vacancies, must in every case be holden immediately after the morning service; and at all such elections the rector, or if there be none, or he be absent, one of the church wardens or vestrymen must preside and receive the votes of the electors, and be the returning officer, and must enter the proceedings in the book of the minutes of the vestry, and sign his name thereto, and offer the same to as many of the electors present as he may think proper, to be by them also signed and certified. (Ib.)

§ 125. The election of these officers would undoubtedly be valid, although the requirements of the statute in respect to the notice of such election were not fully complied with, provided the election were fairly conducted, and there was no complaint of want of notice. The certificate of election will be received in evidence in an action brought to test the validity of the election of such officers, although such certificate were not made out until some time after the election. (The People v. Peck, 11 Wend. 604.)

§ 126. The following form of the certificate of election of church wardens and vestrymen may be used:

This is to certify, that at the stated annual election of church wardens and vestrymen for "Zion Church, Fulton," held at the church (or place of public worship of said church) immediately after the morning service on the day of 18, the following persons were duly elected by a majority of voices entitled to vote: A. B. and C. D. as church wardens, and E. F., &c., as vestrymen, for the ensuing year. Witness our hands at Fulton, this day of

18

[If the election was to fill a vacancy, the certificate can be

varied accordingly.]

§127. The church wardens and vestrymen chosen at any election, hold their offices respectively, until the expiration of the year for which they are chosen; and they have power, among other things, to call and induct a rector to the church or congregation, as often as a vacancy occurs. (Laws of 1813, Ch. 60, Sec. 1, &c., before cited.)

§ 128. No meeting or board of such trustees can be held, unless at least three days' notice thereof be given in writing, under the hand of the rector or one of the church wardens; and no such board is competent to transact any business unless the rector, if there be one, and at least one of the church wardens, and a majority of the vestrymen be present. The rector, if there be one, and if not, then the church warden present, or if both of the church wardens be present, then the church warden who may be called to the chair by a majority of voices, must preside at the meeting or board, and have the casting vote. (Ib.)

§ 129. Should the church or congregation omit or neglect, at their stated annual meeting, to elect their church wardens or vestrymen, the church or congregation, or more properly, the religious society, will not thereby be dissolved; but those in office at the time of such omission, will be taken to be the legal officers of the church or congregation until others are elected in their stead, provided that the election to supply the omission be made within one year after its occurrence. (Laws of 1844, Ch. 158, Sec. 3: 3 Statutes at Large, 702.)

§ 130. The members of any church, congregation or society, qualified to vote for trustees, wardens or vestrymen, or a majority of them, may, at any stated annual meeting of the said members, appoint and fix any day in the succeeding year as the day on which the election of officers of such church, [Tr.]

5

congregation or society shall be held; and the elections held on such day will be as valid to all intents and purposes as if the same had been made on the days formerly appointed for that purpose. (Laws of 1826, Ch. 47, Sec. 3; 3 Statutes at Large, 699.)

CHAPTER X.

RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES IN NEW YORK-INCORPORATION OF REFORMED PROTESTANT DUTCH, REFORMED DUTCH, AND REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES-FORM OF PROCEEDING THE

TRUSTEES.

§ 131. The minister or ministers, and elders and deacons, and if during any time there be no minister, the elders and deacons during such time, of every Reformed Protestant Dutch church or congregation established in the State of New York, and elected according to the rules and usages of such churches within the State, are made the trustees for such church or congregation, by the general incorporating act of the State. (Laws of 1813, Chap. 60, Sec. 2; 3 Stat. at Large, 689.)

§132. According to the rules and usages of the Reformed Protestant Dutch churches within the State of New York, the elders and deacons are elected on the organization of the church or congregation, by the male communicants, and subsequently by the consistory or the male communicants, and in both cases their names are published to the congregation for approval. The consistory, to which the government of the church belongs, is composed of the minister, elders and deacons, and if there be no minister, then to the elders and deacons alone. These are the officers who compose the trus

tees of the church or congregation, and the manner of their election therefore becomes important. They hold office for two years, at the expiration of which time they may be reelected.

133. Several of the Reformed Protestant Dutch churches and congregations of the State exist as bodies corporate under special charters granted by the law-making power, but the general law affords a very convenient and economical method for the incorporation of these churches and congregations, and it is now almost invariably resorted to. Indeed, the legislature very seldom grants a special act of incorporation, except in a peculiar and extraordinary case. The constitution of the State actually forbids the creation of corporations by special act, except for municipal purposes, and in cases where in the judgment of the legislature the objects of the corporation cannot be attained under general laws; and this is rarely the case in respect to a religious corporation of any kind. (State Const., Art. VIII, Sec. 1.)

§ 134. The trustees of any such Reformed Potestant Dutch church or congregation may assemble together at any time they deem it convenient, and execute, under their hands and seals, a certificate declaring the name or title by which they and their successors, forever, shall be known as a body corporate, under the general incorporating act of the State. This certificate, after being executed, must be duly proved or acknowledged, and recorded in the same manner as in the case of a Protestant Episcopal church or congregation, and thereupon such trustees and their successors become a body corporate, by the name or title expressed in the certificate. (Statutes last cited.)

§ 135. The certificate of incorporation may be in the following form:

STATE OF NEW YORK,
County of Oswego,

We, the undersigned, trustees of a Reformed Protestant Dutch church or congregation, in the town of Mexico, in said county and State, do hereby certify, that on the day of 18 we the said trustees assembled at the house of worship of said church or congregation in said town, for the purpose of forming ourselves and our successors into a body corporate, by virtue of the general incorporating act of this State, and that we did then and there fix the following as the name or title by which such trustees and their successors shall be known and designated, and which we hereby certify, to wit: "The First Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Mexico."

Witness our hands and seals, this In presence of

E. F.

day of

18

A. B. [L. S.

C. D. L. S.

[This certificate must be proved or acknowledged and recorded, as before stated.]

§ 136. It is lawful for the trustees of any Reformed Protestant Dutch church or congregation, elected by virtue of any former law of the State, by a writing under their hands and seals, proved or acknowledged, and recorded as in the other case, to declare their will not to continue any longer a body corporate, and thereupon such body corporate will cease, and all the estate, real and personal, held by them, will pass to and be vested in the trustees of such church or congregation, made a body corporate in the manner hereinbefore directed. This provision of the statute, however, is of little or no practical utility at the present day, for the reason that most of the churches and congregations of the denomination now incorporated have become so by special charter, or by proceedings under the general incorporating act of the State. (Statutes last cited.)

§ 137. The churches or congregations in connection with the church, which has styled itself the true Reformed Dutch