74 Wash. 314 | Wash. | 1913
— The Foresters of America is a voluntary benevolent and social association, having courts or lodges throughout the United States. The highest court in authority is called the supreme court, which “is the source of all true and legitimate power and authority in the Foresters of America, wheresoever established.” Next in order are the grand courts, which possess certain defined powers granted them by the supreme court. Lastly come the subordinate courts, which receive their charters from the grand court. The order is governed by a written constitution and laws enacted thereunder, which provide minutely for the collection of the revenues of the order and the purposes for which they may be expended; section 110 of the general laws relating thereto reading as follows:
“All property and funds of a court and their increment, shall be held exclusively as a trust fund for carrying on
The order has a subordinate court at the city of Seattle, known as Court Enterprise No. 3, which is within the territorial jurisdiction of the grand court of Washington. On August 18, 1911, at a regular meeting of the subordinate court, a resolution was introduced to the effect that the local court secede from the order, and amalgamate with another fraternal order known as the Knights of the Golden West, which was then being organized. The court fixed the next regular meeting as the time for voting on the resolution, and directed that notice be sent to each member in good standing notifying him of the introduction of the resolution, and that' a vote would be taken thereon at the next regular meeting of the court. • The court then had a membership in good standing of 203; it owned property and lodge fixtures of some value, had cash on hand in the sum of $387.67 and
At the meeting at which the vote was taken, the grand chief ranger of the grand court of Washington was present, and when the vote was announced, that officer, acting in his official capacity, suspended from the order the members voting for the resolution, and declared all the offices of the court vacant. At a later date, on a regular meeting night of the court, this officer, acting pursuant to the laws of the order, issued a dispensation, permitting the members of the court then present to hold an election for the purpose of filling the vacated offices. A new election was thereupon held and installed, and the persons so elected have since performed the duties of officers of the subordinate court.
This action was instituted by the grand court of Washington, and Court Enterprise No. 3, and certain of their officers and members, against the individuals carrying away the court’s property, for the recovery of the same. Judgment went in the plaintiffs’ favor in the court below, and this appeal was taken therefrom.
The principal contention made by the appellants is that a subordinate lodge in an order, such as the one in consideration here, may secede from the parent organization, if the majority of such lodge wills it, and may take with them the money and property of the subordinate lodge. But such is not the rule. All of the properties which this branch of the order, as a fraternal and benevolent organization, had
Sometime after the institution of Court Enterprise No. 3, an attempt was made to incorporate the court under the statutes relating to the incorporation of fraternal societies. It may be questioned, we think, whether the proceedings were sufficiently regular to accomplish the purposes intended. But were the facts otherwise, the rule with relation to its property would not be changed. Its funds would still be trust funds, subject to such disposition as the laws of the order
The judgment is affirmed.
Main, Morris, and Ellis, JJ., concur.