Clark v. Evangelical Society
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Bill in equity, averring that before 1841 a large sum ol money was collected from individuals and by contributions in churches for the purpose of purchasing land and building a meeting-house thereon for the use of an Evangelical Congregational church, formed and existing in Quincy, and of the congregation connected therewith; and was invested accordingly and the land conveyed to Jonathan Newcomb and Charles Hardwick, who held it in trust for said church and congregation;…
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Bill in equity, averring that before 1841 a large sum ol money was collected from individuals and by contributions in churches for the purpose of purchasing land and building a meeting-house thereon for the use of an Evangelical Congregational church, formed and existing in Quincy, and of the congregation connected therewith; and was invested accordingly and the land conveyed to Jonathan Newcomb and Charles Hardwick, who held it in trust for said church and congregation; that in 1841 the congregation was duly organized into a parish, and as such became connected with the church, and Newcomb…
1Opinion of the CourtThomas, J.
1. This bill cannot be maintained for the execution or enforcement of a trust. There clearly is no express trust. The land on which the church stands was originally conveyed to Newcomb and Hardwick in trust for the defendant society before its organization. But upon the organization of the parish the estate was conveyed to them, and the legal and equitable title were united. No trust appears in the deed under which the society hold the estate.
There was no resulting trust. The bill does not aver that any part of the purchase money was paid by the plaintiffs or any one of them.
2. Nor can the…
2Cited by1 opinion
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