# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1911_S140
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

140 Proceedings of the 28th General or

"We come now to the vital question, Is the German Evangelical
Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and other States a religious cor-
poration? If it is, its incorporation is absolutely prohibited by the
constitution of Missouri, and it may be ousted from the franchise
granted to it by the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis, when-
ever the Attorney General of the State of Missouri sees fit to pro-
ceed against it, as he is authorized to do by Sec. 1407, Rev. Stat. Mo.,
1899. . . .

"After the most careful consideration we have been able to give
the question, we have reached the conclusion that the objects of the
Synod, as stated in the present charter, are purely for religious
purpose, and that the Synod as incorporated is therefore a religious
corporation, such as is prohibited by the constitution."

Then, however, in the State of Missouri there exists no law that permits organized congregations or voluntary congregational associations to unite into one large association. Therefore the incorporated Synod has never legally existed.

On this point, Judge Ferriss, attorney for the St. Louis committee, writes in his opinion:

"It is true that corporations cannot get together and incorporate
themselves as a new corporation. An attempt to do this would be
vain and useless. . . . If such an attempt were made, the court would
not have entertained the application. . . ."

The other two attorneys of the St. Louis committee, Messrs. Rowell and Zumbalen, write in their opinion:

"As corporations these churches and congregations can exercise
no spiritual functions or religious offices whatever, but the congre-
gations, considered as a religious body, remain purely voluntary
associations without any of the attributes of a corporation. . . .
It follows as a necessary corollary that your churches or congre-
gations as corporations have no power to become members of the
corporation styled The German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Mis-
souri, Ohio, and other States."

The entire incorporation matter has been thoroughly investigated from every side and conscientiously examined by your committee from Milwaukee. Through this, your committee has come to the firm conviction that there is only one way for a Reverend Synod to escape these so extremely unfavorable circumstances; this one way out is for a Reverend Synod to have itself newly incorporated, namely in a state where the state constitution and state laws are favorable to our circumstances.

At issue in this case is the right of ownership of property, since for by far the greatest part the title of ownership does not stand, and indeed cannot stand, in the name of the Synod, until the