Calkins v. Cheney

Citations

• 92 Ill. 463

Syllabus

<p>1. Religious societies — of their property, and the ownership and control thereof, under the statute concerning the incorporation of such societies. In the year 1855, the parish or congregation of Christ Church of Chicago, being professedly of the Protestant Episcopal Church, became incorporated under the general laws then in force providing for the incorporation of religious societies, and trustees for the corporation were duly appointed. A lot of ground upon which is the house of worship and the parsonage, was contracted for prior to the incorporation, but was not conveyed until in the year 1862. The deed conveying the property was simply to the “Trustees of Christ Church,” and contained no express declaration of trust, nor was there any separate written declaration of trust by the trustees. Such portion of the purchase money for the lot as has been paid, as well as the money for the erection of the house of worship and the parsonage, was derived from donations by members of the parish or congregation and, to a small extent by others, and from the rental or sale of pews in the house of worship. Upon bill exhibited in the year 1872 by certain persons “for themselves and such other members of the parish of Christ Church as adhered to the laws, doctrines, -etc., of the Protestant Episcopal Church,” it was sought to enjoin the then acting rector of Christ Church from further acting in that capacity, and from occupying the parsonage and using the house of worship as such, upon the alleged ground that the said rector had been, by the proper church judicatory, deposed from the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal Church, because of non-conformity with certain of its tenets. It was held, the property belonged to the society or congregation of Christ Church, in its corporate capacity, not in trust for the benefit of the Protestant Episcopal Church as a religious denomination, but independently of it, and not subject to the control of any ecclesiastical judicatory.</p> <