Suit

Sect, Suit, Property

From the book The Clergyman’s Hand-book of Law, about Sect, Suit, Property (1): A number of people formed a congregation and became incorporated in 1810, the members being mostly of Presbyterian extraction. This independent congregation bought and paid for property, the title vesting in the corporation. In 1811 the congregation passed resolutions unanimously that it “would be imprudent and unscriptural” to establish a new religious sect, and voted to join the First Reformed Dutch Church, which had an organization of inferior and superior authority. The congregation was received into and became a part of the general organization, and remained so until 1860, when a majority of the congregation voted to employ a Methodist minister, and when his name was submitted to the superior authority, the “classis,” he was rejected as not belonging to the church. Then by a majority vote, the congregation seceded and assumed its first name, and thereafter brought suit for the church property. The court held that by joining the First Reformed Dutch Church, the title of the property vested in the congregation of that church as represented by its corporation, and that when the majority seceded and left the church, they had no right nor title to any of the property. And the court laid down the general rule that a majority of a church congregation may direct and control any church matters consistently with the particular and general laws of the organization or denomination to which it belongs, but not in violation of them.174

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