Norfolk Presbytery v. Bollinger

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• recognizing that courts are not “powerless to prevent a hierarchical church from being deprived of contractual rights in church property held by trustees of a local congregation”
• “As express trusts for super-congregational churches are invalid under Virginia law, no implied trusts for such denominations may be upheld.”
• “As express trusts for super-congregational churches are invalid under Virginia law, no implied trusts for such denominations may be upheld.”
• “We are not bound by the rule of Watson v. Jones ... for that case rested on federal law.”
• “it is proper to resolve a dispute over church property by considering the statutes of Virginia, the express language in the deeds and the provisions of the constitution of the general church”
• “We hold that it is proper to resolve a dispute over church property by considering the statutes of Virginia, the express language in the deeds, and the provisions of the constitution of the general church.”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).