NY's highest court affirms Dennis Canon
NY court: Episcopal diocese owns church building
A copy of the entire decision can be found at the Court of Appeals website here .
This is a very sketchy court decision by New York’s highest court. There is very little analysis, other than for the court to observe that there is a Dennis Canon which gives the diocese and the “National Church” an express trust in all of the parish property, and to say that a 1979 US Supreme Court case allows, or perhaps even mandates, this result.
Why does the Dennis Canon prevail over deeds and certificates of incorporation which do not have any such trust language? Just because they do, says the court, and because the parish concerned was an Article 3 church (the Episcopal Church article of the Religious Corporations Law) under New York Law. There is little explanation as to how the court arrived at this decision, other than to merely proclaim it. One would have hoped for far better from the highest court of one of the largest states.
-Raymond Dague
posted by Pat Dague @ 8:58 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
It seems pretty clear to me the Court saw that All Saints did not object to the Dennis Cannon in 1979 and further signed the property over to the Diocese in 1989. They had years to clarify this issue. Failing to do that, the Court concluded that All Saints agreed to this rule. Sketchy? It seems straightforward to me.
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