| Show THE ESCHEAT MUDDLE THE springfield M maas of the ath inet has an editorial on the subject of the mormon church 4 property caw case it div gives es a succinct account of the be matter from the passage of the escheat act to the decision ot of the 9 supreme court and says the decree now is somewhat modified from its original form decides this doubtful point only in a general manner manner and leaves it still open for con gross ress or the court to further modify it does oes not specify the purposes to which the property shall be devoted or order its immediate disposal but leaves it jn in the hands bands of the receiver until otherwise ordered 0 and provides for a report from a master in chancery chane efy upon the best method of distributing this fund in accordance with the decree of the court the ground upon which justices harlan gray brewer and nd brown browm dissent concerns the power of the court to order any disposition of this property in accordance with the terms of the decree the decree provides that the property shall be devoted to such lawful purposes charitable in their character as may mostly nearly correspond corres D to those for which it was originally uku intended arit just here is one difficulty ma t Y it being urged that the purposes for which this property was waa intended were fa because it was principally designed for the support of a corporation which en encouraged cours eged and a supported arted IN polygamy 1 1 I in M and therefore there exist no lawful par poses like those for which it was gathered technically this objection may be sound enough although less real practically tor for a large part of the mormon church income went to purposes for which lawful analogies can an be found the church supported schools and religious observances and cared for its poor and infirm and it would not require a great stretch of analogy to decide that higher institutions of learning and hospitals would nearly correspond to some of the purposes for which this property was intended the dissenting judges appear to doubt the power of the court to dispose of the property it to is properly a judicial act to determine the constitutionality of a law to confirm or overthrow the interpretation given a law by a lower court and to approve or disapprove the condemnation of property real or personal but may it go farther and order the d disposition liar of g this I 1 Is arc property perty without encao encroaching ing upon the legislative function which belongs to congress the point is both interesting an and d important and the close division of the court upon it shows its delicate character it is a difficult matter to determine the limit to which the court may go in enforcing its interpretation of the intent of the law but aside from that question this disposition of the mormon width wealth will secure the benefit of its use to the drawn people people of utah from whom it was |
