Stebbins heman (1 Ergebnisse)

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts: Regarding the Sacramental Furniture of a Church in Brookfield Hoar, Samuel, [1778-1856], For the Plaintiff. Strong, Lewis, [1785-1863], For the Defendant. Stebbins, Heman, [1791-1838, Plaintiff. Jennings, Calvin, [1793-?], Defendant. Decision of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, in a Case Relating to the Sacramental Furniture of a Church in Brookfield: With the Entire Arguments of Hon. Samuel Hoar, Jun. for the Plaintiff, and of Hon. Lewis Strong for the Defendant. Boston: Peirce and Parker, 1832. Octavo (9-3/4" x 6"). 48 pp. Original printed stabbed wraps, untrimmed edges. Worn with light foxing and toning to leaves. Internally clean. A good copy in original state. $125. * An historic property dispute in the schism between the Trinitarian and Unitarian factions of the First Church of Brookfield, Massachusetts, over who owned the church's sacramental communion silver. The majority of parish voters chose a Unitarian minister, while the majority of active church communicants held orthodox Trinitarian views and seceded. The seceding Trinitarians took the church's sacramental furniture (silver vessels used for communion) with them, claiming ownership as the true spiritual church. The plaintiff, Deacon Heman Stebbins (1791-1838), represented the remaining Unitarian parish majority. He was represented by Hon. Samuel Hoar, Jr. (1778-1856), who argued that a church cannot legally exist or hold property independent of its officially recognized parish. The defendant, Deacon Calvin Jennings (1793-1873), represented the withdrawing Trinitarians and was defended by Hon. Lewis Strong (1785-1863), who argued that the spiritual body of communicants held property rights independent of secular town voters. The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled for the plaintiff. Writing for the court, Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw firmly solidified the landmark "Dedham Rule" precedent (originally established in Baker v. Fales). Shaw's decision decreed that if a church separates from its parish, those who remain with the parish retain all legal rights to the church property and furniture. This decision effectively dispossessed Orthodox majorities across Massachusetts, accelerating the formal separation of church and state via the 1833 amendment to the Massachusetts Constitution.…