206 A.D. 349 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1923
The plaintiff is bishop coadjutor of the Protestant Episcopal Church for the Diocese of Central New York. Prior to the beginning of this action he became the ecclesiastical authority of the diocese upon the written request of the bishop, made in pursuance of canon 17 of the general canons of the church. The defendant Beaty is an ordained priest of the Protestant Episcopal Church. He claims to be the rector of Grace Church of Cortland, N. Y., a church situate within the diocese over which the plaintiff has jurisdiction. The defendants Lowerre and Harvey claim to be the church wardens, while the remaining defendants claim to be the vestrymen of Grace Church. This action was brought to restrain the defendants from acting in the several capacities of rector, church wardens and vestrymen of Grace Church, and for other relief.
“ The Rector, Church Wardens and Vestrymen of Grace Church of Cortland, N. Y.,” is a religious corporation organized under the laws of this State. It has a rectory and church edifice at Cortland, N. Y. Religious services have been conducted in the church edifice, since the organization of the corporation, according to the rules and ritual of the Protestant Episcopal Church. The defendant Beaty was regularly called as the rector of Grace Church in September, 1918, and acted as such rector until June 2, 1921. In
We must distinguish between Grace Church, the religious society, and Grace Church the religious corporation. The religious society consists of a group of communicants of the Protestant Episcopal
The trustees of every religious corporation are required to administer the church properties “ in accordance with the discipline, rules and usages of the corporation and of the ecclesiastical governing body, if any, to which the corporation is subject, and with the provisions of law relating thereto, for the support and maintenance of the corporation, or, providing the members of the corporation at a meeting thereof shall so authorize, of some religious, charitable, benevolent or educational object conducted by said corporation or in connection with it, or with the denomination, if any, with which it is connected; and they shall not use such property or revenues for any other purpose or divert the same from such uses.” (Religious Corp. Law, § 5.) A court of equity will interfere to restrain all uses of church properties not in accordance with the usages and rules of the religious society with which the corporation is connected. (First Reformed Presbyterian Church v. Bow-den, 14 Abb. N. C. 356; Isham v. Fullager, Id. 363; People ex rel. Peck v. Conley, 42 Hun, 98; Westminster Church v. Presbytery of N. Y., 211 N. Y. 214.) Isham v. Fullager (supra) was an action brought by members of a Presbyterian congregation to restrain a minister, who had been deposed from the ministry by a presbytery having jurisdiction, from acting as pastor, and to enjoin the trustees of the local church from maintaining him as such. It was held that the action was well brought and that an injunction should issue. Westminster Church v. Presbytery of N. Y. (supra) was an action of ejectment brought by an incorporated Presbyterian church to recover possession of church properties seized by the governing Presbytery which had attempted to dissolve the corporate as well as the spiritual local church. Chief Judge Bartlett, writing for the court, therein used this language: “ The Presbytery cannot oust them from office by dissolving the spiritual church. It may, however, by virtue of its control in ecclesiastical matters, insist that the trustees continue to administer the property for denominational purposes, and if they fail to do so, undoubtedly it would have a standing in a court of equity to enforce action on the part
We think that the facts and the law of the case establish that we have here such an instance. A committee named by the bishop to investigate charges against Beaty reported to the bishop that he should dissolve the pastoral relationship on condition that Beaty, the church wardens and vestrymen resign. The bishop rendered his decision that “ in accordance with the above report ” Beaty should resign the rectorship on June 2, 1921. This was in effect a decision dissolving the pastoral relationship. But whether this be so or not, Beaty did in fact file his resignation to take effect June 2, 1921, and the resignation was accepted by the vestry. Accordingly, Beaty, by his own voluntary act, unless re-elected, ended his rectorship upon that date. The vestrymen and church wardens also resigned and an election to fill their places occurred on May 31, 1921. The officers apparently elected upon that occasion held a meeting at which they assumed to elect Beaty to the rectorship, and thereupon notified the bishop of the diocese. The bishop within a few days notified the vestry that he refused to accept Beaty as rector of Grace Church. It is provided in section 3 of canon 19 of the general canons of the church that a written notice of the election of a rector shall be sent to the ecclesiastical authority of the diocese, and it is further provided therein as follows: “If the Ecclesiastical Authority be satisfied that the person so chosen is a duly qualified Minister, and that he has accepted the office, the notice shall be sent to the Secretary of the Convention, who shall record it. And such record shall be sufficient evidence of the relation between the Minister and the Parish.” White, in his book on Church Law, says: “The term qualified, must, as Judge Hoffman maintains,, receive a more comprehensive meaning than merely that he has been ordained; it must be taken to mean that the bishop is to be satisfied of the general fitness of the Minister elected, both morally
The argument that the Attorney-General may alone bring an action to test title to a corporate office, unsuccessfully advanced by Beaty, when made by his codefendants, is unanswerable. Each of them is a person who, lawfully or unlawfully, “ holds or exercises ” “ an office in a domestic corporation.” None of them claims to liold any other office or position. The case is not one where a court of equity, in its discretion, ought or ought not, because there is or is not a remedy at law, to withhold equitable interference. It is a case, rather, where a court of equity, because there is an exclusive legal remedy available to the Attorney-General whereby the title of the defendants other than Beaty may be tested, has no power or jurisdiction to grant equitable relief. (People ex rel. Corscadden v. Howe, supra; Concord Society v. Stanton, 38 Hun, 1.) We may not inquire, therefore, whether the election of church wardens and vestrymen, whereby the defendants other than Beaty claim to hold office, was, on account of the casting of votes thereat by women or otherwise, a legal or a void election. For all the purposes of this action they must now be regarded as the regularly constituted church wardens and vestrymen of Grace Church. ,
It is urged that, although this court may not have the power in this action to adjudge that the defendants were not elected to the corporate offices held by them, it nevertheless has the power to remove them from such offices for violation of their official duties. The only instance called to our attention in which such a power was asserted and exerted is found in the case of Kniskern v. Lutheran Churches of St. John’s and St. Peter’s (1 Sandf. Ch. 439). In that case Assistant Vice-Chancellor Sand-ford removed from office the trustees of a religious corporation and directed that an election be held to fill their places. The case was commented upon by the Court of Appeals in Robertson v. Bullions, and disapproved. Judge Selden, writing for the court, there said: “ This case is, in my judgment, in conflict with principle, and wholly unsustained by authority, in so far, at least, as it asserts the original power of the Court of Chancery to remove the trustees of a corporation regularly elected, in pursuance of the provisions of the statute, and to substitute upon a new election qualifications for electors defined by itself, instead of those prescribed by the statute.” Judge Allen, in the same case, said: “ The statute has prescribed the mode and manner of electing
The decree should be modified by eliminating the provisions which declare that the election of church wardens and vestrymen was illegal; that certain of the defendants are not church wardens and vestrymen; that the elections of Davis to be treasurer and Stanley to be clerk were illegal; that they are not such officers; by eliminating the provisions enjoining the defendants other than Beaty from interfering with the temporalities of Grace Church, and from receiving and paying out funds, as well as the provision directing them to surrender possession of the money and properties of the church; by adding provisions, if the plaintiff be so advised, enjoining the defendants other than Beaty from suffering Beaty to conduct religious services hi Grace Church; from suffering him to occupy the church rectory; from permitting the church properties to be otherwise used in violation of the rules and usages of the church; and as modified the decree should be affirmed, without costs.
Present — H. T. Kellogg, Acting P. J., Van Kirk, Hinman and Hasbrouck, JJ.
Judgment modified as provided in the opinion, and as modified unanimously affirmed, without costs.