Westminster Presbyterian Church v. Findley
New York Supreme Court
Motion by a committee of a session of a Presbyterian church to enjoin the defendants and each of them from acting as trustees of the church on the ground that they had been suspended by the session as communicants for contumacy of the session. The plaintiffs secured a temporary injunction with an order to show cause why it should not be continued, pendente lite.
Read the full summary
Motion by a committee of a session of a Presbyterian church to enjoin the defendants and each of them from acting as trustees of the church on the ground that they had been suspended by the session as communicants for contumacy of the session. The plaintiffs secured a temporary injunction with an order to show cause why it should not be continued, pendente lite. The plaintiffs allege that the defendants had been removed as trustees by virtue of proceedings in the church court, and that their appeals from such judgment had been dismissed by the appellate-ecclesiastical court. The affidavits in…
1Opinion of the CourtGreenbaum, J.
It appears in this case that the temporalities of the church, as distinguished from its spiritual control, are managed by a board of trustees elected from those qualified to vote in accordance with the provisions of law (chap. 97, Laws of 1902, subd.. 6, § 40), and that said trustees are the trustees of the corporation (subd. 7). It is the implied duty of the trustees to prevent any diversion of the property of the corporation, and, therefore, to see to it that no one shall act with them as trustee who may have become disqualified, or who has no legal right to act in conjunction with them in…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Rector of St. James' Church v. HuntingtonNew York Supreme Court · 1894
- First Reformed Presbyterian Church v. BowdenNew York Supreme Court · 1883
3Cited by2 opinions
- Saunders v. ArmsteadAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York · 1940
- Trustees v. Westminster Presbyterian ChurchNew York Supreme Court · 1910