20 Pa. 484 | Pa. | 1853
The opinion of the Court was delivered, by
The relators claimed to have been duly elected
The respondents deny this claim, and maintain that they were the duly elected trustees.
This writ of quo warranto was sued out to test the rights of the respondents to the office they claim; and on the trial a verdict passed, and judgment of ouster was rendered against them. It comes before us on a writ of error to the opinion of the Court on the various questions raised in the bills of exception. The precise issue between the parties has ceased to possess any other importance than as it affects the costs of suit; for the tenure of the respondents expired in June, 1852, when a new board of trustees was chosen, who are now the incumbents. It is understood, however, that the root of discord remains and is productive of bitter fruits to the congregation of Holy Trinity; and it is expected that, in administering the justice due to the parties in respect to the subordinate question of costs, we may be obliged to express opinions on the construction of the charter of this church which will contribute to the extirpation of that evil root. Undoubtedly, if the plaintiffs in error have demonstrated that the Court of Common Pleas committed any error in law whereby they were injured, though it were only to the extent of a bill of costs, it becomes our plain duty to reverse the judgment.
Two elections for trustees were held on the 9th of June, 1851, one in the school-house near the church, the other in the. open yard. The respondents were elected at the poll in the school-house —the relators at the other poll. Which were duly chosen ?
In considering this question, I was at first impressed with the position assumed by the respondents in their 10th point, that they had a majority of all the votes cast at both polls, and were therefore duly elected. The fact is as they allege. In the school-room 150 votes were polled — in the yard 131 — making the total vote polled 281. The lowest vote received by any of the respondents was 148, leaving but 133 for the highest of the relators.
, But, notwithstanding this fact, the learned judge denied the conclusion of the respondents, and held that it was only those who were properly elected to conduct the election who could hold it; and, if those persons who held the election in the school-house were not duly appointed on the 5th June to conduct it, the Respondents were not legally elected. Was this a sufficient answer ?
The Act of incorporation is silent as to the mode of conducting charter elections. The fourth section requires the electors to meet “ on Monday immediately after Whitsunday in each year at such place as shall be appointed by the trustees, whereof notice shall be given in the church at the beginning of divine worship on Whitsunday, and then and there to choose by ballot eight lay trustees, by a majority of those members qualified to vote who shall so
The question then recurs, why was not the election in the school-house at which the respondents were elected the legal election ?
The answer of the relators is, that it was not held by the officers duly chosen on thé previous Thursday to conduct it. But the officers who conducted it were chosen on the previous Thursday by German Roman Catholics belonging to Holy Trinity, who had subscribed to the building of the church, or who had contributed not less than ten shillings annually to its support. To this it -is replied that, at that preliminary election, a large number of votes, sufficient to change the result, were excluded, and that another set of officers were thereupon chosen to conduct the election. This is met by the counter allegation that the only votes excluded were those of persons who had recently paid ten shillings into the treasury of the. church, and were not annual contributors to its support. This brings us to the very core of this controversy. What kind of pecuniary contribution qualifies a German Roman Catholic belonging to IToly Trinity to vote at her charter elections, and the preliminary meeting for the choice of election officers ?
That section prescribes that “all and every the members of the said church, having subscribed to building the same, or who shall hereafter contribute any sum of money not less than ten shillings annually towards the support of the said church, shall meet on Monday next after Whitsunday in every year, ****** and choose, by ballot, the said eight lay trustees by a majority of those members qualified to vote as aforesaid.”
„ The Court below held that persons who came to the election and paid ten shillings, with a bond fide intention of becoming members of the church, were entitled at once to vote, and of course the jury found, under this instruction, that the preliminary meeting of the 5th June, which excluded these votes, was not the legally conducted meeting, the officers chosen thereat not the proper officers to conduct the election, and the election held by them on the 9th June not the legal election, and so the respondents were ousted.
Was the instruction correct? Original contribution to the erection of the church, or contribution towards its support of not less than ten shillings annually are the statutory conditions of suffrage. Annually means year by year. How can a payment become at once a payment year by year ? A lease reserving rent quarterly, and a bond stipulating for annual payments look to a succession of periodical payments. Why is not this charter to be construed in the same manner ? Why should we not presume the Legislature looked to a series of payments, or at least to an interval of a year between the payment and the vote, seeing that they have used words which denote a series and an interval ?
But there is a meaning above verbal criticism in this word “annually” as it occurs in this Act of incorporation. It was used to fence out intruders, and to guard against those abuses to which all religious corporations are exposed in times of' excitement. A dissatisfied minority always looks for means of reform, and a charter that would enable them to manufacture voters on the election ground, by paying ten shillings a head, would be a very convenient instrument in their hands. The Legislature meant to furnish no such instrument in this Act. They never meant to subject the properties and the effective control of Holy Trinity to trustees whom a crowd of new comers, on paying down ten shillings apiece, might, in their wisdom or their passion, put into office. They meant rather that the trustees should represent the worshippers belonging to Trinity Church — those who had established themselves there, and had proved by deeds their intention to maintain and support the church, and hence the requirement, not merely of a payment of money, but of a payment of money annually.
We are of opinion, therefore, that the learned judge erred in the construction given to the 4th section, and that the preliminary meeting who declined to receive the votes of persons who had not paid the stipulated sum at least a year before they offered to vote did no more than it was their duty to do. The officers whom they appointed to conduct the election on the succeeding Monday did right also in rejecting all such votes. '
There are various bills of exceptions to evidence that remain to be noticed.
The relators alleged that a conspiracy existed in Trinity Church to transfer the property of the corporation to the Bishops and Priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church, and the judge tried the cause as if the existence of such a conspiracy were the issue between the parties. Had that been the issue, I am inclined to think all the evidence mentioned in the bills of exception would have been competent; but, as the only question was as to the qua
But here were no tumult or disorder. It is not pretended that anybody was kept away from the election, or that any confederacies were ’formed to prevent voting. On the contrary, every qualified voter had the opportunity to vote at the poll in the schoolhouse, and notice was given outside to encourage him to do so. Under these circumstances what was there to connect the alleged conspiracy about another subject-matter with the conduct of this election ? We see nothing that could fairly supply that link; and without it such evidence is inadmissible, according to The Commonwealth v. Woelpper.
These observations apply to all the bills of exception except the first. In regard to that, it is enough to say that we deem the witness competent, but the evidence he delivered irrelevant.
The judgment is reversed, and a venire de novo awarded.