Hall v. Deskins
| Decision Date | 31 October 1952 |
| Citation | 252 S.W.2d 417 |
| Parties | HALL et al. v. DESKINS et al. |
| Court | Supreme Court of Kentucky |
Stratton & Stratton, Pikeville, for appellants.
Wine & Venters Pikeville, for appellees.
This case concerns the use of church property after a schism has occurred among the members of the congregation. The chancellor adjudged that the appellees were entitled to possession and control of the property, that the appellants be permanently enjoined from interfering with them in the use of it, and ordered the appellants to remove the lock which they had put on the church door.
The evidence discloses that on July 17, 1942, Marjorie Phillips, now deceased, conveyed to Garrett A. Deskins, W. B. Gannon and Monroe Murphy, as trustees, a small tract of land located on John's Creek in Pike County, Kentucky. The deed contains the following provision:
Shortly after the conveyance the church was erected on the land. At the time of the institution of this suit the membership consisted of only about thirty-five persons and no regular preacher has ever been employed. J. B. Deskins, one of the appellees in this action, who is also an elder of the church, preached occasionally and other persons were invited to hold services there.
The present controversy arose when Garrett Deskins and Monroe Murphy, who are two of the trustees of the church, in concert with certain other members of the congregation invited a preacher by the name of Roy Hall to hold services in it, but J. B. Deskins, custodian of the one key to the church, refused to surrender it for the purpose of permitting Roy Hall to preach. Upon advice of counsel, the pro-Hall group proceeded to remove the lock from the door of the church and substituted one of their own.
The evidence discloses that the beliefs and doctrines of the Church of Christ, followed by appellants, are unlike those of the Christian Church, as followed by appellees; that the former is a separate and distinct denomination from the latter; and that the teachings of Roy Hall as a minister of the Church of Christ are materially different from the teachings of the Christian Church. The major points of difference are that the appellees, as members of the Christian Church, favor instrumental music in the church, the support of missionary organizations, the activity of women in churches, and the use of literature in Sunday School, while the appellants, as members of the Church of Christ, or 'antis' as they are often called, are vigorously opposed to such practices. In Parker v. Harper, 295 Ky. 686, 175 S.W.2d 361, we recognized that there was a substantial doctrinal difference between the two denominations involved in this case.
It appears from the evidence in the case at...
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...deemed to have been waived. See Buchanan v. Sledge, 272 Ky. 15, 113 S.W.2d 859; Latham v. Latham, 305 Ky. 101, 203 S.W.2d 45; Hall v. Deskins, Ky., 252 S.W.2d 417. The judgment is SANDIDGE, J., not sitting. ...
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