Kreshik v. Saint Nicholas Cathedral, 824

Decision Date06 June 1960
Docket NumberNo. 824,824
Citation363 U.S. 190,4 L.Ed.2d 1140,80 S.Ct. 1037
PartiesWassil A. KRESHIK v. SAINT NICHOLAS CATHEDRAL
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

Messrs. Philip Adler and Eugene Gressman, for petitioners.

Messrs. Ralph Montgomery Arkush and Charles H. Tuttle, for respondent.

PER CURIAM.

The motion for leave to proceed upon the record in No. 3, October Term 1952, and the petition for certiorari, are granted.

In a prior decision in this litigation, we held that the right conferred under canon law upon the Archbishop of the North American Archdiocese of the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church, as the appointee of the Patriarch of Moscow, to the use and occupancy of the St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York City, owned by respondent corporation, was 'strictly a matter of ecclesiastical government,' and as such could not constitutionally be impaired by a state statute, New York Religious Corpo- rations Law, McKinney's Consol.Laws, c. 51, Art. 5—C, purporting to bestow that right on another. Kedroff v. St. Nicholas Cathedral, 344 U.S. 94, 73 S.Ct. 143, 97 L.Ed. 120. We reversed a judgment of the New York Court of Appeals against the petitioners' predecessors in office, and remanded the case for 'further action * * * not in contravention' of our opinion. Id., 344 U.S. at page 121, 73 S.Ct. at page 157.

The Court of Appeals ordered a retrial of the question of petitioners' right to use and occupancy, on a common-law issue assertedly left open by our invalidation of the statutory basis for the former decision. 306 N.Y. 38, 114 N.E.2d 197. After trial, the Court of Appeals directed the entry of judgment against petitioners, holding that, by reason of the domination—so found by that court to be the fact—of the Patriarch by the secular authority in the U.S.S.R., his appointee could not under the common law of New York validly exercise the right to occupy the Cathedral. 7 N.Y.2d 191, 196 N.Y.S.2d 655, 164 N.E.2d 687.

As the opinions of the Court of Appeals make evident, compare 302 N.Y. 1, at pages 29—33, 96 N.E.2d 56, at pages 72—74, with 7 N.Y.2d at pages 209—216, 196 N.Y.S.2d at pages 667—673, 164 N.E.2d at pages 696—700, the decision now under review rests on the same premises which were found to have underlain the enactment of the statute struck down in Kedroff. 344 U.S. at pages 117—118, 73 S.Ct. at page 155. But it is established doctrine that '(i)t is not of moment that the State has here acted solely through its judicial branch, for whether legislative or judicial, it is...

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112 cases
  • DeMuth v. Miller
    • United States
    • Pennsylvania Superior Court
    • January 11, 1995
    ...of Educ., 431 U.S. 209, 97 S.Ct. 1782, 52 L.Ed.2d 261 (1977) (enforcement of union-shop agreement); Kreshik v. Saint Nicholas Cathedral, 363 U.S. 190, 80 S.Ct. 1037, 4 L.Ed.2d 1140 (1960) (determining right to occupancy of religious cathedral); Casa Marie, Inc. v. Superior Ct. of Puerto Ric......
  • Hubbard v. J Message Grp. Corp.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of New Mexico
    • July 11, 2018
    ...organizations from secular control or manipulation is grounded in the First Amendment); see Kreshik v. St. Nicholas Cathedral , 363 U.S. 190, 191, 80 S.Ct. 1037, 4 L.Ed.2d 1140 (1960) (holding that the religion clauses of the First Amendment apply to the judiciary as well as to the legislat......
  • In re Lubbock
    • United States
    • Texas Supreme Court
    • June 11, 2021
    ...internal affairs. EEOC v. Cath. Univ. of America , 83 F.3d 455, 460 (D.C. Cir. 1996) ; see Kreshik v. St. Nicholas Cathedral , 363 U.S. 190, 191, 80 S.Ct. 1037, 4 L.Ed.2d 1140 (1960) (per curiam). Churches have a fundamental right under the First Amendment to decide for themselves, free fro......
  • Dayton Christian Schools v. Ohio Civ. Rights Com'n
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio
    • January 6, 1984
    ...(1929); Kedroff v. St. Nicholas Cathedral, 344 U.S. 94, 107, 73 S.Ct. 143, 149, 97 L.Ed. 120 (1952); Kreshik v. St. Nicholas Cathedral, 363 U.S. 190, 80 S.Ct. 1037, 4 L.Ed.2d 1140 (1960); Presbyterian Church in United States v. Mary Elizabeth Blue Hull Memorial Presbyterian Church, 393 U.S.......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
3 books & journal articles
  • Debt Among the Faithful
    • United States
    • Kansas Bar Association KBA Bar Journal No. 88-6, June 2019
    • Invalid date
    ...Church of Stanley, Inc., 53 Kan. App. 2d 622, 641-42, 390 P.3d 581, 594 (Kan. App. 2017). [52] Kreshik v. Saint Nicholas Cathedral, 363 U.S. 190, 80 S. Ct. 1037, 4 L. Ed. 2d 1140 (1960). [53] Heartland Presbytery v. Presbyterian Church of Stanley, Inc., 53 Kan. App. 2d 622, 642, 390 P.3d 58......
  • Debt Among the Faithful: Churches, Lenders & Troubled Loans in Kansas
    • United States
    • Kansas Bar Association KBA Bar Journal No. 88-6, June 2019
    • Invalid date
    ...Church of Stanley, Inc., 53 Kan.App.2d 622, 641-42, 390 P.3d 581, 594 (Kan. App. 2017). [52] Kreshik v. Saint Nicholas Cathedral, 363 U.S. 190, 80 S.Ct. 1037, 4L.Ed.2d 1140 (1960). [53] Heartland Presbytery v. Presbyterian Church of Stanley, Inc., 53 Kan.App.2d 622, 642, 390 P.3d 581, 594 (......
  • Narrative Pluralism and Doctrinal Incoherence in Hosanna-tabor
    • United States
    • Mercer University School of Law Mercer Law Reviews No. 64-2, January 2013
    • Invalid date
    ...state court judgment that diocese did not follow its own doctrinal procedures in dismissing bishop); Kreshik v. St. Nicholas Cathedral, 363 U.S. 190 (1960) (holding state court lacked power to decide theological questions in adjudicating church property dispute); Kedroff v. St. Nicholas Cat......

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