Kellogg v. Dickinson
Supreme Court of Vermont
Trespass on the Case, for the destruction of certain pew rights, of which the plaintiff claimed to be seized and possessed in the old congregational meetinghouse in Benson. Plea, the general issue, and trial by the jury, — Williams, Ch. J., presiding.
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Trespass on the Case, for the destruction of certain pew rights, of which the plaintiff claimed to be seized and possessed in the old congregational meetinghouse in Benson. Plea, the general issue, and trial by the jury, — Williams, Ch. J., presiding. On trial the plaintiff introduced in evidence the records of the town of Benson, tending to show that the said meeting house was erected in the year 1797 and completed about the year 1803, in pursuance of the votes and at the expense of the town ; and that the pews in the house were sold at auction, in town meeting, agreeably to a vote of the…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Williams, Ch. J.
On the trial of this action in the court below the right of a pew holder to a pew in a meeting house was recognized only as an inferior right to that of the owners of the house. If the house was taken down as a matter of convenience, or taste, *272by the owners, the owner of the pew was held entitled to compensation ; if as a matter of necessity, because the house had become ruinous and wholly unfit for the purposes for which it was erected, the owners thought proper to take it down, they were held at liberty to do so, without making any…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Religious Congregational Society v. BakerSupreme Court of Vermont · 1843
3Cited by6 opinions
- Kincaid's AppealSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1870
- Hodges v. GreenSupreme Court of Vermont · 1856
- Perrin v. GrangerSupreme Court of Vermont · 1860
- Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Society v. Bowdoin Square Baptist SocietyMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1912
- Barnard v. WhippleSupreme Court of Vermont · 1857
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