ART. 26.] CORPORATIONS.

79

such sale; and provided, the clear yearly income from
the estate of any church, society or congregation, exclu-
sive of the rents of pews, collections in churches, fune-
ral charges and the like, shall not exceed the yearly
sum of twenty thousand dollars.

Yearly income

158. 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 agreed upon, or that shall
be, at the first time of electing agreed upon and adopted
by any particular church, society or congregation for
directing or managing their congregational or temporal
affairs.

Succession.

160. The minister for the time being, or senior min-
ister, 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 cor-
porate belonging to the same, exclusive of the number
heretofore prescribed.

Minister to be
a member of
the body poll-

161. If any contest shall arise in any church, society
or congregation, about the right of voting, or whether
the election has been fairly conducted, agreeably to the
true intent and meaning of this article, the parties con-
tending shall each of them choose one discreet and
reputable person from amongst the members or trus-
tees of some neighboring congregation or society of the
same religious persuasion, if any such there be, and if
none such, then of any other religious society, which
two persons shall choose a third, qualified in like man-
ner, and the said three persons shall meet at the place
where the difference has arisen, and hear and deter-

Right to vote
and election

mine upon the matter, and their judgment or award, or
the judgment or award of a majority of them, certified

Award.

Plan or agree-
ment.