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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF MARYLAND No. 26 September Term, 1996

MT. OLIVE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF FRUITLAND, INC., et al. v. BOARD OF INCORPORATORS OF THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH INC., et al.

Bell, C.J. Eldridge Rodowsky Chasanow *Karwacki Raker Wilner, JJ.

Opinion by Bell, C.J.

Filed: December 19, 1997 *Karwacki, J., now retired, participated in the hearing and conference of this case while an active member of this Court; after being recalled pursuant to the Constitution, Article IV, Section 3A, he also participated in the decision and the adoption of this opinion. This appeal arose out of a dispute between a local church and the religious hierarchy

with which it had been affiliated for more than one hundred years. The dispute concerns ownership of real property titled in the name of the trustees of the local church, and the question presented for our resolution is whether the trustees and the local congregation lost the rights given them by the deed of the property and confirmed by the Religious Corporations Law1 and the corporate charter, to own, use and control that property, when the pastor, trustees, officers, and a majority of the congregation of the local church withdrew from that affiliation. I Mount Olive African Methodist Episcopal Church of Fruitland, Inc. (Mt. Olive), the petitioner, was established in Fruitland, Maryland in 1886. Then known as Carr Black Church, the congregation became affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church (the "A.M.E.") one year later, at which time, it changed the church's name to Mt. Olive A.M.E. Church. The local church was formally incorporated under Maryland law on April 13, 1894. The Certificate of Incorporation ("charter") filed on that date in the Circuit Court for Wicomico County, provided, in pertinent part, as follows: "Know all men by these presents, "That the members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church situated at Fruitland Wicomico County State of Maryland. . . at the church building
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Maryland Code (1975, 1993 Repl. Vol.)

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