The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of South Carolina the Trustees of the Protestant Epis — Toal, J…

Summary

The dissent would affirm the trial court's determination that the plaintiff parishes and trustee corporation owned the disputed property because the dispute was secular and South Carolina's neutral principles of property and trust law applied. It would conclude that the national church's canon did not create an enforceable express or constructive trust, and that the plaintiffs' later corporate amendments and quitclaim deeds were legally effective. The dissent would also narrowly affirm the validity of the plaintiffs' state-registered service marks while leaving federal-law issues to a pending federal case. Chief Justice Beatty, concurring in part and dissenting in part, would recognize trusts only for parishes that expressly acceded to the canon; Justice Hearn, concurring, would defer to the national church and enforce the canon; and Justice Kittredge, concurring in part and dissenting in part, would find revocable trusts for acceding parishes but affirm ownership by all plaintiffs after revocation.