Nelson v. Benson

Citations

• 69 Ill. 27

Syllabus

<p>1. Church property—division in ease of a schism. Where property was purchased by a religions society, incorporated under the laws of this State, and paid for by voluntary contributions of the members, and it was agreed at the time, between all the members, that the property should be held by the trustees for the common use and benefit of the members, and in case of a schism or division, for any cause, there should be a fair division of the same in proportion to their members, and a similar provision was adopted in their constitution, it was held, that by the term “schism” was meant a division or separation of the members of the body occasioned by a diversity of opinion on religious subjects, and that a difficulty growing out of an illegal election of trustees by a majority, and their excluding the minority from the use of the church, was not a schism to justify a court in decreeing a division of the property.</p> <p>3. Same—individual members can not maintain bill for division. In such a case, there must be a division or separation of the church into two religious bodies, and there must be a separate organization of a part of the original church in order to claim a partition of the church property. The partition must be applied for, not by members of the congregation as individuals, but by an organized religious body for purposes of religious worship, and the division sought must not be to divert the property from the uses to which it is devoted.</p> <p>3. Churches—remedy for illegal election of trustees. Where the majority of a church, pretending, contrary to the fact, that a portion of the trustees elected had resigned and refused to act, proceed to elect others in their place, without notice to the minority of the congregation, and such others wrongfully assume to act, the law furnishes an appropriate remedy against them by quo warranto, or by bill in equity to restrain their wrongful acts.</p> <p>4. Same—equity will enforce trusts under which property is held