vicinity of Vineland, and thereafter the care of such 'other sick or injured persons as the facilities of the hospital will permit.' The hospital is a nonprofit corporation and its governing body is a Board of Trustees consisting of not less than 15 members. It solicits and receives funds annually in the form of charitable contributions and has received funds from the Ford Foundation. Several years ago it constructed a new building, the cost being borne almost entirely by public subscription. It receives funds from the City of Vineland for the treatment of indigent patients from within the city, and funds from the County of Cumberland for the treatment of indigent patients from other areas in the county. It receives tax exemptions available to nonprofit corporations operated for charitable and like purposes. D refused to permit P to file any application for admission based on a provision in the hospital bylaws which sets forth that an applicant for membership on the courtesy staff must be a graduate of a medical school approved by the American Medical Association and must be a member of the County Medical Society. The American Medical Association has a pathological hatred for schools of osteopathy. P is not a graduate of a medical school approved by the American Medical Association (AMA). P graduated from an accredited school of osteopathy, that had been approved as in good standing by the New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners, and has long given the full traditional medical course as well as osteopathic teaching. Eventually, the AMA relented and began to accept the likes of P. The Elmer Hospital, which is seven and one-half miles from D, and the Bridgeton Hospital, which is twelve miles from Vineland, have admitted osteopathic physicians to their medical staff without impairment of their accreditation. P was permitted access to D but was not allowed to practice medicine. P was not allowed to access charts or prescribe medicines or treatments for his patients. P sued. D claimed it was a private entity and could do as it pleased. The court ruled for P holding D’s bylaw prohibiting P from becoming part of its courtesy staff invalid. It concluded that the provision in D's bylaws which precluded P from filing an application for membership was contrary to the public policy of the State and it directed D to consider P's application for membership 'in accordance with its remaining valid bylaws.' D appealed.

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