                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

PROPERTY HELD, ETC., BY ECCLESIASTICAL OFFICERS (§ 57-16)

A. How property acquired, held, transferred, etc. &#8212; Whenever the laws,
rules or ecclesiastic polity of any church or religious sect, society or
denomination commits to its duly elected or appointed bishop, minister or other
ecclesiastical officer, authority to administer its affairs, such duly elected
or appointed bishop, minister or other ecclesiastical officer shall have power
to acquire by deed, devise, gift, purchase or otherwise, any real or personal
property, for any purpose authorized and permitted by its laws, rules or
ecclesiastic polity, and not prohibited by the laws of Virginia, and the power
to hold, improve, mortgage, sell and convey the same in accordance with such
laws, rules and ecclesiastic polity, and in accordance with the laws of
Virginia.
			In the event of the transfer, removal, resignation or death of any such
bishop, minister, or other ecclesiastical officer, the title and all rights with
respect to any such property shall pass to and become vested in his duly elected
or appointed successor immediately upon election or appointment, and pending
election or appointment of such successor, such title and rights shall be vested
in such person or persons as shall be designated by the laws, rules, or
ecclesiastical polity of such church or religious sect, society or denomination.
			All deeds, deeds of trust, mortgages, wills or other instruments made prior
to March 18, 1942, to or by a duly elected or appointed bishop, minister or
other ecclesiastical officer, who at the time of the making of any such deed,
deed of trust, mortgage, will or other instrument, or thereafter, had authority
to administer the affairs of any church or religious sect, society or
denomination under its laws, rules or ecclesiastic polity, transferring
property, real or personal, of any such church or religious sect, society or
denomination, are hereby ratified and declared valid. All transfers of title and
rights with respect to property, prior to such date from a predecessor bishop,
minister or other ecclesiastical officer who has resigned or died, or has been
transferred or removed, to his duly elected or appointed successor, by the laws,
rules or ecclesiastic polity of any such church or religious sect, society or
denomination, either by written instruments or solely by virtue of the election
or appointment of such successor, are also hereby ratified and declared valid.
			No gift, grant, bequest or devise made on or after March 18, 1942, to any
such church or religious sect, society or denomination or the duly elected or
appointed bishop, minister or other ecclesiastical officer authorized to
administer its affairs, shall fail or be declared void for insufficient
designation of the beneficiaries in, or the objects of, any trust annexed to
such gift, grant, bequest or devise; but such gift, grant, bequest or devise
shall be valid; provided, that whenever the objects of any such trust shall be
undefined, or so uncertain as not to admit of specific enforcement by the courts
of the Commonwealth, such gift, grant, bequest or devise shall be held, managed,
and the principal or income appropriated, for the religious and benevolent uses
of such church or religious sect, society or denomination by its duly elected or
appointed bishop, minister or other ecclesiastical officer authorized to
administer its affairs.
			The rights created and the remedies provided in this section shall be
construed as cumulative and not exclusive.
			This section shall not be so construed as to effect an implied repeal of any
other provisions of this chapter.

HISTORY: 1942, p. 382; Michie Code 1942, § 38a; 1962, c. 306; 1966, c. 308;
2005, cc. 681, 772.