114 Me. 158 | Me. | 1915
This is a bill in equity brought to prevent the consummation of the sale of all the stumpage on a ministerial lot located at Sheepscot in the town of Newcastle, to restrain the cutting of lumber therefrom by the grantee, to have the conveyance dated September i, 1914, declared void and to adjudicate the present ownership of the property.
The plaintiff is one of the three surviving members of the original Congregational parish in Newcastle, and he alleges that he brings the bill on behalf of himself, of other members of the parish,, and of the Congregational church at said Sheepscot.
J. D. McGraw, the minister of the Methodist church in Sheepscot asks the right to intervene, claiming that he is the person in whom the title to the property is now vested, in the right of the only parish existing at that place at the present time.
A recital of the historical facts connected with this ministerial lot is necessary to a clear understanding of the issue.
On May 15, 1739, Christopher Tappan of Newbury, Massachusetts, the then or prior owner of nearly all the land within the limits of the present town of Newcastle, granted “Unto the inhabitants now settled on Sheepscot river, at a place called New Castle in the County of York . . . their heirs and assigns forever for the uses hereinafter mentioned, two hundred acres of land, situate, lying and being in New Castle and is the lots No. fifteen and sixteen, also two thirty-sevenths of all the marsh and meadow lying within the bounds See. ... to have and to hold the said granted and gifted premises with all the appurtenances Sec. ... to the said inhabitants, their heirs and assigns to be disposed of in manner following, viz: one-half of said land and marsh to be disposed of to the first minister that shall be settled amongst said people at said place, either by ordination or instalment, to him, his heirs and assigns forever. And the other moiety or half to be and remain in said settlement now called New Castle for a glebe or parsonage forever.”
The next minister was Thurston Whiting who on March 9, 1776) in town meeting, was given the choice to settle as a Presbyterian or Congregationalist. He chose the latter, was ordained as a Congregational minister in July, 1776, and was dismissed in March, 1782. From that time a succession of Congregational ministers was ordained or installed, the last being the Rev. John Haskell, who served from May 26, 1872, until October 1, 1874. Since that time there has been no settled minister, but services have been held at various times, and with more frequency and regularity in the summer season.
The legal questions arising from the foregoing facts are rarely encountered at the present day, but were of not infrequent occurrence in the early history of New England, and certain well defined rules of law were then established governing the creation of parishes and the vesting and management of parish or ministerial lands. These are decisive of the issues here involved and a re-statement of these principles is therefore necessary.
At the time of the original grant from Christopher Tappan “unto the inhabitants now settled at Sheepscot river at a place called New Castle,” neither town, nor church, nor parish was in existence. There was no person nor corporation then capable of taking.
But the conveyance was still effective. It was held in Proprietors of Shapleigh v. Pillsbury, 1 Maine, 271, that such a grant is valid and if lands be so granted for pious uses to a person or corporation not in esse, the right to the possession and custody of the lands remains in the grantor until the person or corporation intended shall come into existence at which time the estate vests. See also Rice v. Osgood, 9 Mass., 38; Brown v. Porter, 10 Mass., 93, and Pawlet v. Clark, 9 Cranch, 292.
Upon the settlement of the first minister, Rev. Alexander Boyd in 1754, he became seized of this lot in right of the town. Had the parish then existed independent of the town he would have held in right of the parish. When the parish was subsequently formed, it succeeded to the rights of the town theretofore acting in a parochial capacity, and the ministers from that time forward held the title in right of the parish. In this connection it is interesting to note that in 1839, precisely one hundred years after the original grant was made, Rev. Jotham Sewall, Jr., the then settled minister of this church and parish brought an action for an alleged trespass upon this lot 16, and his legal title to the lot and his right to maintain the action were upheld in these words: “We are not aware that any principle of local law will prevent the passing of this estate for a glebe or parsonage to the inhabitants of Newcastle, incorporated subsequently to the grant. We have heard no complaint for nearly a century from Christopher Tappan or his heirs, that the corporation of Newcastle has committed any disseizin or that they had failed to appropriate the land according to the intent of the donor. The town has taken and held it in their parochial character and as soon as the minister was ordained in 1776 he held it in the right of the parish. After his connection with the parish ceased they again proceeded to take charge of it till the settlement of Mr. Bailey who held it till 1824. The present plaintiff on his ordination became entitled to hold it.” Sewall v. Cargill, 15 Maine, 414. See also Cargill in error v. Sewall, 19 Maine, 288.
The well settled rules governing the title and custody of parsonage lands are most succinctly stated in an early Massachusetts case, affecting property then situated in Massachusetts but now in Maine:
“When a minister of a town or parish is seized of any lands in right of the town or parish, which is the case of all parsonage lands, or lands granted for the use of the ministry, or of the minister*165 for the time being, the minister for this purpose is a sole corporation, and holds the same to himself and his successors. And, in case of a vacancy in the office, the town or parish is entitled to the custody of the same and for that purpose may enter and take the profits until there be a successor. Every town is considered to be a parish until a separate parish be formed within it, and then the inhabitants and territory not included in the separate parish form the first parish; and the minister of such first parish, by law, holds to him and his successors all the estate and rights which he held as minister of the town, before separation.” First Parish in Brunswick v. Dunning, 7 Mass., 445. See also Jewett v. Burroughs, 15 Mass., 464, and Richardson v. Brown, 6 Maine, 464. The distinction between church and parish and the powers of each are elaborately elucidated by Chief Justice Shaw in Stebbins v. Jennings, 10 Pick., 171-182.
It only remains to make application of the foregoing principles. It is obvious that the several settled ministers of this church became in succession seized of this lot, in right of the town or parish; that during the vacancies in the ministerial office the fee of the lot was in abeyance, but the town in its parochial capacity until the organization of the parish, and ever after such organization the parish itself had custody and control of the lot and became entitled to the rents and profits therefrom until a successor was installed. Upon the installation of the successor the fee vested in him. Since 1874, when the last settled minister was dismissed, the fee has again been in abeyance while the management has been in the parish, but at no time did the fee itself vest in the parish and at no time could the parish convey. Nor could the minister for the time being aliene without assent of the parish. He holds in right of the parish and it is only when the parish assent that a valid conveyance can be made. Weston v. Hunt, 2 Mass., 500; Porter v. Griswold, 6 Maine, 430. Concurrence of both is necessary.
The corporation organized in 1913 as the First Congregational Parish was not a distinct and independent parish as the plaintiff contends, but merely a reorganization and rehabilitation of the few surviving members of the old parish for the purpose of perpetuating its existence by bringing in new members, injecting new blood, and adopting a corporate charter. The written declarations at the time,
The conclusion reached renders unnecessary the consideration of other questions raised in argument, namely the rights of the Methodist church in this lot and the alleged fraud upon the parish by its agent in the sale of the timber. Regarding the first point it is sufficient to say that the Methodist church has no interest or rights whatever in the property; and regarding the second point we find no fraud practiced upon the parish by its agent who was duly authorized to negotiate the sale. Moreover the parish itself, of which this plaintiff is a member, after full knowledge of the facts ratified and confirmed the acts of its agent and consummated the sale by directing a conveyance to be made.
However, upon the main question of the invalidity of'the conveyance itself for want of title in the parish the plaintiff should prevail.
Bill sustained with single bill of costs.
Temporary injunction to be made perpetual.
Decree in accordance with this opinion.