Show THE CHURCH SUIT FOLLow is a synopsis of the brief and argument of james 0 broadhead Broad bead and franklin 8 richards in the supreme court of the united states in the church suit the brief opens with a review of the legislation of congress for utah from the passage of the organic act down to the edmunds tucker law of 1887 including the acts ancor po rating Tating and those attempting to dissolve the church corporation as aa well as the anti polygamy provisions of the several acts of congress ress following the introduction ts is a careful and exhaustive analysis of the record in the case showing the claims of the government the answers of the defendants the petition for intervention inter vendon the several petitions asking to have ave the e temple emple alo block tithing office bardo 0 house ouse a and historian office set apart to tru trustees for the use of the church and the findings of fact and decree of the supreme courton court of utah A after after fter this cornea comes the assignment of errors and ARGUMENT which opens with a consideration if the powers of congress over ever the territories as shown by the decisions of the united states supreme court it is conceded that the court has declared in murphy v lR bamsey amsey V U S 14 that the people of the united states as sovereign owners of the national territories have the supreme power over them and their inhabitants in the exercise of this sovereign dominion they are represented by the government of the united states subject only to such restrictions as are expressed in the constitution ot or necessarily implied in its terms or in the purposes and objects object is of the power itself itself for it may well be admitted in respect to these as to every power of society over its members that it is not absolute and unlimited over their political rights and franchises which they hold as pAyl privileges leges in the he legislative discretion of the congress of the united states but in the same decision the court held that the personal and oi rights of the me inhabitants of the territories ae are secured to them as to other by the principles of donal liberty which restrain all the agencies of government state and national the theory of our government is outlined in the fhe declaration of independence pen dence as well as in the constitution of the united states and it applies to the territories as well as to the states as has been held by this court in the dred scott case and in subsequent decisions counsel then proceeded to lay down their propositions of law and to establish them by legal authorities and exhaustive arguments our limited space ce will only permit of the publication of the main points relied upon and a few of the most pertinent authorities sustaining them appellants CLAIMS atrat st the acts of congress of jul julya y 1 1862 and of march are unconstitutional and void in so far as they attempt to annul the charter of the appellant corporation or to dissolve said corporation or to limit its power to acquire and hold real property because said charter was and prot is an executed contract which cannot be impaired either by dissolving the co corporation oration or by limiting its rights acx and powers in respect to the acquisition of property in speaking of the charter of such a corporation as this the supreme court of the united states in the dartmouth college ewe case 4 wheat I 1 through mr chief justice Mars marshall ball says this is plainly a contract to which the donors the trustees and the crow nto whose obligations new hampshire succeeds were the orl original parties it is a contract m made e on a valuable consideration it is a contract for the security an and disposition of property it is a contract on the faith 6 or which real and personal estate has been conveyed to the corporation po ration it is thena contract within the letter of the constitution and within ite ts spirit also tn and mr mi justice storey in the same case quoting from fletcher v peek peck pages and says t A contract is a compact between two or three persons and is either executory or executed an execl tory contract is one in which a party binds himself to do or not to do a particular thing A eon contract traCt executed is one in which the object of the contract is ia performed and 4 this blackstone blackston differs in no thing from a grant rant A contract executed as ws aeu as one that is ex contains obligations bind 7 ing on the parties A grant in ite va own nature mature amounts to an extin of the right of the grant or and implies a contract not to re assert that right A party is always es topped by his own grant A grant of franchises is not lu in point of principle distinguishable from a grant of any other property the truth is thattie government has no power to revoke a gran grant teven even of it its own funds when given to a 8 private person or corporation for special uses it cannot recall iw its own endowments granted to any hospital or college or city or town for the use of such corporations the only authority remaining to the government is judicial to ascertain ce n the validity odthe of the grant to enforce its proper uses to suppress frauds and if the uses axe are charitable to secure their regular administration through the means of equitable tAbu tribunals nals in incises incases cases where there would otherwise be a failure of justice 2 the same doctrine is laid docu by this court in the pennsylvania college cases 18 13 wallace the court says corporate franchises granted to private corporations if duly acce accepted by the corp orators partake of th tb nature of legal estates as a grant under such circumstances cir im stances becomes become a contract within the protection of that clause of the constitution which ordains that no state shall paw pass any ady law impairing the obligation of con tracts tract a Ch charters axters of private corpora corpor ft eions are regarded as executed con tracts between the government and a tafe ane corp orators and the rule is we s settled that the legislature cannot annot repeal I 1 impair 0 or ir alter such charter 94 against farns th the e consent or with wit s out the i default defau e fau of the corpora corporation tiOu ascertained and declared in the case of terret v taylor 9 cranch ci anch pages 49 60 50 and 52 mr justice story for the court says I 1 the free exercise of religion can idt r not be justly deemed to be rast restraint restrain ea 1 by aiding with equal attention the tb votaries vot aries of every sect to their own religious duties or by 00 bing funds for the support w of ministers for public charities aa to the endowment of churches or to the sepulchre of the dead AD that these purposes r c could 0 uld be bewz secured wip and due cherished kalsh e d by corpo rater powers cannot be doubted by any person who has haa attended to the du faculties acuities which surround all volun X tary associations we W 6 have halve no knowledge of any autho authority 1 ma or r principle which could support the doctrine that a legislative grant is flO revocable in its ite own nature and held eld only durante bene the property was in ii fact and in law generady gener generally auy purchased by the parishioners or acquired by the beneficence efi Cence of the pious donors and the he title thereto was indefeasibly vested in the churches the doctrine contended for has been en uniformly upheld and maintained by this Court from the organization of the government down to the we present time and it cannot be repudiated pud in this case without striking king down one of the strongest and most precious bulwark bulwa of civil and religious liberty second the power of congress to disapprove and annul acts of the governor and legislative assembly of utah territory applies to such acts a as are general in their character and doeg not apply to an accepted charter of a private corporation which contains no reservation of the right to alter amend or repeal the same when there was no general law of the territory reserving such right at the time the charter was granted ahe the last clause of section 6 which gives Legislative the assembly odthe of the territory authority to legislate upon all rightful subjects of legislation declares that all the laws passed by the and governor be submitted to the congress of the united states and if disapproved shall be null and of no effect by a air construction of this clause of the he section deetion it could not be claimed that hat to render a territorial act valid it should be adroved approved by the congress creft of the united cited states nor has H t AV ever been so held but it requires the he affirmative act of congress to disapprove the territorial act and in the he absence of such disapproval it certainly becomes a valid legislative enact enactment rhent and as no time is fixed within which con congress rew may disapprove an act of the territorial territorial errit orial alecs legislature it is very clear th that t t this I 1 8 right of f disapproval is ia a Ine mere reade declaration claradon on the part of the congress conerl ss of the united states in pawing passing the the territory to the effect that the acts of the territorial legislature are not the supreme law ver over the people of the territory in the we sense in which the acts acte of a state legislature would be b supreme over the people of 01 the state and is an announcement that congress reserves the power of supreme legislation over roe me territories and that it may at any time abrogate the laws of the territorial orial legislature that it may at any time repeal an act of the jerdio territorial rial legislature just as it y repeal an act or congress or as a state legislature may repeal an enactment of a former legislature we say therefore that while it is 4 admitted that the congress of the united states has supreme ive e allt authority hority over the territories it has as not the power to undo what it authorized hori zed to be done we say that while hile the granting of a corporate is an act of legislation a w because it is an act of the lawmaking king power the only represents tive of the stats state in this respect it is something more than a law in the general sense of that word A law in its general sense isa is a rule of action and it applies to every citizen in the community an act of incorporation or any other contract made made by the authorities representing the state applies to one individual or to a limited number of indi individuals bals and while it is a law as a applied ed to them it is at the same time a contract made with them which if executed may not be impaired by any subsequent act of legislation third the charter of the church corporation po ration by the act of july 1 1862 as aa well as by the lapse of time between its enactment and attempts attempt el i disapproval thirty six years received the sanction of congress and therefore could not be annulled and the corporation dissolved but we insist that in this case the ordinance in question must be held to have received the implied sanction of congress the law requires that the secretary of the territory shall transmit to the president of the senate and to the speaker of the house of representatives for the use of congress two copies of the laws and journals of each session of the territorial legislature within thirty days after the end of each session and one copy to the president of the united states this court will presume that the officers have performed their duty in this respect prom from 1851 to 1887 there were thirty six regular sessions of congress the sixth section oi 01 the organic act provides that all laws passed by the legislative assembly and governor shall be submitted to the congress of the united states a and if disapproved shall be nu null and of no effect it is true there is no time fixed within which this disapproval roval may be manifested but after mis is long lo 10 period of time it to is certainly fair to presume that such legislation h has received the implied sanction of congress in the case of clinton vs englebrecht 13 wallace this court in speaking of the jury law applicable to the territory of utah says in the first place we observe that the law has received the implied sanction of congress it was adopted in 1859 it has been upon the statute book for more than twelve years it must have been transmitted to congress soon after it was enacted for it was the duty of the secretary of the territory to transmit to that body copies of all laws on or before the first of the next december I 1 in n each year the simple disapproval by congress at any time t in e would w have annulled it it is no unreasonable inference therefore that it was approved by that body but we insist further that the act of 1862 pawed passed by the congress of the united states recognizes the existence and validity of the contract and charter of incorporation of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints by that act the congress of the united states not only aid not disapprove but approved this charter eh arter with certain exceptions in regard to the construction of the powers contained in one of the sections of that charter that act is entitled an act to punt punish and prevent the practice of polygamy agamy in the territories of the united states and other places and di disapproving sap proving and annulling certain acts of the toi L legislative assembly of the territory of utah the first section of that act defines the offense 0 of f bi bigamy and provides for its punish punishment the second section declares that the following ordinance of the provisional government of the state of deseret so called namely an ordinance incorporating the church of jesus christof christ of latter day saints f passed february ath in the year 1851 and adopted re enacted and made valid by the governor and legislative assembly of the territory of utah byan act passed january in the year 1865 1855 entitled an act in relation to the compilation and revision of the laws and resolutions in force in utah territory their publication and distribution I 1 and all 0 other acts and parts of acts heretofore passed by said legislative isla tive assembly of the territory of utah which establish support maintain shield or countenance polygamy be and the same chereb hereby are disapproved and annulled provided that this act shall be so limited and ana construed as not to affect or interfere with the ri right ant of property legally acquired unger under the ordinance laere heretofore mentioned nor with the right to worship god according ng to the dictates of conscience but only to annul all acts an i laws which establish maintain protect or countenance the practice of polygamy evasively called a spiritual marri marriage e however disguised by legal or ecle ecclesiastical sias solemnities sacraments ceremonies consecrations or other contrivances ff it will be observed that in this section by the use of the words I 1 land and all other acts and parts of acts which establish support maintain or countenance polygamy there is an implied im lied admission or claim that the ordinance oc referred to incorporating the church of jeffa christ of latter day saints did support or countenance polygamy and that fact being in we the legislative mind the proviso pro viso that the act of congress of 1862 which declared that this act shall be so limited and construed as not to affect or interfere with the right of property legally acquired under the ordinance referred to nor with the right to worship god according to the dictates of conscience but only to annul all acts acte and laws lawi which establish ta maintain protect and c countenance the practice of polygamy must have been intended intend w to limit the operation of this act of congress to the repeal or disapproval of so much of the ordinance incorporating the church of jesus christ chilst of latter day saints as may ma y be construed to |