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privileges appertaining to religious corporations by the laws of this State.

U. S. A.

SEC. 5. Said church, when so organized, shall be in all subject to dis matters of church government and ecclesiastical polity sub- Methodist Eplsject to the discipline, usage and ministerial appointments Copal church of of the Methodist Episcopal church in the United States of America, as from time to time authorized and declared by the general conference of said church, and the annual conference within whose bounds such corporation may be situated.

ecclesiastical

SEC. 6. The management of the ecclesiastical affairs of Management of said church shall be vested in the quarterly conference of affairs vested in. said church, but subject to, and in accordance with the book of discipline, the rules and usages of the Methodist Episcopal church in the United States of America, which may now be in force or hereafter enacted by the general conference.

managed by - trustees.

quire, hold, sell

SEC. 7. The secular affairs of said church shall be man- Secular affairs aged by a board of trustees, elected and organized according to the provisions of the book of discipline of the Methodist Episcopal church, who shall hold their office until their successors are elected and accept their trust. SEC. 8. Said corporation may have a seal, and alter the May have a seal, same at pleasure; it may in its corporate name sue and be sued in all courts and places; it shall have power to Power to ac acquire, hold, sell and convey property, both real and per- and convey sonal, in accordance with this act, and it may recover and property. hold all the debts, demands, rights, privileges and all property, whether real or personal, of whatsoever sort it may be, belonging or appertaining to said church, in whatever manner the same may have been acquired, and in whose hands soever the same may be held, the same as if the right and title had originally been vested in said corporation. The board of trustees may authorize certain of the officers Board of trustees of said board, to affix the corporate name and the seal of may authorize the corporation, and to execute and attest conveyances, to fix corporate notes, obligations, acquittances and all other necessary legal documents. It may sell, mortgage and dispose of its personal property; and may mortgage and incumber its real estate, but not for the current expenses of the church. It may hold so much land as may be needful for the proper May hold cerpurposes of said church and its parsonage, not exceeding five acres; and it may also hold, for a period not exceeding ten years, real estate which may be lawfully conveyed or devised to it or to said trustees, or to the Sunday school or any other church society or organization connected with it, or the officers of the same, to be sold and the proceeds to be used in any way for the benefit of said church, Sunday school or other society or organization; but if said real estate be not disposed of and the proceeds applied as directed in the conveyance or will under which it is held during the said period of ten years, then the same shall revert

certain officers

name.

tain amount of property.

to preach.

Shall permit to the grantor, his heirs or assigns. Said corporation shall certain ministers at all times permit such ministers belonging to the Methodist Episcopal church as shall form time to time be duly authorized by the general conference of said church, or by the annual conference within whose bounds the said corporation may be, to preach and expound God's holy words therein; and shall permit pastors and presiding elders, duly appointed to execute the discipline of the said Methodist Episcopal church, to administer the sacraments therein.

Conference may
authorize sale
of real estate.

Proviso as to

SEC. 9. Whenever it shall become necessary for the payment of debts or with a view of reinvestment, to make a sale of any real estate belonging to said church, the quarterly conference of said church may, by a vote of a majority of all the members of said quarterly conference, and the consent of the pastor of said church, and of the presiding elder of the district of which such church may or shall be a part, authorize a sale of said real estate by the trustees of said church, with such limitations and restrictions as the quarterly conference may judge necessary and impose; and the trustees of said church, when so authorized, may sell and convey said property, and with the proceeds of such sale pay the debts of such corporation, or reinvest the said proceeds by the purchase or improvement of other property for the same uses and deeded to the corporation in the same manner as provided in section eight of this act, as said trustees may be directed by the quarterly conference: Provided, That in all cases the proceeds of sale, proceeds of such sale, after the payment of debts, if any, if not applied to the purchase or improvement of other property as aforesaid, shall be held by such corporation subject to the order of the annual conference within the bounds of which such property is located. In all cases where property belonging to any church incorporated under the provisions of this act has been abandoned, and is no longer used for the purpose for which said property was acquired, or said corporation has dissolved, or has ceased to exist, the title to the said property belonging to said corporation shall pass to the annual conference within the bounds of which said property is located; and said annual conference may, by such officer or committee as said annual conference may designate for that purpose, apply to the circuit court for the county in which such property may be, for license to sell the same; and such license may be granted by said court after such notice of said application as the court may direct; and thereupon said property may be sold, and the proceeds of such sale applied cr used as said annual conference may direct.

after payment of debts.

Abandoned property shall pass to the annual conference.

In suits or legal proceedings

SEC. 10. In all suits or legal proceedings brought against process may be corporations organized under the provisions of this act, process may be served on the chairman of the board of trustees, or on any member of said board.

served.

be amended,

SEC. 11. It shall be lawful for any church organized How articles of under the provisions of this act, by a two-thirds vote of the association may quarterly conference of said church, to alter or amend its articles of association in any manner not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, or the book of discipline of the Methodist Episcopal church; and such alteration or amendment shall become operative when two-thirds of the members of the quarterly conference shall execute amended articles, and said amended articles are acknowledged in the same manner as stated in section three of this act, and the presiding elder has affixed his certificate thereto, as provided in said section, and the same has been recorded or left for record as provided in section four of this act.

dissolve and organize under

SEC. 12. Any Methodist Episcopal church heretofore Churches may incorporated, or the trustees of which have heretofore exercised the powers of a body corporate, may by a two-thirds this act, vote of the members of its quarterly conference, place itself under the provisions of this act, the same as if originally incorporated under it, by two-thirds of the members of said quarterly conference executing articles of association as provided in section three of this act, and the presiding elder affixing his certificate thereto as provided in said section, and recording the same as provided in section four of this act.

construed,

SEC. 13. In all proceedings or suits that may arise, or How acts be brought in any of the courts of this State, touching, or in any way concerning, churches that may be incorporated under this act, or which by vote of the quarterly conference thereof may have placed themselves under its provisions, all other acts, or parts of acts inconsistent herewith shall be interpreted and construed in such manner as to give full force and effect to all the provisions of this act, and to all the rights and privileges granted by this act to churches incorporated or placed thereunder.

trustees of deed

evidence of

SEC. 14. It is further provided, that the execution by Execution by the acting trustees of said corporation, in proper form, of or contracted any deed, mortgage, note, bond, or other obligation or con- prima facie tract of said corporation, shall be prima facie evidence of appointment. the proper appointment of said trustees and that the necessary steps have been taken to give them full authority to

make such transaction.

This act is ordered to take immediate effect.
Approved May 4, 1895.

Sections and chapters amended.

Order establish

drain, etc.

[ No. 111. ]

AN ACT to amend section one of chapter four of act number two hundred and twenty-seven of the public acts of eighteen hundred and eighty-five, as amended by act number two hundred and thirty-three of the public acts of eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, approved July first, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, also to amend section one of chapter five of said act of eighteen hundred and eighty-five, being an act entitled "An act to provide for the construction and maintenance of drains, and the assessment and collection of taxes therefor, and to repeal all other laws relative thereto," approved June twentieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, as amended by the several acts amendatory thereof, and to add a new section thereto to stand as section ten of said chapter five of said act of eighteen hundred and eighty-five.

SECTION 1. The People of the State of Michigan enact, That section one of chapter four of act number two hundred and twenty-seven of the public acts of eighteen hundred and eighty-five, as amended by act number two hundred and thirty-three of the public acts of eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, approved July first, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine; that section one of chapter five of said acts of eighteen hundred and eighty-five, being an act entitled "An act to provide for the construction and maintenance of drains, and the assessment and collection of taxes therefor, and to repeal all other laws relative thereto," approved June the twentieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, as amended by the several acts amendatory thereof, be and the same are hereby amended, and that a new section be added to be said chapter five to stand as section ten, so as to read as follows:

CHAPTER IV.

SECTION 1. Upon the release of right of way and daming and naming ages or upon the determination and return of the special commissioners, or order of the probate court, as the case may be, the drain commissioner shall make his final order establishing the drain, and shall give the same a name by which it shall be known and recorded. He shall also include in such order a description of the several tracts or parcels of land to be assessed for benefits in the construction of such drain which said tracts or parcel shall constitute the special assessment district for that purpose, to be known and designated in such order by the same name of the drain. He shall thereupon, without delay, proceed to divide the route thereof into convenient sections, for the letting of the work, and shall mark the grade on each stake, from stake to stake, along the whole length of such

To divide into sections,

how marked.

filed.

ting to be posted

special assess

drain. He shall also mark on each stake the number of Grade stakes, each section of division, from the lower end, and the length in feet or rods which each section contains, and shall make a diagram corresponding with the divisions so made, and shall file the same with the other papers pertaining to such Diagram to be drain. He shall give not less than fifteen days notice of Notice of time the time and place of letting, by serving personal notice and place of letupon every person whose lands are affected by such assess- and published. ment and who reside in the township or townships traversed by said drain, which notice shall be served in the same manner as provided in section seven of chapter three for the personal service of citations, and by causing a notice. thereof to be published not less than two insertions in one or more weekly newspapers published and of general circulation in the county. Such notice shall contain a descrip- Description of tion of the several tracts or parcels of lands constituting ment district. the special assessment district of such drain, as above provided, and it shall also state, that at the time and place of such letting, or at such other time and place thereafter to which the commissioner may adjourn the same, the assess. ments for benefits and the lands comprised within the special assessment district will be subject to review. such reviews the commissioner of highways of any township Review of asmay appear on behalf of such township. At such review the commissioner shall hear the proofs and allegations of all parties in interest, and shall carefully reconsider and review the description of land comprised within the special assessment district, the several descriptions assessed and his assessments of benefits, and define and equalize the same as may seem just and equitable: Provided, That at Proviso. such review no lands not included in the notice of publication, as herein above provided, shall be added to such special assessment district.

CHAPTER V.

ASSESSMENT AND REVIEW.

On

sessment.

of cost of

SECTION 1. The commissioner shall apportion the per Apportionment cent of the cost of construction of such drain which any construction township traversed thereby shall be liable to pay by rea- of drain. son of the benefit to the public health, convenience or welfare, or as the means of improving any highway, and

he shall also apportion the per cent of benefits to accrue Apportionment to any piece or parcel of land by reason of the construc- of benefits. tion of such drain, over and above the per cent assessed against such township as aforesaid, which per cent of benefits shall be apportioned upon and assessed against the lands benefited according to such assessment of benefits and which apportionments he shall announce at the time Apportionment and place of letting, as provided in chapter four. Such at the time and assessment of per cent for benefits shall thereupon be place of letting.

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