212 Mass. 198 | Mass. | 1912
The Bowdoin Square Baptist Society was incorporated as a religious society in 1841 under general law. It acquired title to land and a church building. The deed to it was absolute in form without statement of any trust. The estate appears to have been paid for by donations and the sale of pews, and in part by a mortgage upon it. In 1840 the Bowdoin Square Baptist Church was organized as an ecclesiastical body, and continued to occupy the church owned by the society until 1885. Soon after this time it passed out of existence. In 1887 the Tabernacle Baptist Church was organized, and since then it has occupied-the church building of the society. It was incorporated in 1911 under R. L. c. 36, §§ 47-54. The plaintiff is the owner of sixty-five pews out of a total number of one hundred and seventy-five. Under the by-laws of the society, each pew owner was deemed a proprietor in the corporation, but was not entitled to more than one vote. In June, 1911, a legal meeting of the society was held, at which the plaintiff was represented, and at which it was voted by fifteen affirmative against two negative votes to sell and .convey the society’s real estate to the Tabernacle Baptist Church, then recently .incorporated. At this meeting seventeen pew holders were present representing eighty-one pews, of which sixty-five belonged to the plaintiff. It voted against the transfer, and protested against the action taken. It brings this bill to set aside the conveyance executed in accordance with the vote.
The nature of the right of a pew holder, as between himself and the corporation owning the building, under our system of church ownership, has been discussed in several cases and is well settled. The right to a pew, though formerly real estate (St. 1795, c. 53, § 1) is now personal property (St. 1855, c. 122, R. L. c. 36, § 38), and has been such in Boston ,for more than a century. (St. 1798, c. 42.) “It is property of a peculiar nature, derivative and dependent. It is an exclusive right to occupy a particular portion of a house of public worship, under certain restrictions. The owner of a pew is not a tenant in common of the estate on
The society by its establishment and acceptance of the real estate bought and built upon by contributions for the purpose of enabling it and its successors to hold it “as a church in fee simple forever” (to quote from the agreement of subscribers) was charged with the duty of “maintaining public worship and religious instruction.” Parker v. May, 5 Cush. 336, 345. The act of the society in voting to sell and in conveying the building to the Tabernacle Baptist Church was authorized by law in performance of this duty. By R. L. c. 36, § 54, “Any religious society connected with a church so incorporated may, at any meeting called for the purpose, by a three-fourths vote, authorize one or more persons in its. name and behalf to convey any real or personal estate belonging to it to such church, and such estate shall thereafter be held by the church subject to the same uses and trusts as when held by said religious society.” We construe the words “ connected with” to mean belonging to the same denomination or faith and professing the same doctrines or creed and having such relations with the church occupying the edifice belonging to it as existed in similar cases according to the usages and customs of the denomination to which they belonged. In the present case the church and society both belonged to the Baptist denomination. Of the one hundred and twenty members composing the Tabernacle
The church building has not been diverted from the uses to which it was dedicated. It is still a place for worship for Christians of the Baptist persuasion. The society has not undertaken to do more than divest itself of the legal title and put it in the hands of another corporation with like powers. But it has not put an end to the implied trusts for which the building was established. It has turned the real estate over to another corporation as authorized by law. These circumstances do not affect the rights of the pew holder. There is nothing in the record to indicate that the easement of the plaintiff in the use of its pews has been interrupted or in any way interfered with. The building is still devoted to the same religious uses as before. The right of the pew holder was at the first and since has been to occupy his pew at times of worship. That right remains. The beneficiary property rights of thé plaintiff in the building and its privileges in the enjoyment of them have not been extinguished. Small v. Cahoon, 207 Mass. 359, 364. Kellogg v. Dickinson, 18 Vt. 266, 276. The only substantial change wrought is that ownership of pews no longer constitutes membership in the corporation owning the building with a right to vote. That circumstance is no inherent characteristic of pew ownership. It arose out of a by-law of the society, and ceased with the proprietorship of the society.
It follows,‘notwithstanding certain allegations of the bill and admissions in the answers as to conclusions of law, that upon these facts the rights of the plaintiff as owner of the pews under trusts established by the will of Asa Wilbur have not been affected by the transfer of title from the society to the Tabernacle Baptist Church. It left undisturbed the proprietary rights of pew .owners. So far as such ownership gave the pew owners a voice in the corporate management of the owner of the building, that has come to an end because it was subject to the regulations imposed by the by-law, of the society and the supervisory power of the Legislature. But participation in such management is not a property right of the same nature as that of ownership of the pew. They are separable in their essence, flow from different sources, and have no necessary connection with each other.. As member of an artificial
So ordered.