USA > Maryland > A compilation containing the constitution and canons of the Protestant Episcopal church in the diocese of Maryland; > Part 12
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LAWS OF MARYLAND ON RELIGIOUS MATTERS.
Demmett, of the new St. John's Church Congregation, and John Moores, Israel D. Maulsby and George K. Amos, of the Rock Spring Church Con- gregation, in the Parish aforesaid, in Baltimore and Harford Counties, in trust for the use of the officiating Rector of the said Churches for the time being and his successors, he and they being of, and conforming to the rules and regulations of, the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the State of Mary- land, to hold any tract or tracts, or part of tracts of land, that they, by deed of bargain and sale, deed of gift, or by devise, may acquire, not exceeding one hundred and fifty acres, solely for the support of the Rector of the Parish in which the said Churches are situate ; and the said Trustees and their successors shall have an estate in fee simple in all such lands not exceeding one hundred and fifty acres as aforesaid, as they or their suc- cessors shall acquire a legal title to, as aforesaid.
And be it enacted, That the said Trustees shall, from time to time, fill up vacancies that may happen in their Board, by death, resignation, or other- wise, so as to keep up the number of six, three from each Congregation ; and the said Trustees shall, in case the Parish may at any time be without a Rector, take care of all such lands as they may acquire, and shall not suffer any waste or trespass to be committed thereon until another Rector can be got.
3. And be it enacted, That the Vestry of the aforesaid Parish, and the Rector thereof, shall in all cases, be governed by the act, entitled " An Act for the establishment of Vestries for each Parish in this State," passed at November session, seventeen hundred and ninety-eight.
4. And be it enacted, That it shall not be lawful for the Vestrymen of the new St. John's and the Rock Spring Churches, within St. John's Parish of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in Harford and Baltimore Counties, to choose more than one Minister to officiate in the two said Churches at any one time, anything in any law to the contrary notwithstanding.
1822-CHAPTER 4.
An Act to provide for the Election of a Vestry to Saint John's Church, in Queen Caroline Parish, in Anne Arundel County.
SEC. 2. And be it enacted, That after the first election of a Vestry to said Church, a new Vestry shall be annually, after Easter Monday in the year eighteen hundred and twenty-three, elected therefor, by the free white citizens twenty-one years of age, professing themselves members of said Church, and holding a pew or half a pew therein ; which said elections shall be made at the times, and in the manner that the elections of the Vestries of other Protestant Episcopal Churches in this State are made.
3. And be it enacted, That the Vestry to be elected to the 'said St. John's Church shall have and enjoy every right, power, privilege, and indulgence that is given or granted to or enjoyed by other Vestries of the Protestant Episcopal Churches within this State.
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LAWS OF MARYLAND ON RELIGIOUS MATTERS.
HANNAH MORE ACADEMY.
1837-CHAPTER 189.
An Act to incorporate the Trustees of the Hannah More Academy, in Baltimore County.1
Whereas, Mrs. Ann Neilson, late of Baltimore county, deceased, animated by the pure spirit of Christian benevolence, ånd a desire to promote the religious education of poor female children, did, by her last will and testa- ment, bearing date the fifteenth day of March, eighteen hundred and thirty-two, and recorded in the office of the Register of Wills of Baltimore county, devise to Washington Vanbibber and George L. Vanbibber, and the survivor of them, and the heirs of such survivor, two lots or parcels of ground in the said county, in trust, for the purpose of establishing a female seminary, to be called, as directed by the codicil to said will, "The Hannah More Academy; " and did also bequeath to the said Washington Vanbibber the sum of ten thousand dollars, in trust, for the same object ; six thousand dollars, part thereof, to be expended in the erection of a suitable dwelling and out-houses and other necessary improvements, and the remaining four thousand dollars to be safely invested, and the interest thereof to be applied to the education of little girls as directed in the said will, and for the purpose of more effectually promoting the interests of the said institution, did, by her said will, nominate and appoint the Rev. J. P. K. Henshaw, the Rev. John Johns, Clotworthy Birnie, Sr., Roger Birnie, Washington Vanbibber, and George L. Vanbibber to be trustees, with full power and authority to regulate and superintend the affairs and interests of the said Academy, with power to fill any vacancies arising from death, refusal to act, resignation, or removal to a distance of any of the said trustees ; also, whereas, it is represented by the trustees of said Academy that the necessary buildings have been erected according to the directions of the said testatrix, and the said Academy has been for some years in successful operation, and that the benevolent designs of the pious founder will be more effectually secured by granting an act of incorporation :- Therefore,
SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland, That the Reverend J. P. K. Henshaw, D. D., the Rev. John Johns, D. D., the Rev. Charles C. Austin, Clotworthy Birnie, Sr., Washington Vanbibber, and Franklin Anderson, the present trustees of the said Academy, and their successors to be chosen as hereinafter mentioned, shall be, and are hereby, created and declared to be a body politic and corporate, by the name, style, and title of "The Trustees of the Hannah More Academy ; " and by the same name shall have perpetual succession, and shall be capable in law and equity to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, in any court of law or equity in this State or elsewhere, and to have a common seal, and to perform all such acts, and make such by-laws, rules, and regulations, consistent with the laws of this State and the intentions of the said testa- trix, as declared in her said last will and testament, as may appear to be
1. See Resolutions of Convention relating to Hannah More Academy, p. 55.
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necessary or convenient for managing the concerns of the said corporation, and for fully exercising and carrying into effect the powers granted by this act.
SEC. 2. And be it enacted, That in case of a vacancy happening among the said trustees by death, refusal to act, resignation or removal to remote situations, so as to render it inconvenient to them to attend to the perform- ance of the duties of the trust, the same shall be filled by a majority of the remaining trustees, so as to keep up the number of six trustees forever.
SEC. 3. And be it enacted, That it may be lawful for the said Trustees of the Hannah More Academy and their successors, to receive from the said Washington Vanbibber and George L. Vanbibber a conveyance and assignment of the property, real and personal, devised to them, in trust as aforesaid, and to hold and use the same for the purposes of the said corpo- ration, and also receive and hold, for the same purpose, any other estate, in lands, tenements, hereditaments, goods, chattels, moneys, or effects that may be given, granted, or bequeathed to them by any other person or persons whatsoever ; provided, the same do not in the whole exceed the yearly value or sum of five thousand dollars, and to invest the funds of the said corporation, and to change such investments from time to time as they may think proper.
SEC. 4. And be it enacted, That nothing in this act contained shall prejudice the rights of the heirs-at-law of the said Ann Neilson.
1874-CHAPTER 15.
An act supplementary to the act to incorporate the Hannah More Academy of Baltimore County, passed at December session, 1837, Chapter 189.
Whereas, by resolution of the Diocesan Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Diocese of Maryland, passed on the twenty-eighth of May, 1873, the said Hannah More Academy was accepted and received as the Diocesan School for Girls ; and whereas the said Convention, deem- ing it expedient that the present number of the Board of Trustees should be increased, and that the appointment of such additional Trustees, as well as the successors of the Board of Trustees hereafter to be appointed, should be made by said Diocesan Convention, did name three additional Trustees, the Rt. Rev. William Pinkney, D. D., Samuel G. Wyman, and William W. Corcoran ; and whereas such resolutions were passed upon the application, and with the unanimous consent of the present Board of Trus- tees of said Hannah More Academy : Therefore,
SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland, That the said Rt. Rev. William Pinkney, D. D., Samuel G. Wyman, and William W. Corcoran be, and they are hereby, added as Trustees to the present Board of Trustees of the Hannah More Academy, and so that on the acceptance of this act by the present Board of Trustees it shall thereafter consist of the following persons : The Rt. Rev. W. R. Whittingham, D. D., the Rt. Rev. William Pinkney, D. D .; the Rt. Rev. Arthur J. Rich, M. D. ; W. Chew Van Bibber, M. D .; Thomas E. Van Bibber, Hon. Wm. P. Maulsby, William
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S. Keech, Samuel G. Wyman, and William W. Corcoran, who and their successors shall thereafter be the body corporate known as "the Trustees of the Hannah More Academy," and shall have and exercise all the rights and powers conferred on the Trustees named in the act to which this is a supplement or enjoyed by the present Board of Trustees.
SEC. 2. And be it enacted, That the Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Maryland, and the Assistant Bishop thereof, if there be one, shall be ex officio members of the Board of Trustees of said Academy, and there shall be, in addition to such Bishop and Assistant Bishop, if there be one, seven other Trustees, or if there be no Assistant Bishop of said Diocese, eight other Trustees, who, with their successors, shall be elected or appointed by the said Convention in such manner as it shall prescribe, so as best to perpetuate the succession of the Trustees, to further the interests of the Academy and secure the benevolent designs of its founder.
SEC. 3. And be it enacted, That all parts of the act to which this is a supplement inconsistent herewith be, and the same are hereby, repealed.
SEC. 4. And be it enacted, That this act shall take effect as soon as it shall be accepted by the present Board of Trustees of the Hannah More Academy.
BALTIMORE CITY PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL MISSIONARY COMMITTEE.
Articles of Association, May 10, 1859.
Whereas, by an act of the General Assembly of Maryland, passed at December Session 1846, Chapter 323, it is, among other things, enacted, that power and authority is thereby granted to any individuals, other than free negroes and mulattoes, in any city or county of this State, under any name by them assumed, to associate for the purposes therein mentioned, and among others for charitable and religious purposes, and being so asso- ciated shall, on complying with the provisions of that act be considered a body politic and corporate :
And whereas, among the provisions of that act, it is enacted that, in order that any Association may have the benefit thereof, Articles of Association shall be entered into and signed by the members originating the same, and recorded ;
And whereas, also the City Committee of Missions in Baltimore, con- nected with the Protestant Episcopal Church, was instituted for charitable and religious purposes ; and it is desirable that it should have the power of holding real estate and doing corporate acts :
Now know all men by these presents, that we, the undersigned, free white citizens of the State of Maryland, and members of the said Com- mittee, have associated and do hereby associate for the religious and charitable purpose of purchasing, building, holding and maintaining free churches and mission school-houses, to be used for worship and instruction
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according to the doctrine, discipline and worship of the Protestant Epis- copal Church in the United States of America, and for "that purpose have entered into and signed these Articles of Association.
Article I. The name of the Association, which is hereby assumed, shall be the BALTIMORE CITY PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL MISSIONARY COMMIT- TEE.
Article II. The object of the Association shall be the purchasing, build- ing, holding and maintaining free churches and mission school-houses, and holding lands, whereon they are or may be erected, in connection with the Protestant Episcopal Church aforesaid, in the City of Baltimore.
Article III. The Association shall confine itself strictly to the objects hereinbefore set forth, and shall, on no account, engage in any operations for the accumulation of capital, with a view to profits and dividends for gain.
Article IV. Every person who is, or hereafter may be, a member of the Committee of Missions referred to in the preamble, or of any organization which the Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Maryland, or in any other Diocese within the limits of which the City of Baltimore may be included, may substitute for that Committee, shall, dur- ing his membership of such Committee or organization, be a member of the Association.
Article V. The affairs of this Association shall be conducted by five Trustees to be chosen by the members thereof, at such times and in such manner as the Association may from time to time appoint.
1860-CHAPTER 209.
An act entitled an act for the benefit of the Baltimore City Protestant Episcopal Missionary Committee.
Whereas, the Baltimore City Protestant Episcopal Missionary Committee have associated for the religious and charitable purpose of purchasing, building, holding and maintaining free churches and mission school-houses, to be used for worship and instruction according to the doctrine, discipline and worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, and have become incorporated under the provisions of an act of the General Assembly of this State, passed at December session in the year eighteen hundred and forty-six, chapter three hundred and twenty-three ; and whereas, the provisions of that act limit the value of the property which may be held by associations incorporated under the same to an amount too small to answer the purpose of said corporation.
SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland, That it shall be lawful for the Baltimore City Protestant Episcopal Missionary Committee, to acquire and hold property, whether real, personal or mixed, to the value of one hundred thousand dollars.
SEC. 2. And be it enacted, That this act shall take effect from and after its passage.
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REPEALED ACTS.
NOTE .- The three following acts are repealed by the Act of 1868, chap. 471, [art. 23 of Code of 1888,] but they are reprinted here because they are the foundation of the incorporation of our separate Congregations, and of some of our benevolent institutions. The rights and privileges of these Churches and institutions are saved by the third section of the first Article of the Code, notwithstanding the repeal of the acts under which they were acquired.
1802-CHAPTER 111.
An act to incorporate certain persons in every Christian Church or Con- gregation in this State.
Whereas, petitions from many religious societies have annually been preferred to this Legislature, and many are now before them, praying acts of incorporation, and it is reasonable and proper that all denominations of Christians within this State, whose members conduct themselves in a peaceable and orderly manner, should receive and enjoy equal rights and privileges, without partiality, preference, or distinction, in all things con- cerning the temporalities and government of their churches, congregations and societies : And whereas also, it is necessary to their welfare that they should be empowered to hold and acquire certain portions of property in a corporate or congregational capacity, and enter into various engagements of a civil or temporal nature, which can only be done by assistance of the General Assembly, which assistance may nevertheless be rightfully granted without disturbing private opinions, or affecting the rights of judgment in matters of religion, or imposing an involuntary burthen on any person whatsoever : And whereas it is most convenient to make provisions for their respective situations by a general law which shall reach their several exigencies in affairs of a temporal or civil nature, as far as a difference of circumstances will admit ; the General Assembly having therefore taken the premises into serious consideration, and conceiving themselves indis- pensably bound to secure and preserve the same quality of rights, privileges and advantages to all quiet and inoffensive Christian societies in this State, without any exception, whereby religion may be encouraged and diffused, and peace, order and universal tranquality prevail, have agreed to enact.
II. And be it enacted,1 That in every Christian church, or society or congregation, of whatsoever sect, order or denomination, now known, or which shall at any time hereafter be known and acknowledged in this State, and protected in the free and full exercise of their religion by the constitution and laws of the same, there shall be and remain sufficient power and authority in all the male persons above twenty-one years of age belonging to any such church, society or congregation, to elect, at their discretion, certain sober and discreet persons, not less than five nor more than thirteen, which persons, so elected, shall be and are hereby, consti- tuted a body politic or corporate, upon being registered as hereinafter directed, to act as trustees, in the name and behalf of the particular church, society, or congregation, for which they are respectively chosen, and to manage the estate, property, interest and inheritance of the same, in the most upright and careful manner, and shall, moreover have perpetual suc- cession in law, fact and name, as hereinafter prescribed, and shall, by their name of incorporation, have full power and lawful authority to sue and to be sued, to implead and to be impleaded, to answer and to be answered unto, in any court or courts of law or equity within this State, before any judge or judges, justice or justices, in all manner of suits and pleas whatever, and of what nature or kind soever such suits, pleas, or actions may be, in as full and effectual a manner as any other person or persons, bodies politic or corporate, may or can do.
1. See Act to confirm this Act, November Session, 1809, c. 139.
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III. And be it enacted, That every such body politic shall be chosen, and the succession kept up at such times and places as are ordinarily used for public meetings of the said church, society, or congregation, and by such persons as are allowed to have a voice in the management and direc- tion of congregational or temporal concerns, according to the known custom and usage of their respective denominations ; or the said body politic or corporate shall be chosen, and the succession kept up according to the rules, regulations, and practice, that may have been heretofore adopted and used, or that shall be at the first time of electing adopted and agreed upon, by any particular church, society, or congregation, for ordering, directing, or managing, their congregational or temporal concerns ; pro- vided always, that every trustee or member of any corporation aforesaid shall be of the same religious sect or denomination with the church, society, or congregation, by which he is chosen to this trust ; and provided also, that the Minister for the time being, or senior Minister, where there are more than one settled in any church, society, or congregation, shall always, in virtue of his ministry, be a member of the body politic or corporate belonging to the same, exclusive of the number heretofore prescribed.
IV. And be it enacted, That in case any debate shall arise in any church, society, or congregation, about the right of voting, or whether the election aforesaid hath been fairly conducted, agreeably to the true intent and meaning of this act, the parties contending shall each of them choose one discreet and reputable person from amongst the members or trustees of some neighboring church, society, or congregation, of the same religious persuasion, if any such there be, and if none such, then of any other Christian society, which two persons shall choose a third, qualified in like manner, and the said three persons shall meet at the place where the difference has arisen, and hear and determine upon the matter, and their judgment or award, or the judgment or award of a majority of them, certi- fied under their hands and seals to the contending parties, shall be final.
V. And be it enacted, That at the first election or appointment of every body politic or corporate aforesaid, every church, society, or congregation assembled as already directed, shall determine and fix on their plan, agree- ment, or regulation, mentioning and specifying distinctly the time and manner of electing trustees, and the manner in which the succession shall be perpetuated, and containing an exact description of the qualifications of the persons severally electing and elected, and to elect and to be elected thereafter, and also the name, style, or title of the corporation, by which it shall be thereafter called, distinguished, and known, and the name of the church, society, or congregation choosing the same, which said plan, agreement, or regulation, shall be entered in the book hereinafter directed to be kept by every the said body politic or corporate, and the same shall be acknowledged by the said trustees or a majority of them, before and certified by, any two justices of the peace for the county in which the said church, society, or congregation, or the greatest number of them shall reside, or the same shall be acknowledged before, and certified by, one of the Judges of the General Court, after being well assured by the said trustees, or a majority of them, that the proceedings have been legally and duly con- ducted ; and the said plan or agreement so acknowledged and certified, shall be filed by the said trustees with the clerk of the County Court where the said church, society, or congregation, or the greater part of them shall reside, within six months after such acknowledgment shall be made, and the same shall be recorded in a book to be provided for these special pur- poses, at the expense of the several corporations in that county whose pro- ceedings shall be so recorded, and a copy of the said proceedings from the records thereof, under the hand of the clerk and the public seal of his office, shall be of the same force and effect, in every court of law and equity within this State as the original proceedings would be if the same were produced in Court ; and if any future change or alteration shall be made in the original plan by authority of the congregation as aforesaid, such change or altera- tion shall in the same manner be made known and recorded ; and the said
8
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clerk shall be entitled to such fees for his services as are allowed by law for services of the like nature in matters belonging to his office.
VI. And be it enacted, That every corporation or body politic aforesaid respectively, and their successors, or the majority of them, by their name of incorporation aforesaid, shall have full power and authority to hold and use one common seal, to appoint the times and places of their meetings, and the number necessary to constitute a quorum, and shall moreover pro- vide and keep a good and sufficient record book, and cause to be therein registered a fair account of all the proceedings ; subject at all times to the inspection of the several members of the church, society, or congregation, in whose behalf the same are respectively entered, and the same shall be laid before a public meeting, when thereunto required by any five or more of the same ; and the said trustees, or a majority of them, shall have full power and authority to frame such rules and ordinances for conducting their concerns as may be necessary and convenient for accomplishing the end of their institution ; provided always, that nothing therein contained shall be repugnant to, but perfectly consistent with, the constitution and laws of this State.
VII. And be it enacted, That all and every of the said corporations or trustees and their successors, by their respective names or titles, shall be vested with an estate in fee-simple in any land or parcel of ground not exceeding two acres, and also in every chapel, meeting-house, or other house of worship belonging to or in the use of the particular church, society, or congregation for which they are respectively chosen as a body politic or corporate ; and shall also, by their respective names or titles, have absolute property in all books, plate or other ornaments, and all goods and chattels belonging to the said church, society or congregation, whether the same have been given, granted, or devised directly to the said church, society or congregation, or to any person in trust for them ; provided that the person or persons holding lands or goods and chattels in trust for any particular church or society as aforesaid shall voluntarily make over by indenture proper for that purpose to the trustees or body corporate of such particular church or society such lands or chattels for the use and benefit of such church, society or congregation.
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