First M.E. Church of Chicago v. Dixon

• Decision Date: 17 February 1899
• Citation: 178 Ill. 260,52 N.E. 887
• Parties: FIRST M. E. CHURCH OF CHICAGO v. DIXON et al.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

178 Ill. 260

52 N.E. 887

FIRST M. E. CHURCH OF CHICAGO

v.DIXON et al.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Feb. 17, 1899.

Appeal from appellate court, First district.

Bill by Arthur Dixon and others against the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Chicago and others. Decree for plaintiffs was affirmed by the appellate court (77 Ill. App. 166), and the named defendant appeals. Reversed.Wm. D. Barge, for appellant.

Wilson, Moore & McIlvaine, for appellees.

The appellant is a religious corporation organized by virtue of a general statute adopted by the general assemblyon the 6th day of February, 1835, under the corporate name of the ‘Methodist Episcopal Church of the town of Chicago.’ This corporate name was changed to the ‘First Methodist Episcopal Church of Chicago,’ its present name, by an act of the general assembly approved February 14, 1857. The appellees, who are the trustees of the appellant church, filed this their bill in chancery in the circuit court of Cook county against the corporation, a number of the members of the church, and the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church. The bill alleged the appellant church was at the date of the passage of the said act of 1857, and ever since has been, the owner of a lot situated on the southeast corner of Washington and Clark streets, in the city of Chicago; that shortly after the great fire of 1871 it erected on said lot a four-story building, covering the entire surface thereof, the first and second floors of which the corporation has always rented for business and office purposes, and has appropriated the third and fourth floors to religious purposes, as an audience room for the congregation of the church, church parlors, and a lecture room; that the building is not fireproof, and has no elevator; that it has a truss roof, constructed with wooden trusses, which have largely decayed, and have had to be patched and re-enforced, and will have to be removed in the near future; alleges that adjacent to said building, upon the east side, there has been constructed, by the Chicago Title & Trust Company, a fireproof building 16 stories high, and this has rendered it very difficult to use the chimneys in the church building, by reason of the draft therein being rendered imperfect, and being interfered with by said building, and leading to the escape of gases and smoke; that the church building was erected shortly after the fire of 1871, in accordance with the methods of construction then in vogue; that since that day the methods of construction have largely changed; that elevators have almost universally been introduced in office buildings in Chicago; that the property is in the heart of the business district of the city; that many large, commodious, and fireproof structures have been erected in the immediate neighborhood of the property, in which there is good elevator service and vault room, and with these buildings the church property has to compete in the rental of its property; that by reason of the decay in connection with the roof of the building, and the depreciation of the building by ordinary wear and tear, it would be necessary, in the near future, either to tear down said building or to make extensive and costly repairs thereon, in order that the same may be available for use; that the audience room of the church building should not be situated higher than the second floor, and that if the building should be repaired, and a new roof placed thereon, it would still be wholly unsuited to the present requirements of the neighborhood in which it is situated, and the church would still be unable to compete with other business buildings in that immediate neighborhood, and it would produce no adequate returns, as compared with the value of the land upon which the building is situated. The complainants further say that at the date of the erection of the present building money was borrowed to pay, in part, the cost thereof, which indebtedness has since been paid in full, and the lot is now free any mortgage or incumbrance; that, in order to secure any adequate returns from the lot, it will be necessary in the near future either to make a ground lease thereof for a term of not less than 99 years, or to tear down the present building, and erect a modern building, with elevators therein, and of the character of other buildings erected in the business part of Chicago within the last few years; that the said church has no considerable means available therefor, and, in order to enable it to erect any such building, it will be necessary to borrow money, and to secure the repayment thereof by mortgage or trust deed upon the lot. The bill set forth in full the special act passed by the general assembly in the year 1857, and also another special act approved February 13, 1865, but made no reference to the fact, which appears by way of recitation in the act of 1857, that the said appellant was incorporated under a general act providing for the incorporation of religious societies approved February 6, 1835. The prayer of the bill is that the powers of the complainants and their successors, as trustees of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, under section 4 of the amendatory act, under the facts now existing, as stated in this bill, with reference to conveying, by way of mortgage or trust deed, said lot, for the purpose of securing money which may be borrowed by the complainants and their successors for the purpose of erecting a new building upon the lot, and also the powers of complainants and their successors with reference to making a long ground lease of the lot, may be construed by the court, and that the complainants or their successors be decreed to be vested with the power to convey said lot, by way of mortgage or trust deed, for the purpose aforesaid, and also, in their discretion, to make ground leases thereof for such term or terms as they may think best. The defendants entered their appearance, and default was allowed against all of them except the appellant corporation, in whose behalf answer was filed admitting the allegations of the bill, and submitting the question of the power of the trustees to incumber said lot, and erect a new building thereon, or make a ground lease thereon, as prayed in the bill. Proof was taken before a master, and a decree rendered to the effect the corporation might cease to use the lot as the site for a church house, and might procure another building elsewhere for the religious purposes of the corporation, and that the trustees were vested with power to execute a mortgage or trust deed on the lot to raise a fund to be used in the erection of a new building thereon of the character referred to in the bill, or might make a lease of said lot for business purposes for such term of years as might to said trustees seem best. The decree was affirmed by the appellate court for the First district, and the appellant corporation has perfected an appeal to this court.

BOGGS, J. (after stating the facts).

The appellant corporation was organized under a general act of the general assembly adopted in the year 1835, but by the provisions of a special act approved February 14, 1857, the powers possessed by religious corporations organized under the third division of chapter 25 of the statutes, as then revised (Purple's St. 1856, p. 187), were also granted to and conferred upon it. The general statute of 1835 and that of 1856 are not materially different. The statute in force in 1856 authorized religious corporations to receive land by ‘gifts and devises,’ which was not provided by the act of 1835, and to hold land in a quantity of ten acres, being five acres more than was provided by the act of 1835. Otherwise the powers conferred upon religious societies by the two statutes are the same.

Sections 44, 46, div. 3, c. 25, Purple's St. 1856, relate to the powers possessed by the trustees of religious corporations, and are as follows:

‘Sec. 44. It shall be lawful for the members of any society or congregation heretofore formed in this state for purposes of religious worship, and for members of any society or congregation which may hereafter be formed for the purpose aforesaid, to receive, by gift, devise or purchase, a quantity of land not exceeding ten acres, and to erect or build thereon such houses and buildings as they may deem necessary for the purposes aforesaid, and to make such other use of the land and make such other improvements thereon as may be deemed necessary for the comfort and convenience of such society or congregation; and such society or congregation may assume a name and elect or appoint any number of trustees, not exceeding ten, who shall be styled trustees of such society or congregation by the name assumed; and the title to the land purchased and improvements made shall be vested in the trustees, by the name and style assumed as aforesaid.’

‘Sec. 46. The trustees elected or appointed under the provisions of this division, and their successors, shall have perpetual succession and existence; and the title to land herein authorized to be purchased, and to the buildings and improvements thereon, shall be vested in the said trustees by their assumed name, and their successors, forever, and the same shall be held for the uses and purposes herein named and no other; and such trustees shall be capable, in law, to sue and be sued, implead and be impleaded, answer and be answered unto, defend and be defended, in all courts of law or equity whatsoever, in and by the name and style assumed as aforesaid, and shall have power, under the direction of the society or congregation, to execute deeds and conveyances of and concerning the estate and property herein authorized to be held by such society or congregation; and such deeds or conveyances shall have the same effect as like deeds or conveyances made by natural persons: provided, that no deed or conveyance shall be made of any estate held as aforesaid, so as to defeat or destroy the...