Board of Church Erection Fund of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States v. First Presbyterian Church

Citations

• 19 Wash. 455
• 53 P. 671
• 1898 Wash. LEXIS 409

Syllabus

<p>LIMITATIONS OB' ACTIONS — PERSONAL PLEA — DEMURRER — RESTRAINT ON ALIENATION — PUBLIC POLICY — MORTGAGES — PAYABLE ON CONTINGENCY— WHAT CONSTITUTES ALIENATION.</p> <p>The defense of the statute of limitations is a personal privilege, and can be pleaded only by the person directly entitled to the benefit of it; it cannot be set up by other defendants in the action.</p> <p>A demurrer to a complaint on the ground that it does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action will not permit the objection to be urged that the action is barred, as that question should be raised by demurrer on the ground that the action was not’ commenced within the time limited by law.</p> <p>A covenant in a mortgage that in case the mortgaged premises should ever be .alienated or abandoned for church purposes the mortgage debt should become due and payable is not void as being in restraint of alienation.</p> <p>A covenant in a mortgage given by a Presbyterian church for money loaned from the erection fund of the General Assembly of that denomination, that the debt should become due if the church should cease to be connected with the General Assembly, is not a covenant contrary to public policy nor in restraint of religious belief.</p> <p>A mortgage is not void because the debt is made payable upon the happening of a contingency and no time for payment is mentioned in the mortgage.</p> <p>A covenant in a mortgage providing that in case the mortgaged premises be alienated or abandoned as a house of worship, except for the building or purchase of a better one, the mortgage should become due and subject to foreclosure, is broken by the mortgagor’s allowing the property to be sold on execution and the -church to be dispossessed of the premises by the issuance of a writ of assistance to the purchaser.</p>