MacKenzie v. Trustees of Presbytery of Jersey City

• Decision Date: 22 September 1905
• Citation: 61 A. 1027,67 N.J.E. 652
• Parties: MacKENZIE et al. v. TRUSTEES OF PRESBYTERY OF JERSEY CITY.
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

61 A. 1027

67 N.J.E. 652

MacKENZIE et al.

v. TRUSTEES OF PRESBYTERY OF JERSEY CITY.

Court of Errors and Appeals of New Jersey.

Sept. 22, 1905.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

Appeal from Court of Chancery.

Bill by Alexander MacKenzie and others against the Trustees of the Presbytery of Jersey City. Decree for plaintiffs, and defendant appeals. Reversed.

This was a suit in equity brought by Alexander MacKenzie, Hugh R. MacKenzie, Edward E. MacKenzie, James S. MacKenzie, Grace Ewing, Jessie Alexander, Isabella Craig, Rebecca E. Vanderbeck, Margaret R. Elkin, Rebecca M. Laidlaw, and Catharine M. Pierson, devisees and heirs at law of George R. MacKenzie, deceased, and Alexander MacKenzie, Hugh R. MacKenzie, Peter Alexander, and Charles Elkin, executors and trustees named in the will of the said George R. MacKenzie, deceased, against the Trustees of the Presbytery of Jersey City.

The bill of complaint alleged: That by a deed of the 6th day of May, A. D. 1885, afterwards delivered, acknowledged, and recorded, George R. MacKenzie and Rebecca, his wife, for the consideration of one dollar, bargained and sold and conveyed unto the Trustees of the Scotch Presbyterian Church of Jersey City, a corporation under the religious societies act, and their successors and assigns, with unlimited covenants for title, certain lands and tenements situate on the northerly side of Mercer street, Jersey City, N. J., distinguished as lots 22, 23, and 24, in block 65, on the map of the farm of Cornelius Van Vorst, deceased, with the appurtenances thereunto belonging, "to have and to hold all and singular the above-mentioned and described premises, together with the appurtenances, unto the said party of the second part, its successors and assigns, to its own proper use, benefit, and behoof, forever, on condition that the said party of the second part, the religious society now worshipping in the church erected upon said premises, shall be called and always continue to be called the Scotch Presbyterian Church of Jersey City, and the corporate name to be continued as it now legally is; also that the said corporation shall keep at all times said church and premises in proper repair; also that no instrumental music shall at any time be used in the worship of the church; and, further, should it become actually necessary to sell said premises at any time, that the proceeds of such sale shall be devoted to the same religious purpose by the same organization and upon the like conditions as herein stated; and on further condition that the church organization shall be under the care of the Presbytery of Jersey City, and its legitimate Presbyterian successors, and, if the above conditions are not complied with on the part of the party of the second part hereto, the said premises are to vest in the Presbytery of Jersey City and its legitimate Presbyterian successors, for Presbyterian religious purposes upon the same conditions aforesaid; and on further condition that there shall be no lien upon the said premises at any time for minister's salary or church expenses or any repairs upon the property." That at the time of the delivery of the said deed the said George R. MacKenzie addressed a letter to the said Trustees of the Scotch Presbyterian Church of Jersey City, in which he laid special emphasis upon the condition relating to the continuance of the name, the "Scotch Presbyterian Church," and the condition relating to the nonuse of instrumental music in worship. That on the delivery of the said deed, about the 22d day of May, A. D. 1885, the said the Trustees of the Scotch Presbyterian Church of Jersey City entered into possession of the said church and lands, and observed the conditions or terms of the said deed. That by a deed of the 11th day of May, A. D. 1887, afterwards delivered, acknowledged, and recorded, the said George R. MacKenzie and Rebecca, his wife, bargained and sold and conveyed unto the said Trustees of the Scotch Presbyterian Church of Jersey City, and their successors and assigns, with covenants for title, a certain parcel of land situate on the northerly side of Mercer street, Jersey City, N. J., distinguished as lot 25, in block 65, on the map of the farm of Cornelius Van Vorst, deceased, habendum et tenendum to them and their successors and assigns as above set forth, and "on further condition that the same shall be maintained and occupied by the party of the second part as a manse or dwelling for its minister, or pastor." That the said George R. MacKenzie died on or about the 6th day of January, A. D. 1892, leaving a will, afterwards proved in Sullivan county, N. Y., whereby he gave a part of his estate to his executors upon certain trusts, not yet fully performed, and the residue of his estate to the parties complainant That the said Trustees of the Scotch Presbyterian Church of Jersey City used the last-mentioned parcel of land as and for a manse until the early part of the year A. D. 1900, when they ceased to use either the church or the manse, and by deeds of bargain and sale of the 26th day of April, A. D. 1900, conveyed to the Trustees of the Presbytery of Jersey City, a body corporate, and their successors and assigns, in fee, the church and three lots of land, and the manse and lot of land, as above described. That on the 28th day of November, A. D. 1900, the said the Trustees of the Presbytery of Jersey City entered into a contract in writing with the Trustees of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity of Jersey City, a corporation under the religious societies act, for the sale to them in fee simple of the said church, manse, lands, and tenements, at or for the price of $23,000. That when the parties complainant first learned of the making of the two deeds of bargain and sale lastly mentioned, and of the said executory contract for sale, they inquired as to the proposed use of the proceeds, and learned that it was the intention of the Trustees of the Presbytery of Jersey City not to recognize the conditions of the two deeds made by the said George R. MacKenzie, but to use the proceeds for the benefit of churches connected with the Presbytery of Jersey City, in which instrumental music is used in public worship, and that the parties complainant protested against such use of the proceeds, as distinctly prohibited by the conditions of the two deeds by the said George R. MacKenzie. That on the 4th day of February, A. D. 1901, the said the Trustees of the Presbytery of Jersey City (see post) adopted certain resolutions, to wit: "Resolved, that the fund realized by the sale of the property of the late Scotch Presbyterian Church of Jersey City shall be applied, first, to the payment of the entire bonded and floating indebtedness of the Second Presbyterian Church of Jersey City, to an amount not exceeding $9,200, and the remainder to the reduction of the debts of the Westminster and Claremont Presbyterian Churches of the same place, in proportion to their amount; i. e., to the Westminster Church the sum of $10,553.40, more or less, and to the Claremont Church, the sum of $1,746.60, more or less. Resolved, also, that these several churches shall give bond to the 'Trustees of the Presbytery of Jersey City,' payable upon demand, but without interest, secured by mortgage upon their church property, for the amount of the respective sums received. Resolved, also, that this disposition of the fund is made with the conviction that the most necessitous Presbyterian work in Jersey City is now, and for the future will be, in the downtown section, and that Presbytery would impress upon the Westminster and Claremont Churches the moral duty, consistently with their ability, to assist in sustaining the Second Church in coming years, if in the judgment of Presbytery it shall be necessary." That the churches referred to in the resolutions of the presbytery are Presbyterian churches, in which worship is conducted, not as prescribed in the conditions of the two deeds made by the said George R. MacKenzie, but with the use of instrumental music, and that the expressed purpose of the Presbytery to use the proceeds of the said lands in the payment of the debts of those churches is in defiance of the conditions of the said deeds. That the act of the said George R. MacKenzie in making the conveyance of the said lands to the said Trustees of the Scotch Presbyterian Church of Jersey City was the creation of a charitable use by gift, and that he had a right to impose such conditions on the gift as he deemed proper, and to provide against a diversion of the estate from the use created, and that the said George R. MacKenzie had, in his lifetime, a standing in court to restrain such diversion, and that the parties complainant have such a standing since his death. The prayer of the bill was that the Trustees of the Presbytery of Jersey City might be restrained by decree from making use of the proceeds of the sale to the Trustees of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity of Jersey City of the property conveyed by the said George R. MacKenzie and his wife to the Trustees of the Scotch Presbyterian Church of Jersey City, in the payment of the debts of the Second Presbyterian Church of Jersey City and the Westminster and Claremont Churches of Jersey City, and might be restrained from in any other way diverting such proceeds from the uses to which they are limited in the conditions of the said deeds made by the said George R. MacKenzie, and for general relief. Process of subpoena and injunction were also prayed in the usual form.

The answer of the Trustees of the Presbytery of Jersey City, a body corporate, set forth the events which led up to the two deeds of bargain and sale by the Trustees of the Scotch Presbyterian Church of Jersey City to the Trustees of the Presbytery of Jersey City—in particular a communication address—by or on behalf of the congregation of the Scotch Church to the Trustees of the Presbytery, in these...