39 Pa. Super. 406 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1909
Opinion by
The plaintiff filed a petition for a writ of alternative mandamus to effect his restoration to membership in the defendant body, and after having been heard by the court without a jury, the writ was refused. When the plaintiff was received as a member of the defendant association in May, 1886, it was an unincorporated fraternal and beneficial branch, located in the city of Philadelphia, of the National Council of the Junior Order of the United American Mechanics. This association was divided into a national council, state councils and subordinate bodies, united into a general association by rules, regulations and a code of laws, with defined authority, governing the duties and liabilities of members, and the authority of the several branches into which it is divided. The supreme
The national judiciary was the recognized authority and court of last resort within the order, and before that tribunal, regularly convened, specific charges were preferred against the plaintiff and others, and after due notice and full examination and hearing, at which the plaintiff was present and made defense, he was, in December, 1900, adjudged guilty of neglecting and refusing to obey the laws of the order, and of endeavoring to disrupt it by incendiary addresses and remarks in meetings of the subordinate councils at different places, and publications in newspapers, periodicals and circulars, tending to bring the national council into disrepute. Under the authority specially delegated to the national judiciary, it was decreed that he should be expelled from the order. Subsequent to this decree the plaintiff never requested a new trial or a rehearing, nor did he appeal from the decree of the national judiciary, so that it continued in full force and effect against him from its date. It appears that the national council did not claim the authority to expel directly a member from his subordinate council; but to put into effect the decree, it ordered and directed Aeolian Council, of which he was a member, to adopt the resolution, formally expelling him from membership. For some reason, the subordinate council refused to act in accordance with the decree of the national judiciary's decree, and it became in a state of insubordination to the national council, and severed its relation therefrom. After the subordinate council had been adjudged guilty of certain violations of definite rules of the order it was suspended from all rights and privileges following to it by reason of its relation to the superior body. Subsequently the Aeolian Council was reinstated in the organization, and is now in fraternal affiliation with .the parent body. In the restoration of the subordinate council to the national council the plaintiff was not a party to, nor did he assent to any of the proceedings, under
It is not necessary to trace the proceedings through all their details, the important facts have been found against the plaintiff's contention, and the record shows that instead of yielding allegiance to the national organization, he was not only insubordinate to its decree, but he assumed and continued in an attitude of defiant opposition to the association, with the decree of the national council standing unappealed from. His relation to the national and subordinate councils was dissolved in accordance with the law as laid down by the body for its own government, which determined the relation of a member to the subordinate and superior bodies. He persisted in his insubordination continuously, and he had no property right in the subordinate council or its funds that was not fully and properly determined by the national council. The fact that the defendant council was for a time suspended from the national or state councils, on account of its insubordination, and that its members acquired new rights and privileges by continuing an independent existence is fully answered by the attitude of the defendant council in again becoming identified with the national organization in accordance with the rules governing the major and all the minor branches of the organization, so as to effect a uniform relation of the members. What occurred during the time the defendant council was non-affiliated with the parent body is not material, and when the charter was restored to those enumerated, the name of the plaintiff was excluded on account of the decree of the national judiciary which expelled him, and the defendant council was restored only after his name was dropped from its roll of membership. As was said by the trial judge of the court below: “This plaintiff cannot with justice complain, I think, of his failure to be tried by his own council (while it was in a state of insubordination) because his case had already been adjudicated by the highest courts of
When this appellant became a member of the order, he was bound in duty as well as in honor, to give allegiance to its constitution and by-laws. His trial and conviction was by a tribunal of his own choice, and having been lawfully conducted, concludes him. Organizations of this character cannot serve the purpose of their creation unless there is a strict disciplinary authority in the department having ultimate power to hear and decide all controversies between members of grand or subordinate bodies. Thé decision of such a court of last resort must be accepted and obeyed as representing what is best for the organization in interpreting the rules and regulations prescribed by their laws, and the civil courts will always incline to sustain them; and mere informality in the proceedings for removal will not justify interference by mandamus when it is evident that there are just grounds for expulsion, or that the accused has been acting in hostility to the organization. To encourage such insubordination by compelling the members
The judgment is affirmed.