The Clergyman's Hand-book of Law: The Law of Church and Grave

*472.* _Societies, Law._—Religious societies organized in connection with a church or congregation are in law civil societies and not ecclesiastical corporations, and are govern...

*251.* _Unincorporated, Trustee._—The question whether an unincorporated religious society may take a gift or devise, is determined by the law of domicile.(458) Generally an uni...

*421.* _Statutes, Land._—There are sufficient statutory provisions on cemeteries to make a large book, and the frequent changes made in such laws render a full statement of the...

*153.* _Charter, By-Laws._—The articles of organization or the charter which is the constitution of the corporation may provide who may be officers of a religious society and li...

*89.* _Priesthood_, _Discipline_.—The inferior authority in the Church may be said to be in the priesthood, whose rights and duties are fixed by the canon law, but who are still...

*396.* _Sins, Crimes, Discipline._—Crimes are offenses against the civil law. The fact that the church organization may try and punish a member for sinning, or acquit him, has n...

*343.* _Parent, Education, State, Parochial Schools._—The right of the parent to use judgment as to the proper necessaries of his child, including board, lodging, and education,...

*20.* _Church, Religious Society._—Bouvier’s definition of “Church” is: “A society of persons who profess the Christian religion.” Chief Justice Shaw’s definition is: “The churc...

*62.* _Special Law, General Laws._—In most of the States there is a special law under which congregations may be incorporated. New York is a good example.(111) Where such law do...

*237.* _Sold, Rented._—Prior to the Reformation pews were not sold nor rented and every member had the right to sit wherever he pleased in the body of the church. After the Refo...

*35.* _Religious Tests._—The constitution of the United States provides that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the...

*377.* _Confidential, Tribunal, Malice._—The rule is that all confidential statements made to an officer or a tribunal of the church concerning a member in the course of church...

*1.* _Law, Religion._—From the dawn of the science of law it has been influenced by religion or antagonism to religion. This is very evident in the ancient laws of Babylonia, Eg...

*176.* _Business, Notice, Meeting._—Where, in the transaction of the local business of a religious society, whether incorporated or not, meetings of the members shall become nec...

*196.* _Jurisdiction, Privileges._—It is usual for every fraternity to have a tribunal of its own for the trial of members who break its laws or violate its discipline. Within t...

*219.* _Judicial Notice._—A church takes judicial notice without proof of its own rules, laws, and doctrines. Every other fact should be proved according to the rules of evidenc...

*315.* _Statutes, Wills._—In some States a religious society can not take under a will, and a bequest of money to a church is void.(560) In Connecticut any devise to a religious...

*361.* _Custody, Maternal Relatives, Father._—A parent is entitled to the care and custody of his child if he is competent to transact his own business and not otherwise unsuita...

*209.* _Decision, Ecclesiastical Matter._—The decision of the highest tribunal of the church on a purely ecclesiastical matter will not be disturbed by civil courts unless it is...

*144.* _Voting, Communicants, Attendance._—A by-law of a church that prohibited any person whose pew rent was in arrears more than two years from voting at a church meeting, is...

*81.* _Protestant, Ministers, Bishop._—In most church organizations the authority is divided into superior and inferior. In countries where there is an established Protestant ch...

*131.* _Definitions, Minor._—Excommunication, as construed in law, is the official announcement by the superior authority of the termination of membership in a religious body an...

*54.* _Partners, Debt, Liability._—Where several go into an undertaking without first being incorporated they are usually liable as partners, each one being responsible for the...

*110.* _Business, Religious Membership._—Unless there is some other law or rule to the contrary, the male members of the congregation over twenty-one years of age constitute the...

*50.* _Wisconsin, Mississippi, New York._—The statutory law of the different States of the Union is so varied and the laws of one State are of so little interest to the people o...

*122.* _Mother Church, Control._—A majority of the members of a congregation can not by their vote leave the church and transfer the property of the congregation to another chur...

*230.* _Business, Religious Service._—A church organization has the legal right to make any contract concerning its own affairs that is not prohibited by its by-laws or its char...

*329.* _Purposes, Exempt._—Only church property that is actually used for church or charitable purposes, is exempt from taxation. Property held for its increase or profit is not...

The three learned professions, medicine, law, and theology, overlap; and a man who does not know something of the other two can not be prominent in his own. Laws relating to Chu...

*189.* _Evidence, Entries, Minutes._—The record of the proceedings of a religious society is evidence as to its doings, both in its own tribunals and the courts of the State. Su...

*371.* _Indians, Citizens, Wards._—There are a great number of statutory provisions concerning Indians, both in the United States statutes and in the statutes of the several Sta...

*308.* _Worship, Discipline, Innovations._—The denomination itself, according to its rules and regulations, determines what services shall form a part of its public worship. The...

*336.* _Poor, Institutions, Negligence._—As hospitals, homes for the poor, and other eleemosynary institutions are supported by money given to charity, it would be a diversion o...

*369.* _Custody, Father._—A husband is entitled to the custody of his wife against her father, and where a son-in-law killed his father-in-law in resisting the latter from takin...

*376.* _Reformatories, Object, Liberty._—During the past few years juvenile courts have been created for the purpose of committing children to reformatories. The proceedings are...