Conn. Gen. Stat. » Title 33 — CORPORATIONS · Chapter 598 — Religious Corporations and Societies
Connecticut General Statutes

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 33-265 (2026)

Legal status and powers

✓ current as of May 2026
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section CT-CGAcga.ct.gov (official) JustiaTitle on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar
All ecclesiastical societies in this state, in communion with the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, shall be known in the law as parishes as well as ecclesiastical societies, and shall have power to receive and hold by gift, grant or purchase all property, real or personal, that has been or may be conveyed to them for maintaining religious worship according to the doctrine, discipline and worship of said church, and for the support of the educational and charitable institutions of the same, and shall have and exercise all the ordinary powers of bodies corporate.

(1949 Rev., S. 5374.)

Bequest to wardens and vestry is valid. 22 C. 132. A parish is a corporation; its rector is its agent and it can take a bequest for the benefit of the poor. 57 C. 275. Relation between church in this state and church in general; trust for its general purposes; is a charity which church cannot release. 67 C. 554. Bequest in trust for erection of a chapel considered and upheld. 74 C. 586. Cited. 224 C. 797.

(Return to Chapter
Table of Contents)		 (Return to
List of Chapters)		 (Return to
List of Titles)

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3 cases, 1993–2011 · leading case: Episcopal Church in Diocese of Connecticut v. Gauss, 28 A.3d 302 (Conn. 2011).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Episcopal Church in Diocese of Connecticut v. Gauss, 28 A.3d 302 (Conn. 2011). · cites it 4× “], (3) the doctrine of laches applie[d], (4) the statute of frauds appliefd], (5) General Statutes § 33-265, which governs the legal status and powers of ecclesiastical societies in communion with the Protestant Church, is unconstitutional, (6) agreements between the Parish and…”
Rweyemamu v. Comm'n on Human Rights, 911 A.2d 319 (Conn. App. Ct. 2006). · cites it 2× “See generally General Statutes §§ 33-265 through 281a. In particular, corporations formed under the Roman Catholic Church “shall at all times be subject to the general laws and discipline of the Roman Catholic Church .”
Rector, Wardens & Vestrymen of Trinity-St. Michael's Par., Inc. v. Episcopal Church in the Diocese, 620 A.2d 1280 (Conn. 1993). · cites it 2× “This is particularly so in light of the provisions of General Statutes §§ 33-265 *808 and 33-266, providing that a parish may be formed, conduct its affairs and “have power to receive and hold .”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.