Show INFORMAL discussion during the session of of commissioner stones ies court thursday sept in the office of the salt lake city gas company the strict decorum of the court room was relaxed somewhat at intervals between the examination of witnesses and an interesting discussion of legal questions and principles connected with the chun h case took place judge stone inquired of mr P L williams if he was not aware that a decree like that which had been entered in the case of 1 H dyer receiver vs ff S eldredge Ej dredge involving the constitution lot including the five by five rods known as the council house corner would be a bar to the further pursuit of any portion of the property referred to in the decree according to the rules of chancery practice in united states courts mr williams replied that he was not fA familiar millar with that practice but were he to answer on general principles he would say that the ahe decree would not necessarily be a bar under circumstances like those connected with the council house property judge stone remarked that under united states chancery practice the decree unquestionably would estop pursuit Dur suit and deed cited a decision of the united states supreme court which he held to be exactly in point judge stone scone further explained that the suit in which the decree was wa S ren dered involved the whole ot the constitution lot ten by twenty rods that the decree terminated that suit and if it had been the intention to reserve the right to pursue any portion of the property involved in the action an explicit to that effect should have been embraced in the decree the omission of such a reservation necessitates the conclusion that the whole of the constitution lot in respect to the right of the government to recover any portion of it has been adjudicated nd such right or pretended right cannot be revived mr wiliams admitted it as his belief that the decree in question might well be pleaded by the present claimants to the council house property in bar of aay a ay suit by the government to recover it but he the result of such a contest would be doubtful at a later lull in the formal proceedings ce judge judd took occasion to express his opinion in regard to the forfeiture of the rem temples pies outside of this city and of the tithing properties in various parts of the territory he thought they could not be reached under the edmunds tucker law because that app applied lieK to the church as a whole whereas these temples and tithing properties were owned leally by corporations or natural persons in a legal sense wholly distinct from the church if these properties owned locally in this manner are to be pursued and es cheated the proceedings must be brought undo unde the act of 1862 which make it unlawful for any ecclesiastical organizations izat ions to acquire more than worth of real property if the temples and tithing properties are owned by local ecclesiastical organizations they can be es cheated under the act of 1862 but said the judge ial if I 1 were the united states attorney id plant actions against somebody besides the mormons cormons Mor mons theres the catholic church Ws its got a good deal more real property than the law allows the methodist church here owns worth of real property and dont use it for religious purposes either theres the rev bev mr continued judge judd he gets up every sunday and vents his venom on the mormons cormons Mor mons but his church is violani violating ng the law all the time it has a great deal more real estate than the law allows in respect to the personal property of tile the mormon church continued the judge 1 I never thought it right to take that there was no law against acquiring it it was comprised of the little offerings which the cormons mormons laid aid on the altar of their church and every dollar of it ought to be returned to the people who contributed it I 1 consider the doctrine of under which judge bradley held it could be confiscated fisca ted an absurdity as so applied it is certainly a new application of that doctrine remarked judge stone |