ART. 23] RELIGIOUS CORPORATIONS. 665

for public meetings of the said church, society or congregation,
and by such persons as are allowed to have a voice in the man-
agement 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 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.

Erhardt v. Balto. Monthly Meeting, 93 Md. 681.

1888, art. 23, sec. 208. 1868, ch. 471, sec. 160

304. 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 mem-
ber of the body politic or corporate belonging to the same,
exclusive of the number heretofore prescribed in section 301.

Ibid. sec. 209. 1868, ch. 471, sec 161.

305. If any contest shall arise in any church, society or con-
gregation 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 contending shall each of them choose
one discreet and reputable person from amongst the members
or trustees 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 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.

Ibid. sec. 210. 1868, ch. 471, sec. 162

306. At the first election or appointment of every body
politic or corporate aforesaid, every church, society or corpora-
tion assembled as already directed, shall determine on their
plan, agreement or regulation, specifying distinctly the time
and manner of electing trustees, and the manner in which the
succession shall be perpetuated, and containing an exact