Religious society

A body of per- v. Higginbotham, 133 Mo. 668, 34 S. W. 875. sons associated together for the purpose of Even where the corporation is defective, maintaining religious worship. In this coun- yet where land has been acquired for the try they are not ecclesiastical corporations in use of a religious society, equity will enforce the English sense, but ordinary private, civil that use no matter where the legal title is corporations, and as such subject to the or- vested or though it be in an individual. dinary civil jurisdiction; Watson v. Jones, 13 So the corporation itself will be compelled Wall. (U. S.) 679, 20 L. Ed. 666; Gram v. by the courts to administer the property up- Prussia Emigrated Evangelical Lutheran Ger- on the trusts attached to it in the grant or man Soc., 36 N. Y. 161; Smith v. Nelson, 18 donation. “The corporation or society are Vt. 511. trustees and can no more divert the property The religious corporation and the church from the use to which it was originally dediare distinct bodies, independent of each oth- cated than any other trustee. If they should er, though one may exist within the other. undertake to divert the funds, equity will When a church and society are united, the raise some other trustee to administer them society commonly- owns the property and and apply them according to the intention of makes the pecuniary contract with the cler- the original donors or subscribers.” Sbars- The effect of church divisions upon such trusts is discussed by Mr. Justice Miller in Watson v. Jones, 13 Wall. (U. S.) 679, 20 L. Ed. 666. He classifies the cases under three heads: (1st.) Was the property in question devoted, by the express terms of the gift, grant, or sale, to the support of any specific religious doctrine, or was it acquired for the general use of the society for religious purposes, with no other limitation? (2d.) Is the society which owned it of strictly congregational form of church government, owing no submission to any organization outside the congregation? (3d.) Or is it one of a number of such societies, united to form a more general body, with ecclesiastical control in the general association over the members and societies of which it is composed? In the first class of cases, the court will, when necessary to protect the trust to which the property has been devoted, inquire into the religious faith or practice of the parties claiming its use or control, and will see that it shall not be diverted from that trust. If the property was acquired in the ordinary way of purchase, or gift, for the use of a religious society, "" the court will inquire who constitute that society, or its legitimate successors, and award to them the use of the property. In case of the independent order of the congregation, this is to be determined by the majority of the society, or by such organization of the society as, by its own rules, constitute its government. In the class of cases in which property has been acquired in the same way by a society which constitutes a subordinate part of a general religious organization with established tribunals for ecclesiastical government, these tribunals must decide all questions of faith, discipline, or ecclesiastical government. In such cases where the right of property in the civil court is dependent on the question of doctrine, discipline, ecclesiastical law, rule, or custom, or church government, and that has been decided by the highest tribunal within the organization to which it has been carried, the civil court will accept that decision as conclusive, and be governed by it in its application to the case before it; Watson v. Jones, 13 Wall. (U. S.) 680, 20 L. Ed. 666; s. c. 11 Am. L. Reg. 430, with a full note by Judge Red field. Where a church is in full connection with a synodical body, those who secede, whether a majority or not, lose all right and privilege to the corporate property, and those who remain hold them; Gable v. Miller, 10 Paige (N. Y.) 627. The majority of a church cannot change its doctrines and still retain the property giv- Smith v. Pedigo, 145 Ind. 361, 33 N. E. 777, 44 N. E. 363, 19 L. R. A. 433, 32 L. R. A. 838; Mack v. Kime, 129 Ga. 1, 58 S. E. 184, 24

A body of persons associated together for the purpose of maintaining religious worship. A church and society are often united in maintaining worship, and in such cases the society commonly owns the property, and makes the pecuniary contract with the minister. But, in many instances, societies exist without a church, and churches without a society. Silsby v. Barlow, 16 Gray (Mass.) 330; Weld v. May, 9 Cush. (Mass.) 188 ; Hebrew Free School Ass'n v. New York, 4 Hun (N. Y.) 449.

Defined under Religious in Black's Law Dictionary.