grand lodge of said order of the United States, may become incorporated in the manner provided herein. (1874, c. 62, § 1.)

*§ 201. Certificate of incorporation, what to contain-recording. Such subordinate lodge or encampment shall cause to be prepared a certificate, which shall contain: First. The charter, name and number of such lodge or encampment. Second-The time when and the authority by which such lodge or encampment was instituted.

Third. The names of the charter members of such lodge or encampment. Fourth. The location of such lodge or encampment.

Fifth. The names, if a lodge, of its noble grand, vice-grand and secretary, and if an encampment, of its chief patriarch, high priest and scribe for the then current term of such lodge or encampment. Such certificate shall be under the seal of such lodge or encampment, and signed by the noble grand, vice-grand and secretary of such lodge, or the chief patriarch, high priest and scribe of such encampment, and shall be recorded in the office of the register of deeds of the county where such lodge or encampment is located. (Id. § 2.) *$ 202. Powers of corporation. Upon filing such certificate in the office of such register, such lodge or encampment shall become a body corporate, under its charter name and number, and shall have power to sue and be sued, by its corporate name, and in such name to acquire or receive, by purchase, gift, grant, devise or bequest, any property, real, personal or mixed, and the same to hold, sell, transfer, mortgage, convey, loan, let, or otherwise use in accordance with the laws and usages of said order; but said corporation has no power to divert any gift, grant or bequest from the specific purpose designated by the donor. (Id. §3.)

*S 203. Corporate seal. The seal of such lodge or encampment shall be its corporate seal. (Id. § 4.)

*§ 204. Disposition of property upon surrender of charter. Whenever the charter of any such subordinate lodge or encampment shall be surrendered to or taken away by said grand lodge or grand encampment of this state, or whenever, by the laws and usages of said order, such subordinate lodge or encampment shall become defunct, the corporate powers of such lodge or encampment shall cease and determine, except that such corporation, as such, shall have power to sell, convey and dispose of its property, and collect debts due it; and all such property and debts shall be delivered up to the grand lodge or grand encampment of this state, in accordance with the laws of said order. (Id. § 5.)

ANCIENT ORDER OF UNITED WORKMEN.*

*$ 205. Incorporation of Subordinate lodges. That any subordinate lodge of the Ancient Order of United Workmen instituted under the authority of the grand lodge of said order in this state, or of the supreme lodge of the United States, or any grand lodge in this state, instituted under the authority of the supreme lodge of the United States of said order, may become incorporated in the manner provided herein. (Sp. Laws 1877, c. 5, § 1.)

*§ 206. Certificate of incorporation, what to contain-recording. Such subordinate lodge, or such grand lodge, shall cause to be prepared a certificate, which shall contain: First.-The charter name and number of such lodge.

Second. The time when and authority by which such lodge was instituted. Third. The names of the charter members of such lodge.

Fourth. The location of such lodge.

Fifth. The names of the elective officers of such lodge who hold said offices at the time of incorporation. Such certificate shall be under the seal of such lodge, and shall be signed by the said elective officers, and shall

*An act to provide for the incorporation of subordinate lodges and grand lodges of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Approved February 20, 1877. (Sp. Laws 1877, c. 5.)

be recorded in the office of the register of deeds of the county where such lodge is located and meeting at the time of such incorporation. (Šp. Laws 1877, c. 5,207. Powers of corporation. Upon filing such certificate in the office of such register

of deeds, such lodge shall become a body corporate, under its charter name and number, and shall have power to sue and be sued by its corporate name, and in such name to acquire or receive by purchase, gift, grant or bequest, any property, real, personal or mixed, and the same to hold, transfer, sell, mortgage, convey, loan, let, or otherwise use in accordance with the laws and usages of said order. (Id. § 3.)

*§ 208. Corporate seal. The seal of said lodge shall be its corporate seal. (Id. § 4.)

TITLE 4.

RELIGIOUS CORPORATIONS.

§ 209. (SEC. 68.) Religious corporations, how organized. It shall be lawful for all persons of full age, belonging to any church, congregation or religious society not already incorporated, to assemble at the church or meeting-house, or other place where they statedly attend for divine worship, and, by a plurality vote, elect any number of discreet persons of their church, congregation or society, not less than three nor more than nine in number, as trustees to take charge of the estate and property belonging thereto, and transact all affairs relative to the temporalities thereof.

§ 210. (SEC. 69.) President to be chosen-who may vote. Such church, congregation or religious society may choose a president of the said corporation, and of their meetings, by a vote as aforesaid; and at the election provided for in this chapter, every person of full age who has statedly worshipped with such church, congregation or society, and has been formerly considered as belonging thereto, is entitled to a vote.

§ 211. (SEC. 70.) Notice of election, how given. The minister of such congregation or society, and, in case of his death or absence, one of the elders or deacons, church-wardens or vestrymen thereof, and, for want of such officers, any other person being a member or stated hearer in such church, congregation or society, shall publicly notify the congregation of the time when and the place where the said election shall be held, at least fifteen days before the day of election; and such notification shall be given for two successive sabbaths, on which such church, congregation or society statedly meet for public worship, preceding the election.

§ 212. (SEC. 71.) Election-how conducted-certificate. Any two of the elders, deacons, church-wardens, or vestrymen of such church, congregation or society, or if such officers are not present, then any two voters present, to be nominated by a majority of the voters, shall preside at such election, receive the votes, and determine the qualification of voters; and they shall, immediately after the election, certify, under their hands and seals, the names of the persons elected to serve as trustees; in which certificate the name by which the said trustees and their successors in office shall forever thereafter be called and known, shall be particularly mentioned and specified.

§ 213. (SEC. 72.) Certificate to be acknowledged and recorded. Such certificate shall be acknowledged by the persons making the same, or proved by a subscribing witness thereto, before some officer authorized to take the acknowledgment of deeds, and recorded, together with the certificate of such acknowledgment or proof, by the register of deeds of the county within which the church or place of worship of such congregation is situated, in a book provided by him for that purpose, who shall be entitled to receive seventy-five cents for such record; and thereafter such trustees and their successors shall be a body corporate, by the name expressed in such certificate,

§ 214. (SEC. 73.) Trustees to hold temporalities-common seal. Such trustees may have a common seal, and alter the same at pleasure; they may take into their possession and custody all the temporalities of such church, congregation or society, whether the same consists of real or personal estate, and have been given, granted or devised directly or indirectly to such church, congregation or society, or to any other person for their use.

$215. (SEC. 74) General powers of trustees. Such trustees may also, in their corporate name, sue and be sued in all courts and places; and they may recover and hold all the debts, demands, rights and privileges, all churches, buildings, burial-places, and all the estate and appurtenances belonging to such church, congregation or society, in whatsoever manner the same may have been acquired, or in whose hands soever the same may be held, as fully and amply as if the right and title thereto had been originally vested in the said trustees; and they may hold other real or personal estate, and demise, lease and improve the same; but the whole of such estate, real and personal, shall not exceed the yearly income of three thousand dollars.

§ 216. (SEC. 75.) Trustees may erect and repair churches, etc. The said trustees have authority to repair and alter their churches and meeting-houses, and, under the direction of the society or congregation, erect churches and meeting-houses, and dwelling-houses for their ministers, and other buildings for the use of their church, congregation or society.

§ 217. (SEC. 76.) May make by-laws, rent pews, etc. They have authority to make rules and orders for managing the temporal affairs of such church, congregation or society, and to dispose of all moneys belonging thereto; and to order and regulate the renting of pews or slips in their churches and meeting-houses, and the requisites for the breaking of the ground in the cemetery or church-yard, and in the said churches or meeting-houses, for burying the dead.

$218. (SEC. 77.) May appoint clerk and treasurer-duties of clerk. They may appoint a clerk and treasurer of their board, and a collector to collect and receive their rents and revenues, and may regulate the fees to be allowed to such clerk, treasurer and collector, and may remove them and appoint others in their stead at pleasure; and such clerk shall enter all rules and orders made by such trustees, and payments ordered by them, in a book to be procured by them for that purpose. $219. (SEC. 78.) Meetings of trustees-power ofmajority. Any two of the trustees may any time call a meeting of the trustees, and a majority of them, being lawfully convened, shall be competent to do and perform all matters and things which such trustees are authorized to do and perform.

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§ 220. (SEC. 79.) Term of office of trustees,-The said trustees shall hold their offices for three years, and immediately after their first election as herein before provided, the said trustees shall be divided by lot into three classes, numbered one, two and three: and the seats of the first class shall be vacated at the end of the first year, of the second class at the end of the second year, and of the third class at the end of the third year; and, as near as may be, one-third part of the whole number of trustees may be annually chosen.

§ 221. (SEC. 80.) Expiration of term of office of trustees-notice of election. The clerk of said trustees, at least one month before the expiration of the office of any of the said trustees, shall notify the same in writing to the minister, or in case of his death or absence, to the elders or church-wardens, and if there are no elders or church-wardens, then to the deacons or vestrymen of any such church, congregation or society, specifying in such notice the names of the trustees whose office will expire; and the minister or other officers receiving such notice shall, in the manner aforesaid, notify the members of such ehurch, congregation or society, of such vacancies, and appoint the time and place for the election to supply the same.

§ 222. (SEC. 81.) Election of trustees-when to be held. Such election shall be held at least six days before vacancies happen as aforesaid, and all such subsequent

elections shall be held and conducted in the same manner as herein before provided for the first election; and in case any vacancy happens by the death of a trustee, his refusal to act, or removal from the society before his term of office expires, or otherwise, notice thereof shall be given as aforesaid, and an election shall be held, and another trustee chosen in his stead for the remainder of such term.

§ 223. (SEC. 82.) Qualifications of voters. No person belonging to any such church, congregation or society, incorporated under the provisions of this chapter, is entitled to vote at any election after the first, until he has been an attendant on public worship in such church, congregation or society, at least six months before such election, and contributed to the support of such church, congregation or society, according to the usages and customs thereof.

$224. (SEC. 83.) Clerk to keep register of stated hearers. The clerk of the trustees shall keep a register of the names of all such persons as desire to become stated hearers in the said church, congregation or society, and shall therein note the time when such request was made; and the said clerk shall attend all subsequent elections, in order to test the qualifications of such voters in case they shall be questioned.

§ 225. (SEC. 84.) Salary of minister. Nothing in this chapter contained shall be construed to give to such trustees the power to fix or ascertain the salary or compensation to be paid to any minister; but the same shall be ascertained and fixed by a majority of such society, entitled to vote at the election of trustees.

$226. (SEC. 85.) Sale, etc., of real estate of corporation-definition of "society." It shall be lawful for any religious corporation, organized under the provisions of this title, by and through their trustees, to sell and convey, encumber, or otherwise dispose of any real estate belonging to such corporation: provided, however, that no such conveyance or encumbrance shall be made by the trus tees except when first authorized to make the same by a resolution of such society, passed at a meeting thereof called for that purpose, notice of the time, place and object of which shall be given for at least four sucessive sabbaths on which such society statedly meet for public worship immediately preceding the time specified for such meeting; and proof of the facts of such notice, meetings, and resolutions may be made by the affidavits of one of such trustees, or by any of the members of such society cognizant of the facts. Such affidavits may be recorded at length in the office of the register of deeds of the county where the premises are situated, and the same and the records thereof aforesaid, or certified copies of such records, shall be presumptive evidence of the facts therein contained: and provided further, that by the word "society," as used in this section, shall be understood the religious body, constituted in accordance with its own principles of ecclesiastical polity, which forms the basis of the corporation designated in this title the church, society or congregation, and as contradistinguished from such corporation; and no person shall vote at any meeting called as aforesaid to authorize the said trustees to sell and convey, encumber, or otherwise dispose of any real estate belonging to such corporation, who is not a member of such religious body. (As amended 1867, c. 17, § 1, and 1872, c. 54, § 1.)

§ 227. (SEC. 86.) Existing societies confirmed-reorganization of dissolved societies. Every church, congregation or religious society heretofore incorporated in pursuance of law, and not since dissolved, is hereby established and confirmed; and in case of the dissolution of any such corporation, or of any corporation hereafter to be formed in pursuance of the provisions of this title, for any cause whatever, the same may be incorporated under the provisions of this title at any time within six years after such dissolution; and thereupon all the estate, real and personal, formerly belonging to the same, and not lawfully disposed of, shall vest in such corporation as if there had been no such dissolution.

§ 228. (SEC. 87.) Descent of lands held by trustees. All lands, tenements and hereditaments, lawfully conveyed by devise, grant, purchase or otherwise, to any persons as trustees, in trust for the use of any religious society organized, or which may hereafter be organized within this state, either for a meetinghouse, burying-ground, or for the residence of a preacher, shall descend with the improvements in perpetual succession to, and shall be held by, such trustees in trust for such society.

§ 229. (SEC. 88.) Certificate of the election or appointment of trustees. Whenever, by the constitution, rules or usages of any particular church or religious denomination, trustees are required to be appointed, elected, or chosen in any way, by any minister, presiding elder, officer or officers, or by any conference, assemblage, body, or meeting of any kind, and trustees are so appointed, elected or chosen, such minister, presiding elder, officer or officers, or the presiding officer and secretary of such conference, assemblage, body or meeting so appointing, electing or choosing trustees, shall make and give to such trustees a certificate, under the hand and seal of the person or persons making the same, specifying the names of the trustees, the time when, and the person or 'body by which they were appointed, elected or chosen, and the corporate name assumed by such trustees, which certificate shall be acknowledged, proved and recorded as herein before directed; whereupon such trustees and their successors, appointed or chosen in the same manner, shall be a body corporate, by the name expressed in such certificate, with all the rights, powers and privileges of other religious corporations constituted according to the provisions of this chapter. And in every case where trustees have been heretofore elected, appointed, or chosen in any way, by a conference or assembly of any kind, of any church or religious society, in accordance with the constitution, rules or usages of such church or religious society, and a certificate of such election, appointment or choice has been made by the presiding officer or secretary of such conference or assembly, specifying the corporate name by which such trustees should be known, and acknowledged, proved and recorded as provided in this chapter, with the intent to constitute such trustees a body corporate, such trustees shall be deemed, in all legal proceedings, to have become a religious corporation, within the provisions of this chapter, from the time of recording such certificate; and all their acts thereafter, as a body corporate, are and shall be considered valid and effectual as the acts of a religious corporation framed under the provisions of this chapter; and all conveyances to such trustees, as a body corporate, are confirmed and shall be considered valid to the same extent as conveyances to any re..gious corporation under the provisions of this said chapter. (As amended 1877, c. 21, § 1.)

$230. (SEC. 89.) Certificate when minister, elders and deacons are trustees. Whenever, by the constitution, rules and usages of any particular church or religious denomination, the minister or ministers, elders and deacons, or other officers elected by any church or congregation, according to such constitution, rules or usages, are thereby constituted the trustees of such church or congregation, such minister or ministers, elders and deacons, or other officers, may assemble together and execute, under their hands and seals, a certificate, stating therein the name by which they and their successors in office shall forever thereafter be called and known, which certificate shall be acknowledged or proved, and recorded as herein before directed; whereupon such persons and their successors in office shall be a body corporate, by the name expressed in such certificate, with all the rights, powers and privileges of other religious corporations constituted according to the provisions of this title.

§ 231. (SEC. 90.) Another mode of forming religious corporations. The members of any church or religious society, not less than three, who, by its discipline or otherwise, does not desire to organize and become incorporated under the foregoing