as a religious society. That the name or title by which such society shall be known in law is "The First Presbyterian Church of Dubuque." That the object of the society is to maintain divine worship and the gospel ministry, according to the rites of the Presbyterian Church in the United States. That the number of trustees, to manage the temporal affairs of the society, is fixed at nine; and that the following are the names of the trustees of such society, for the first year of its existence, viz: A. B., C. D., &c. &c. Witness our hands at Dubuque, this

18

day of

(Signatures.)

§ 679. The form of acknowledgment will be the same as of a deed of real estate, and need not be given in this place. The certificate must be in duplicate, each copy signed and acknowledged, and then one of the duplicate certificates, thus signed and acknowledged, must be filed in the office of the Secretary of State, and the other duplicate certificate, thus signed and acknowledged, must be filed in the office of the recorder of the county in which the objects of the society are to be carried out. (Revised Laws of 1860, Ch. 53, Sec. 1193.)

§ 680. Upon filing the duplicate certificate, in the manner aforesaid, the persons who shall have signed and acknowledged the same, and their associates and successors, will, thereupon, by virtue of the act under which the certificate was made and signed, acknowledged and filed, become a body politic and corporate by the name stated in such certificate, and, by that name, they and their successors shall and may have succession, and be persons in law, capable of suing and being sued, and they and their successors may have and use a common seal, and alter and change the same at pleasure. (Ib., Sec. 1194.)

§ 681. The persons thus making and acknowledging the certificate as aforesaid, and their successors, by their corpo

rate name, will be capable in law, of taking, receiving, purchasing and holding real and personal estate, to make by-laws for the management of the affairs of the society, not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the State or of the United States, and to appoint the officers and agents of such society for the management of its affairs. (Ib.)

§ 682. The society so incorporated may annually, or oftener, elect from its members its trustees, at such time and place, in the manner which may be specified in its by-laws, and the trustees will have the control and management of the affairs and funds of the society, a majority of whom are made a quorum for the transaction of business; and whenever any vacancy may happen among such trustees, by death, resignation or neglect to serve, such vacancy may be filled in the manner to be provided by the by-laws of the society. (Ib. Sec. 1195.)

§683. In case it should at any time happen that an election of trustees for the society was not made on the day designated by the by-laws, the society for that cause will not be dissolved, but it is made lawful for the society, on any other day, to hold an election for trustees, in such manner as may be directed by the by-laws of the society. (Ib., Sec. 1196.)

§ 684. The persons thus incorporating themselves as a religious society must be careful not to select, use or specify in their certificate, a name or style, by which they propose to be known in law as a body corporate, similar to any society which may have been before incorporated and then existing in the State. (Ib., Sec. 1197.)

§ 685. Any society, thus incorporated, is made capable of taking, holding or receiving any property, real or personal,

by virtue of any devise or bequest contained in any last will or testament of any person whatsoever, provided, that no person having a wife or child, or parent, shall devise or bequeath to such society more than one-fourth of his or her estate, after the payment of his or her debts, and such devise or bequest will be valid to the extent of such one-fourth. This provision is precisely similar to the one in the New York statute, referred to in sections one hundred and fifty-two and one hundred and fifty-three of this work, and the object of the provision in both cases is undoubtedly the same. (Ib., Sec. 1198.

§ 686. The foregoing provision of the statute does not limit the quantity or value of the property that may be held by the religious society, but only restricts the purposes for which it may be acquired and applied. A grant to trustees, for the use and benefit of a church to be afterwards organized, with no power to the trustees to create the beneficiary, or to appropriate the land or funds arising therefrom, for any purpose, until such organization, will be upheld so as to pass the title, if such church shall afterwards, within a reasonable time, be so created or brought into existence, as to acquire and hold property, or be the recipient of a charity. But the doctrine of cy pres, at least in its original form, as administered in the English courts, is not recognized in the courts of Iowa. (Miller v. Chittenden, 2 Iowa Rep., 315.)

§ 687. When property is devised to a charitable or religious use, consistent with law and public policy, and the object is specified, and capable of being carried into effect according to the intention of the donor, and even though no trustees were appointed, and the object of the testator's bounty is incapable of taking the legal title, the terms of the will create a trust in the property in the hands of the heirs

of the testator. So held in a case where the devise was to an unincorporated religious society, for the purpose of aiding in erecting, finishing, repairing, &c., of the house of worship of said unincorporated religious society, and trustees were named by the testator to receive and execute the trust. (Johnson v. Trustees of M. E. Church, 4 Iowa Rep., 180.)

§ 688. For the purpose of carrying into effect the intent of the testator, courts will sanction any mode pointed out by him, consistent with the rules of law. Such intent will not be set aside because it cannot take effect as fully as the testator intended, but it will be allowed to work as far as it can. When the devise is present and immediate, there must exist a competent devisee and a present capacity to take; but if there exists in the bequest the least circumstance from which to collect the testator's intention of anything else than an immediate devise, to take effect in presenti, then, if confined within legal limits, it is good as an executory devise. (Miller v. Chittenden, 4 Iowa Rep., 252.)

§ 689. When, however, the party to whom a devise is made, takes no beneficial interest, and the cestui que trust is not sufficiently indicated, the devise will be void. In a devise there is the same necessity for a cestui que trust, capable of taking the beneficial interest, and so defined and pointed out as that there shall be no uncertainty, as there is for a properly defined grantee in a deed. If there is such uncertainty, as that it cannot be known who is to take as beneficiary, the trust will be void, and the heir, by operation of law, will take the legal estate, stripped of the trust. (Lepage v. McNamara, 5 Iowa Rep., 124.)

§ 690. The trustees of any existing religious corporation, not organized under the provisions of the statute referred to in this chapter, may, by conforming to the requirements of

such provisions, re-incorporate themselves, or continue their existing corporate powers, and all property and effects of such corporation will vest in and belong to the corporation thus re-incorporated or continued. (Revised Laws of 1860, Chap. 53, Sec. 1199.) ·

CHAPTER XLVII.

RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES IN KANSAS-HOW INCORPORATED-MODE OF PROCEEDING-INCORPORATION OF CHURCHES-MODE OF PROCEEDING BOARD OF TRUSTEES-THEIR POWERS-VACANCIES, HOW FILLED CORPORATE NAME, HOW CHANGED.

§ 691. In the State of Kansas the legislature is prohibited from passing special acts conferring corporate powers. All religious societies must therefore be incorporated under general laws, which may at any time be amended or repealed. (State Const., Art. XII, Sec. 1.)

§ 692. By an act of the legislature of the State it is made lawful for any religious society or denomination to elect, at a meeting of a majority of the members of any organized church called for that purpose, provided ten days' public notice has been given, any number of trustees, not less than three, to serve as trustees or vestrymen, and one member as clerk, who will hold their offices for one year, or (Comp. Laws of 1862,

during the pleasure of the society. Ch. 44, Sec. 38.)

§ 693. The clerk of the society thus appointed must make a true record of the proceedings of the meeting, certify and deliver the same to the recorder of the county in which the meeting was held, together with the name by which such