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JOHN FRANCIS MERCER, ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR.
of the same, in the most upright and careful manner, and
albeit moreover have perpetual succession in the law, fact and name, as
herein after 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. |
1802.
CHAP. 111. |
3. 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 direction 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 of electing adopted and agreed
upon, by any particular church, society or congregation, for ordering,
directing or managing, their congregational or temporal
concerns; Provided always, that every trustee or member of any
corporation aforesaid shall be of the same religious sect or denomination
within 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. |
When and where
every body politic
shall be chosen.
Provisos. |
4. 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 neighbouring 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, certified under their hands and seals to the contending parties,
shall be final. |
In case of debate
about the right
of voting, parties
contending to
choose each one
person. |
5. 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, agreement 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 corporations of the persons
severally electing and elected, and tot elect and to be elected thereafter,
and also the name, style or title, of the corporation, by which |
At the first election,
plan of
electing trustees
and keeping up
the succession, to
be determined. |
VOL. I.
30
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