Pennsylvania Act 1913-288 — CHURCH LANDS, DISPOSAL WHEN CHURCH IS INACTIVE

Act text

CHURCH LANDS, DISPOSAL WHEN CHURCH IS INACTIVE
                  Act of Jun. 5, 1913, P.L. 435, No. 288              Cl. 10
                                  AN ACT

     To authorize the courts of common pleas of any county, when any
        individual church within the county has become inactive or
        extinct, by reason of there being no resident or active
        trustees representing it, or otherwise, and the property of
        the church is liable to be wasted or destroyed, to appoint
        the trustees of the State body or organization representative
        of the denomination of which said church was a member as
        trustees for said church, to hold and dispose of the title to
        the property owned by said church, and defining the procedure
        thereon.

        Section 1.  Be it enacted, &c., That when any individual
     church, board, or agency of any religious organization shall
     become inactive or extinct, by reason of there being no resident
     or active trustees representing it or otherwise, the court of
     common pleas of the county wherein said church, board, or agency
     is located may appoint, as trustees of said church, board, or
     agency, the trustees or body corporate of the superior
     judicatory with which such church has been connected, when the
     territory covered by the said superior judicatory is within the
     State, or the trustees of the State body or organization
     representative of the denomination of which said church was a
     member, or any other appropriate board or agency of such
     religious organization, if duly incorporated under the laws of
     any State of the United States, to take, to administer, hold,
     and dispose of the title to the property of said church.
        (1 amended May 17, 1921, P.L.861, No.304)
        Section 2.  Upon the presentation of a petition to the court
     of common pleas of any county, or one of the judges thereof in
     vacation, by any person, a member of said church, board, or
     agency, or a member of the superior judicatory with which such
     church, board, or agency has been connected, or a member of the
     State body or organization representative of the denomination of
     which said church, board, or agency was a member or agency,
     setting forth that any individual church, board, or agency in
     said county has become inactive or extinct by reason of no
     active or resident trustees or body corporate representing it or
     otherwise, and that its property is liable to be wasted or
     destroyed, the said court, or a judge thereof during vacation,
     shall grant a rule to show cause why the prayer of the petition
     shall not be granted, and require a copy of the petition and
     rule to be published for four successive weeks in at least one
     newspaper, of the county where said church, board, or agency is
     located, of general circulation. And upon full hearing of the
     matter, shall make such order in the case as shall be most
     likely to preserve the property of said church, board, or agency
     in the interests of the denomination, within the State or
     elsewhere, according to the uses to which it was intended to be
     devoted.
        (2 amended May 17, 1921, P.L.861, No.304)