Morgan v. Gabard

• Decision Date: 11 June 1912
• Citation: 176 Ala. 568,58 So. 902
• Parties: MORGAN ET AL. v. GABARD ET AL.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

58 So. 902

176 Ala. 568

MORGAN ET AL. v. GABARD ET AL.

Supreme Court of Alabama

June 11, 1912

Appeal from Chancery Court, Madison County; W. H. Simpson Chancellor.

Suit by M. E. Gabard and others against L. B. Morgan and others. From a decree for complainants, defendants appeal. Affirmed.

Cooper & Cooper, of Huntsville, for appellants.

S. S Pleasants and D. A. Grayson, both of Huntsville, for appellees.

McCLELLAN J.

This bill is filed by M. E. Gabard, G. T. Bennett, W. A. Given, J C. Haislip, and W. A. Sanford. They are members of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, and of the local church of that faith at Gurley, Ala. Mr. Gabard is pastor thereof, and moderator of its church session, and Mr. Sanford is the clerk of the church session, and they, with the other complainants, constitute the church session of that church at Gurley. The complainants, with the exception of Mr. Gabard, were members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church at Gurley before the general reunion of that denomination with the Presbyterian Church of the United States. The respondents were all members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church before the reunion to which we have referred. They do not recognize, or refuse to recognize, the validity of the reunion.

It is averred in the bill that the church session of the reunited denomination, which complainants constitute, has been duly established since the reunion, and that they, as the representatives or representative body of the local church, are entitled to the custody and control of the church building and the property of the local church at Gurley. The church lot was originally conveyed by W. R. and S. A. Gurley, in 1885, to the "Cumberland Presbyterian Church, the Missionary Baptist Church, and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South." In 1891, the other churches mentioned conveyed their undivided one-third, respective, interests to W. A. Given, G. W. Beason, and J. C. Flint, trustees of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and their successors. It thus appears that the charitable use, the enjoyment of which was originally devoted to three religious bodies, became the right of the local Presbyterian Church; though in the conveyance by the Gurley's, in 1885, that church, at Gurley, was named, without the intervention of trustees, the grantees of an undivided one-third interest in the lot. It is averred in the bill that: "Since the said union between the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, the defendants herein refuse to recognize the validity of said union, and deny the right of the complainants of holding services as the representatives of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, and claim that they, said defendants, constitute the church session of the so-called Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and threaten to deny the complainants any right to the use of said church building, and complainants attach hereto, marked 'Exhibit G,' and made a part hereof, as if here set out in full, a communication in writing addressed to them by said defendants."

The communication mentioned reads: "Gurley, Ala., July 3, 1911. Reverend M. E. Gabard, Messrs. W. A. Given, W. A. Sanford, J. C. Haislip, and G. T. Bennett, Gurley, Alabama--Gentlemen: Our attention has been directed to a publication in the 'Gurley Herald' of last week; and this session feels constrained to advise you, officially, that it does not recognize that the Cumberland Presbyterian Church has ever been dissolved, and to further inform you that we hold that it remains as it was originally created, and for the purpose of its organization as a church, having a definite faith and plan. It will be our pleasure to receive you into our church worship as individual citizens at any and all times, but to surrender the property of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church at Gurley, Alabama, to you or to any of you, upon any demand based upon any supposed right, is wholly inconsistent with our view of the duty we owe to the church which has been an honor to our whole country. In view of your demand, therefore, we must deny to you any supposed right of holding services as the representative of any church organization other than that of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Yours very truly L. B. Morgan, Mod. B. E. Graham. W. L. Giles. C. G. Bennett. J. D. Champion, Clerk."

It is also averred that complainants, "as members of said Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, since said union they are entitled to the use of said church property, as and for a place of worship, and to the custody and control of the same, and that the said defendants are without the right to control the said church property or to interfere with the use of said church building, which they threaten to do, and which they will do, unless restrained by the order and injunction of this honorable court." It is also averred that the local Cumberland Presbyterian Church, at Gurley, was, before the reunion stated, a constituent part of the Robert Donnell Presbytery, and "said local church at Gurley, Ala., had duly elected a church session, the members of which elected delegates to the session or meeting of the Robert Donnell Presbytery, which Presbytery elected delegates or commissioners to the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church which ratified and consummated said union or reunion with the said Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, although said delegates voted in the negative on said proposition."

The prayer of the bill seeks a decree declaring and adjudicating the binding effect of said union and fixing and declaring the rights of these complainants in and to the use of the church property described in the bill, and in and to the use of the house of worship situated on the lot in question, both...