Catholic Encyclopedia on the Corporation Sole

Catholic Encyclopedia: California - The Civil Code (section 602) provides that any bishop, chief priest, or presiding elder, may become a sole corporation by complying with certain simple legal formalities. Thereafter, the usual attributes of corporation aggregate attach, mutatis mutandis, to the corporation sole. Under this statute all Catholic Church property in the Archdiocese of San Francisco is held in the name of "The Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Francisco", a corporation sole. Upon the death of the incumbent, his successor, properly appointed and qualified, takes the place of his predecessor, and no probate or other proceedings are required to vest the title to the church property which, in contemplation of law, remains always in the corporation sole, regardless of who may be, for the time being, the incumbent
Catholic Encyclopedia: Charitable Bequests - There are, however, certain restraints upon alienation either by deed or by will, the first of which has already been mentioned, viz: alienation in "mortmain", a word coined to represent the condition where land has come into the possession of a dead hand, or in Latin mortua manus. An alienation of lands and tenements to any corporation, sole or aggregate, ecclesiastical or temporal, is such an alienation. ... Originally the prohibition extended only to religious houses, bishops, and other sole corporations, excluding the parsons of parishes, who were in effect sole corporations and not included therein, but by the Statute "de Religiosis" (7 Edward I, c. 2) it was provided that no person, whether religious or otherwise, should sell, buy, or receive under pretence of a gift, or term of years or any other title whatsoever, any lands or tenements in mortmain under penalty of a forfeiture.
Catholic Encyclopedia: Civil Incorporation of Church Property - The corporation sole was a refinement of the canon lawyers. Its most familiar instance in English law is the bishop, the vicar, or the pastor, who succeeds to the rights of an office and by consequence to the sole custody of its temporalities. ... where such incorporation cannot be made it requests the bishop to have himself made a corporation sole and thus hold the property as any other corporation would; ... in a number of states, e. g. Ohio, Pennsylvania, the tendency is towards incorporation, either by special acts making the bishop a "corporation sole" or under the terms of general provisions drawn especially to suit the needs and circumstances of the Catholic Church, e. g. the New York law of 1863, or agreeable thereto, as the Michigan law of 1897. In Maryland the Archbishop of Baltimore holds all church property as a corporation sole. ... By an act of the Massachusetts legislature (ch. 560; 1897) "the present Roman Catholic Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Boston, and his successors in office, shall be and are made a body politic and corporation sole" to receive, take and hold, by sale, gift, lease, devise or otherwise real and personal property of every description for religious, charitable and burial purposes. ... There are similar Acts for the other dioceses in Massachusetts. In the Chicago Archdiocese all diocesan property is held by "the Catholic Bishop of Chicago" as a corporation sole; ... Under the provisions of the California code, the church property in the several Catholic dioceses within the state is held by the bishop or archbishop as a corporation sole. Section 602 of the California code provides: "Whenever the rules, regulations or discipline of any religious denomination, society or church so require, for the temporalities thereof, and the management of the estate and property thereof, it shall be lawful for the bishop, chief priest, or presiding elder of such religious denomination, society or church to become a sole corporation, in the manner prescribed in this title, as nearly as may be, and with all the powers and duties, and for the uses and purposes in this title provided for religious incorporation and subject to all the provisions, conditions and limitations in said title prescribed."
Catholic Encyclopedia: Corporation - Under the English law corporations are distinguished in the first place as being either aggregate or sole. A corporation aggregate consists of several persons united in a society and maintained by a perpetual succession of members. A corporation sole consists of one person only, and the successors of that person in some particular station or office. The King of England is a corporation sole; so is a bishop; and in the Church of England every parson and vicar is, in view of the law, a corporation sole. The laws of the United States have rarely recognized any sole corporation, but "the Catholic Bishop of Chicago", now Archbishop, was, many years ago, created a corporation sole by a special act of the legislature of the State of Illinois. In Maryland the Archbishop of Baltimore holds all Church property as a corporation sole. Similarly in the several Catholic dioceses of California, the bishop or archbishop is a corporation sole, and since 1897 such is the case in Massachusetts for the Archdiocese of Boston (H. J. Desmond, The Church and the Law, Chicago. 1898, 72, 73). Under certain circumstances the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore (Acta et Decreta, no. 267) urged each bishop and archbishop of the United States to have himself constituted a corporation sole (see PROPERTY, ECCLESIASTICAL).
Catholic Encyclopedia: Ecclesiastical Property in the United States - The Third Plenary Council (tit. IX, cap. ii, nn. 267-8) defined more exactly what was meant by secure methods of ownership according to civil law, directing that:
Catholic Encyclopedia: Illinois - in the Archdiocese of Chicago "the Catholic Bishop of Chicago" is a corporation sole and acts by the archbishop or in his absence by the auxiliary, or in case of death by the administrator. This corporation exists under a special statute. In this corporation sole is vested the title to all diocesan property and this has been most conducive to the growth of the Church
Catholic Encyclopedia: Maine - By Act of the Legislature approved 27 February, 1887, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Portland was created a corporation sole.
Catholic Encyclopedia: Mortmain - English Law, admitting the corporate existence of associations, which were corporations aggregate, and also allowing of such an artificial existence in an official individual, considered not only the king, but each bishop, parson, and vicar as a corporation sole. And such might be a chantry priest, to whom land had been given by its owner, subject to a perpetual service a chaunter par ly e par ces heyrs a tou jours (see Year Books of the reign of King Edward the First, Years XX-XXI, London, 1866, 265.
Catholic Encyclopedia: Ontario - All Catholic church property is vested in the bishop of the diocese who is a statutory corporation sole.
Catholic Encyclopedia: Rhode Island - In 1900 the bishop of the Diocese of Providence and his successors were created a corporation sole with power to hold property for the religious and charitable purposes of the Roman Catholic Church. Since 1883 there has existed an act enabling Episcopalian parishes to incorporate. Special chatters are freely granted when desired. There is a general law allowing libraries, lyceums and societies for religious charitable, literary, scientific, artistic, musical or social purposes to incorporate by filing an agreement stating the names of the promoters and the object of the corporation, and by paying a nominal charge. Such corporations may hold property up to $100,000 in value.
Catholic Encyclopedia: State of Washington - The bishop as the representative of the diocese possesses the rights of a corporation sole regarding all the church property in the State. This privilege was granted by the territorial Government, and has never been revoked by the State.
Catholic Encyclopedia: Montana - Another act provides for the organization of corporations sole "whenever the rules, regulations or discipline, of any religious denomination, society or Church, permit or require the estate, property, temporalities, and business thereof, to be held in the name of, or managed by a bishop, chief priest, or presiding elder, of such religious denomination, society or church." The passage of this act was procured by Bishop Brondel who incorporated under the name of the "Roman Catholic Bishop of Helena".
Catholic Encyclopedia: Philippine Islands - In April, 1906, the law of corporations came into force. Under this Act (no. 1459) a bishop, chief, priest, or presiding elder of any religious denomination, can become a corporation sole by filing articles of incorporation holding property in trust for the denomination. Authority is also given to any religious society or order, or any diocese, synod, or organization to incorporate under specified conditions to administer its temporalities. The same act empowers colleges and institutes of learning to incorporate.
Catholic Encyclopedia: North Carolina - Religious bodies may become incorporated either under the general law or by special act. If not specifically incorporated they are regarded as quasi corporations, and may exercise many corporate powers. The Protestant Episcopal bishop has been created a corporation sole by special act of the Legislature.
Catholic Encyclopedia: Arizona - A law of the Territory, passed in 1903, permits "any person being the archbishop, bishop, president, trustee in trust, president of stake, overseer, presiding elder, rabbi, or clergyman of any church or religious society" to become a corporation sole "with continual perpetual succession." (For ARIZONA MISSIONS, see NEW MEXICO.)
Catholic Encyclopedia: Savannah - The Bishop of Savannah is a corporation sole and title to church property rests in him.
Catholic Encyclopedia: Portland, Maine - The present Diocese of Portland includes all the State of Maine. It has an area of 29,895 square miles, and a Catholic population of 125,000, or one-sixth of the total population. The diocese is organized in the form of a corporation sole, the title of which is "Roman Catholic Bishop of Portland".
Catholic Encyclopedia: Ecclesiastical Buildings - In the United States property is often given in trust to the bishop, and in cases where the parishes are civilly incorporated, sometimes the bishop forms the corporation sole; sometimes the administration of the property belongs to a board of trustees composed of the bishop, his vicar-general, the pastor of the church, and two lay trustees (Taunton, The Law of the Church, London, 1906, 310-317).
Catholic Encyclopedia: Joseph Sadoc Alemany - Most thoughtful and courteous in all he did, he journeyed a thousand miles to Ogden, Utah, in November, 1883, to meet for the first time, to accompany thence and to welcome to San Francisco his coadjutor and successor, the Most Rev. P. W. Riordan. From the first meeting and until his death the closest and tenderest friendship existed between them. Having acquainted his successor fully with diocesan affairs and transferred to him as a "corporation sole" all diocesan property (according to a law which he had had passed through the California legislature for the better security of church property), the Archbishop resigned in 1884, returned to his native land, and died there.