perty, real or personal for the purposes aforesaid, by virtue of any devise or bequest contained in any last will or testament of any person whatsoever, the clear annual income of which devise or bequest shall not exceed the sum of ten thousand dollars, provided, no person leaving a wife or child or parent, shall devise or bequeath to such society more than one-fourth of his or her estate, after the payment of his or her debts; and such devise or bequest will be valid to the extent of such one-fourth; and no' such devise or bequest will be valid, in any will which shall not have been made and executed at least two months before the death of the testator. (Laws of 1854, aforesaid; and Laws of 1848, aforesaid, Sec. 6.)

§ 153. There would not seem to be any limit to the amount of real and personal property, which the society may hold by virtue of devise and bequest, except that the clear annual income of any one devise or bequest must not exceed the sum of ten thousand dollars. The provision in regard to the proportion of the estate which the testator may devise or bequeath to such society in certain cases, and the date of the execution of the will, was undoubtedly made to guard against improvident testamentary disposition of property by persons in extremis, in derogation of the claims of near relatives. (Willard's Eq. Juris., 576.)

§ 154. It would seem that the societies of these free churches, are subject to the visitation and inspection of the justices of the Supreme Court, or by any person or persons who may be appointed by the Supreme Court of the State; and it is made the duty of the trustees of any such society, or a majority of them, in the month of December in each year, to make and file in the county clerk's office where the original certificate of incorporation is filed, a certificate under their hands, stating the names of the trustees and

officers of such society, with an inventory of the property, effects and liabilities thereof, with an affidavit of the truth of such certificate and inventory, and also an affidavit that such society has not been engaged directly or indirectly in any other business than such as is set forth in the original certificate of incorporation on file. (Laws of 1854, Ch. 218, Sec. 1; and Laws of 1848, Ch. 319, Sec. 8; 3 Stat. at Large, 707.)

§ 155. Any vacancies which may occur in the board of trustees of such society, must be supplied by the remaining trustees at any legal meeting of the members; but there must always be at least five members of the board, who are not ministers of the gospel, or priests of any denomination. All of the trustees of course should be members of the society. (Laws of 1854, before cited, Sec. 6; 3 Stat. at Large, 705.)

§ 156. Additions may undoubtedly be made to the membership of the society, in a mode and manner to be provided for by the by-laws of the society. The statute does not seem expressly to provide for accessions to the society, after the organization, except that it speaks of the trustees named in the certificate of incorporation, and "their successors"; but the power of initiating new members must be incident to the continued existence of the corporation, and such power must therefore exist in the society.

§ 157. The seats and pews in every church, building or edifice owned or occupied by any corporation organized under the act of 1854, in this Chapter referred to, must be forever free for the occupation and use, during public worship, of all persons choosing to occupy the same, and conducting themselves with propriety; and no rent, charge or exaction can ever lawfully be made or demanded for such

occupation or use; nor can any real estate belonging to any such corporation be sold or mortgaged by the trustees thereof, unless by the direction of the Supreme Court of the State, to be given in the same manner and in like cases as provided by law in relation to religious corporations, which will be fully explained in the course of this work. (Laws of 1854, Chap, 218, Sec. 4; 3 Stat. at Large, 705.)

CHAPTER XII.

RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES IN NEW YORK-INCORPORATION OF ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCHES-FORM OF PROCEEDING THE TRUSTEES -CONVEYANCES TO THE TRUSTEES.

§ 158. It has not been customary in this country for the Roman Catholic churches and congregations to become incorporated. The title to churches and other ecclesiastical property of the denomination was in the bishop of the diocese, and held by him in trust for the use and benefit of the respective churches and congregations in such diocese. The management of the ecclesiastical property was in the hands of the pastors respectively of each congregation, who were required to associate with them one or two reputable and competent laymen to assist in the administration of the temporalities of the church, the title remaining in the bishop. This practice was thought to foster a power in the priesthood inconsistent with the genius of our institutions; and, accordingly, the legislature of the State of New York, in 1855, passed an act which was supposed to make the practice precarious and unsafe. (Laws of 1855, Ch. 230.)

§ 159. By this act it was provided in plain terms that no

interest in property, real or personal, should be conveyable or descendible to any ecclesiastic or his successor in any ecclesiastical office; and that no title to any such estate should vest in any successor of such person; that none but legally incorporated religious societies within the State could take grants or devises of real property, dedicated or appropriated, or intended to be consecrated, dedicated or appropriated to the purposes of religious worship; that any real property of that description which had been theretofore granted, devised or demised to any person in any ecclesias tical office, or orders, by the designation of such officer or orders, or otherwise, should be deemed to be held in trust for the benefit of the church or congregation using the same; and unless previously conveyed to a religious society duly incorporated, upon the death of such ecclesiastic, the title to the same should vest in the religious corporation formed by such congregation or religious society, provided one was organized according to the laws of the State; and that in the event that such congregation or society should not become incorporated, the title to such property should vest in the people of the State, to be conveyed to such congregation or society whenever it should subsequently become incorporated. (Ib.)

160. The legislature of the State has now made special provision for the incorporation of Roman Catholic congregations and churches. Now, the Roman Catholic archbishop, or bishop of the diocese in which any Roman Catholic church may be erected, or intended to be erected, the vicar-general of such diocese and the pastor of such church for the time being, respectively, or a majority of them, may select and appoint two laymen, members of said church, and may, together with such laymen, sign a certificate in duplicate, showing the name and title by which they and their successors shall be known and distinguished as a body corporate,

by virtue of the act under which they propose to become incorporated; which certificate must be duly acknowledged or proved in the same manner as conveyances of real estate; and one of such certificates must be filed in the office of the Secretary of State, and the other in the office of the clerk of the county in which such church may be erected or intended so to be; whereupon the church or congregation becomes a body corporate by the name or title expressed in the certificate. (Laws of 1863, Chap. 45, Sec. 1.)

§ 161. The certificate may be in the following form:

We, the undersigned, the Roman Catholic Archbishop (or Bishop) of the Diocese of Albany, the Vicar General of such Diocese, the pastor of a Roman Catholic church or congregation in said diocese, and two laymen, members of said church or congregation, duly selected and appointed, hereby certify that the said church or congregation is hereby incorporated under the act of the legislature entitled "An act supplementary to the act entitled 'An act to provide for the incorporation of religious societies, passed April 5, 1813,' passed March 25, 1863," and that the name or title by which we and our successors shall be known and distinguished as a body corporate by virtue of the said act, is "St. Patrick's Church, Fulton."

The certificate must be in duplicate, and each acknowledged the same as deeds, and then filed as stated in the last preceding section. (Ib.)

§ 162. The persons signing the certificates constitute the trustees of the church or congregation thus incorporated, and the successors of any such Archbishop, Bishop, Vicar