The South Carolina Supreme Court has published its decision on the All Saints litigation, giving a complete victory to “big All Saints” (Chuck Murphy and Terrell Glenn’s church, and the AMiA), and rejecting the claims of the minority All Saints’, the Diocese and TEC to rights in the All Saints’ property.
In brief, the court found:
1) that the 1745 Pawley Trust was no longer valid, and thus that All Saints Parish, Waccamaw, Inc. held legal title to its property under South Carolina’s Church Act of 1767, and,
2) the Dennis Canon declaring that the Parish held its property in trust for the Diocese and the National Church under the Dennis Canon had any legal effecton title to the All Saints’ congregation’s property. The court cited the “axiomatic principle of law that a person or entity [i.e.TEC] must hold title to property in order to declare that it is held in trust for the benefit of another….” [decision, p. 13 – internet copy]. Since TEC and the Diocese did not hold title to All Saints’ property, no TEC canon or diocesan action could create a trust interest in that property.
The court went on to hold that All Saints’ had properly/legally amended its by-laws and constitution in January 2004 to sever the church’s legal ties to TEC and the Diocese. In reaching this conclusion, the court overruled the decision of the lower court to apply “the deference approach” – a judicial approach to resolving church disputes which gives great deference to how the higher-up authorities in the church attempted to resolve the dispute – and instead applied the “neutral principles of law” approach which resolves the dispute using, in this case, principles of corporate law, property law and the law of trusts that would be used for any litigation. Since All Saints’ had properly complied with applicable “neutral principles of law” when it severed its ties to TEC and the Diocese, that severance was legal and binding.
Luke Fourteen Thirty Three 