Free Church

Free Church, Seats, Lease

From the book The Clergyman’s Hand-book of Law, about Free Church, Seats, Lease (1): The trustees of a free church may assign seats and forcibly remove one from a seat without authority.454 Where a pew is real estate, a pewholder may acquire the right to it by prescription in the usual way.455 Where pews are not rented and the members support the church by voluntary subscriptions, they have equal right to the occupancy of the pews. But where the church builds the pews and rents them, a man paying rent for a pew holds it under lease in the nature of a lease to real estate. However, he does not obtain all the rights of a lessee of land, and in many cases a rule of the church governs the holding of pews, which will be observed by the State courts.456

Resources

Notes and References

1. Charles M. Scanlan, The Clergyman’s Hand-book of Law. The Law of Church and Grave (1909), Benziger Brothers, New York, Cincinnati, Chicago

See Also

• Religion
• Church