JOHN FRANCIS MERCER, ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR., NOVEMBER.

1802.

acknowledged in this state, and protected in the free and full exercise of their religion by the con-
stitution, 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 or more that
thirteen, which persons, so elected, shall be and are hereby constituted a body politic or corporate,
upon being registered as herein after directed, to act as trustees, in the name and behalf of the par-
ticular church, society or congregation, for which they are respectively chosen, and to manage the
estaite, property, interest and inheritance of the same, in the most upright and careful manner, and
shall moreover have perpetual succession in 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.

CHAP.
CXL

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 lor public meetings of the said church, society er,
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 re-
spective 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 they 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 tem-
poral concerns; provided always, that every trustee or member of any corporation aforesaid shall
be of the same religious seel 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 vir-
tue of his ministry, be a member of the body politic or corporate belonging to the same, exctusive
of the number heretofore prescribed.

When and
where to be
chosen, &c

IV. AND BE IT ENACTED, That in case any debate shall arise in any church, society or congre-
gation, 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 neighbour-
ing 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 de-
bate, the par-
ties to choose
persons, &c

V. AND BE IT ENACTED, That at the first election or appointment of every body politic or cor-
porate aforesaid, every church, society or congregation, assembled as already directed, shall deter-
mine 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 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 herein after 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 great-
est 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 conducted; and the said plan or agreement,
so acknowledged and certified, shall be filed by the said trustees with the cterk 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 purposes, at the expence of the several corporations in that county whose
proceedings 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 bis 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
R were

At the first e-
lection to fix on
their plan, &c