Ecclesiastical council
Black's Law Dictionary · Henry Campbell Black, M.A. · 1910
Black's Law Dictionary
In New England. A church court or tribunal, having functions partly judicial and partly advisory, appointed to determine questions relating to church discipline, orthodoxy, standing of ministers, controversies between ministers and their churches, differences and divisions in churches, and tire like.
Steams v. First Parish, 21 Pick. (Mass.) 124; Sheldon v. Congregational Parish, 24 Pick. (Mass.) 281.