General or pastor respectively, for the time being, is made, by virtue of his office the trustee of such church in place of his predecessor. Such laymen will hold their office respectively for the term of one year, and whenever the office of any such layman becomes vacant by death, removal, resignation or otherwise, his successor must be appointed in the same manner as is provided for his original selection, and which is hereinbefore described in this chapter. (Ib.)

§ 163. It is probable that a Roman Catholic church or congregation can also proceed and become incorporated, if they choose so to do, under the provisions of section three of the act entitled "An act to provide for the incorporation of religious societies," passed April 5, 1813, and which will be fully explained in the course of this work. In case any such church or congregation should become incorporated under the third section of that act, their officers would be the same, and they would be governed by the same rules as other religious societies organized under the same section.

§ 164. The trustees of every such Roman Catholic church or congregation, and their successors, will possess all the powers and authority granted to the trustees of any church, congregation or society, by the fourth section of the aforesaid act of 1813, which will be hereafter fully described in this work. Such trustees will also have the power to fix or ascertain the salary to be paid to any pastor or assistant pastor of such church. The trustees are also required to exhibit, upon oath, to the Supreme Court, in the judicial district in which the church is situated, once in three years, an inventory of all the estate, real and personal, belonging to such church, and of the annual income thereof. The inventory must be filed in the office of the clerk of the county

in which such building may be situated. (Laws of 1863, Ch. 45, Secs. 2 and 3.)

§ 165. Should any such Roman Catholic church, thus incorporated, become dissolved by means of any non-user or neglect to exercise any of the powers necessary for its preservation, or otherwise, the same may be reincorporated in the manner before described, at any time within six years from the date of such dissolution, whereupon all the property, real and personal, belonging to such dissolved corporation at the time of its dissolution, will vest in the new corporation. (Ib., Sec. 4.)

§ 166. All conveyances to any church, incorporated under the said act of 1863, of any real estate appropriated, before the passage of that act, to the use of such church or congregation thereof, or intended so to be, are by the said act confirmed and declared valid and effectual. (Ib., Sec. 5.)

CHAPTER XIII.

RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES IN NEW YORK-THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDSTRUSTS FOR MAY BE CREATED THE UNITED SOCIETY OF SHAKERS-TRUSTS FOR MAY BE CREATED.

§ 167. The society of Friends, commonly called Quakers, is a sect of Christian professors founded in England, by George Fox, about the middle of the seventeenth century. Many of them soon thereafter emigrated to America, and they are now found in all parts of the Union. They have no incorporated religious societies, but, in their stead, they have established "meetings," of which all who regularly

attend them, with their families, are members. They have regular monthly, quarterly and yearly "meetings," which embrace large areas of territory, and thus extend fellowship, sympathy and co-operation among isolated societies, and keep alive what they regard the primitive idea of a church. These "meetings" have become an established "institution," and are recognized in the statutes of several of the States.

of

§ 168. In the State of New York all deeds or declarations of trusts of real or personal estate, executed and delivered to any person or persons in trust or for the use and benefit any meeting of the religious society of Friends, and the trusts thereby created or declared, are valid, and the legal estates may be transmitted, and the trusts so created or declared may be continued and pursued so long as may be required for the purposes of the trusts, by conveyances from the trustees named in such deeds to other trustees appointed by such meeting, and by conveyances from them to others appointed in like manner or otherwise, according to the directions of such meeting. (Laws of 1839, Chap. 184, Sec. 1.)

§ 169. Trusts of real or personal estate, for the benefit of any meeting of the religious society of Friends, may at any time be created for the use of such meeting, according to the regulations and rules of discipline of said society; and the legal estate of any property so held in trust will become vested in the trustees, and in those to whom such property may be conveyed in trust, by the appointment of such meeting, so long as may be required for the objects and purposes of such trusts. (Ib. Sec. 2.)

§ 170. The provisions specified in the last two preceding sections are not to be so construed as to impair or diminish [Tr.]

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the rights of any person, meeting or association of persons claiming to be a meeting of the religious society of Friends, which such person, or meeting or association of persons claiming to be a meeting as aforesaid, held either in law or equity to or in any real or personal estate held in trust for the use and benefit of any meeting of the said religious society prior to the division which took place in said religious society at the yearly meeting held in the city of New York, in the month of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight. (Ib.)

§ 171. No such real or personal estate can be held in trust for any meeting of such society, the annual value or income of which shall exceed five thousand dollars. (Ib.)

§ 172. The Shakers are an offshoot from the Friends or Quakers, who call themselves the "United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing," originating in England about the year 1770, and are now confined mostly, if not entirely, to the United States. In their theological creed, as well as in their practices, they now differ entirely from the Friends. Like the Quakers, however, they have no incorporated religious societies, but hold to the principle of a community of property, and form themselves into families, uniting households or settlements, after the model of the plan of Ann Lee, the foundress of the sect, in the midst of which they have their houses of worship and schools. These societies or settlements are recognized in the statutes of the State of New York.

173. By the laws of New York all deeds of trust in relation to real and personal estate, executed and delivered prior to the first day of January, eighteen hundred and thirty, to any persons in trust for any united society of the people commonly called Shakers, are made valid and effectual to

vest in the trustees the legal estates and interests purported to be conveyed by such deeds, to and for the uses and purposes declared therein, or declared by any declaration of trusts executed by such trustees, in the same manner and to the same effect as before the first day of January, eighteen hundred and thirty; and such legal estates and trusts, and all the legal authority with which the original trustees were vested by virtue of their appointment and conferred powers, are made forever to descend in regular succession to their successors in office and trust, who in conformity to the constitution of said society have been duly chosen and appointed. (Laws of 1839, Chap. 174, Sec. 1, as amended by the Laws of 1849, Ch. 373.)

§ 174. Trusts of real and personal property for the benefit of any such united society of Shakers may, since the passage of the said act of 1839, be created for the use of the members of such society, according to the religious constitution of such society; and the legal estates of any property so held in trust is vested in the trustees and in those to whom such property may be transmitted in trust by the appointment of any such society, so long as may be required for the objects and purposes of such trust. (Laws of 1839, Chap. 174, Sec. 2, as amended by the Laws of 1852, Ch. 203, Sec. 1.)

§ 175. No such society, however, can become beneficially interested in any real or personal property, or acquire any equitable right or interest in any such property, either directly or indirectly, the annual value or income of which, after deducting necessary expenses, shall exceed twenty-five thousand dollars, on pain of forfeiture of the privileges conferred by the act; nor can any trustee be a trustee of more than one such society at the same time.

§ 176. The word "society," for the

(Ib.)