CHAPTER XL.

RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES IN MICHIGAN-ORGANIZATION OF PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCHES-FORM OF PROCEEDING APPOINTMENT OF TRUSTEES IN CERTAIN CASES-MEETINGS OF, AND THEIR POWERS-PROPERTY OF, HOW HELD-CERTAIN OTHER SOCIETIES, HOW INCORPORATED-THEIR RIGHTS AND POWERS. § 604. It is made lawful in the State of Michigan for any six or more persons, professing attachment to the Protestant Episcopal church, to execute and acknowledge, before any person authorized to take acknowledgment of deeds, one or more duplicate articles of agreement in writing, whereby they shall agree to organize a church according to the Protestant Episcopal church, by the name and style set forth in such articles; and upon the execution and acknowledgment thereof, such church will become a body politic and corporate, by the name set forth in such articles, in accordance with the canons, doctrines, discipline and worship of the Protestant Episcopal church. (1 Comp. Laws of 1857, Ch. 68, Sec. 2037.)

§ 605. Such articles of agreement must contain (1), the name of the proposed church; (2,) the township or city and county in which it is located; (3,) the number of vestrymen, not exceeding ten, who will have charge of the affairs of such church, and the time of the annual meeting, which must be in Easter week; and no church can be organized in any township or city bearing the same name with any other Protestant Episcopal church theretofore organized therein. The articles of agreement, when duly signed and acknowledged, must be recorded in the office of the county clerk of the county in which such church is located; and it is not lawful

for any such church to acquire the title to any property until such articles are recorded. (Ib., Secs. 2038 and 2039.)

§ 606. Any three or more persons who have signed the articles of agreement, may call the first meeting of such church at such time and place as they may see fit, by publishing notice for ten days previous to the time of such meeting, in some newspaper published in the city or township in which such church is located; and if no newspaper is published therein, then such notice may be given by posting the same in three of the most public places in such city or township; and at the meeting the affidavit of such posting or publishing must be produced and recorded in the minutes. At such meeting, in addition to the signing of such articles, any male person of full age will be entitled to vote, who shall sign a declaration in writing, to be kept in the book of minutes, whereby he shall signify his intention of attaching himself to said church, and accepting the terms of such articles. Vestrymen may be elected at said meeting or any adjournment thereof. (Ib., Sec. 2040.)

§ 607. At all subsequent meetings, the right of voting must be confined to the persons who became actually entitled to vote at the first meeting, and to such others, male persons of full age, as have, during the year previous, been sated worshipers in such church, and owned or rented a pew therein, or been stated contributors to its support. The annual meeting must take place at such time in Easter week as shall be in the articles of agreement contained; and at such annual meeting an election of vestrymen must be had, to serve until the next annual meeting, and until their successors shall be chosen. (Ib., Sec. 2041.)

§ 608. The vestrymen must choose two of their number to be wardens. They may also appoint a secretary and

treasurer from their own number, and may employ such other agents and servants as they may see fit. Meetings of the vestry may be called by the rector of the church, or by either warden, or by any two other vestrymen, and a majority in number of the vestrymen elected will constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. The rector, when present, must preside at all vestry meetings, but will have no vote, except a casting vote in case of a tie; and, in his absence from a meeting, one of the wardens, if present, must preside. All vacancies in such vestry may be filled by the vestrymen at any meeting, and the persons elected to fill such vacancies may hold for the same period as their predecessor would have done. (Ib., Sec. 2042.)

§ 609. All the temporal affairs of such churches must be managed by the vestrymen thereof, and they have authority to erect, alter, repair, enlarge, and, in case they deem it necessary, to take down, or remove and rebuild any church or other building belonging to such corporation; and no owner of any pew or slip in such church will be held to be the owner of any interest in the land whereon the same is erected. All such corporations may hold such amount of real estate as shall be reasonably necessary for a church and lecture or school room, and dwellings for the ministers thereof, but for no other purpose. (Ib., Sec. 2043.)

§ 610. Whenever, by the constitution, rules or usages of any particular church or religious denomination, trustees are required to be appointed by any officer or officers of such church or denomination, it is the duty of such officer or officers to give to such trustees a certificate of their appointment, under the hand and seal of the person or persons making the same, specifying the name by which such trustees and their successors shall forever thereafter be called and known; which certificate must be acknowledged or proved and

recorded as prescribed in section five hundred and eightyfive; whereupon such trustees and their successors, appointed in accordance with the constitution, rules and usages of such church, will be a body corporate by the name expressed in such certificate, with all the rights, powers and privileges of other religious corporations constituted according to law. (Ib., Sec. 2044.)

§ 611. It is not thought necessary to give any forms for incorporating religious societies under the provisions of the statute referred to in this chapter, as there will be no difficulty in framing the proper papers, by carefully consulting the directions contained in section six hundred and three.

CHAPTER XLI.

RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES IN ILLINOIS-HOW INCORPORATED-ELECTION, DUTY AND POWER OF TRUSTEES-POWERS OF THE SOCIETY -CAMP GROUNDS-RELIGIOUS USES-CATHOLIC CHURCHEPISCOPAL CHURCH-CHURCH PROPERTY EXEMPT FROM TAXATION.

§ 612. It is made lawful, in the State of Illinois, for the members of any society or congregation, formed for the purposes of religious worship, to receive, by gift, devise or purchase, a quantity of land, not exceeding ten acres, and to erect or build thereon such houses and buildings as they may

deem necessary for the purposes aforesaid, and to make such other use of the same, and make such other improvement thereon, as may be deemed necessary for the benefit and convenience of such society or congregation; and such society or congregation may assume a name and elect or appoint any

number of trustees, not exceeding ten, who will be styled trustees of such society or congregation, by the name aforesaid; and the title to the land purchased, and improvements made, will be vested in the trustees, by the name and style aforesaid. (2 Compiled Statutes 1858, 799, Sec. 44.)

§ 613. Immediately after the election or appointment of trustees by any society or congregation as aforesaid, the persons elected or appointed must make a certificate, under their hands and seals, stating the date of their election or appointment, the name of the society or congregation, and the length of time for which they were elected or appointed, which must be verified by the affidavit of one of the persons making the same, and must be recorded by the recorder of the county in which the society or congregation may be formed; and the trustees will hold their office for and during the period stated in the certificate; and at the expiration of their term of service, and ever after at the expiration of the term of service of any trustee elected or appointed, the said society or congregation must elect or appoint successors, who will, in like manner, continue in office for such period as may be limited by the society or congregation; and a certi ficate of their election or appointment must be made by the trustees whose term of service shall have expired, which must be verified by affidavit, and recorded as provided in the election or appointment of trustees in the first instance. (Ib., 980, Sec. 45.)

§ 614. The trustees elected or appointed as aforesaid, and their successors, are declared to have perpetual succession and existence, and the title to land authorized to be purchased, and to the buildings and improvements thereon, will be vested in said trustees by their assumed name, and their successors forever; and the same must and will be held for the uses and purposes herein named and no other; and such