Massachusetts General Laws
Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 68, § 1 (2026)
Corporate bodies, church officers as
✓ text as last checked Sept. 2026 (this copy records no edition or section history)
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Section 1. The deacons, wardens or similar officers of churches or religious societies, and the trustees of the United Methodist churches, appointed according to the discipline and usages thereof, shall, if residents of the commonwealth, be deemed bodies corporate for the purpose of taking and holding in succession all gifts, grants, bequests and devises of real or personal property, made either to them and their successors, or to their respective churches, if unincorporated, or to the poor of their churches.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 4
cases, 1924–2006 · leading case: Dittemore v. Dickey, 144 N.E. 57 (Mass. 1924).
Dittemore v. Dickey, 144 N.E. 57 (Mass. 1924). “78, now G. L. c. 68, § 1. Of course mere declaration in a deed of grant cannot make named persons a corporation.”
Newhall v. Second Church & Soc'y of Boston, 209 N.E.2d 296 (Mass. 1965). “See now G. L. c. 68, §§ 1, 2. 4 The brief states: “The fact, if it be a fact, that the silver was treated by the corporation as in its custody does not mean that it was any less in trust for the Church.”
Sullivan v. Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston, 331 N.E.2d 57 (Mass. 1975). “Under the terms of the will, all property in the Cardinal’s name, with the exception of a few personal belongings, was left to the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston, a corporation sole.”
Chesnis v. Law, 21 Mass. L. Rptr. 109 (Mass. Super. Ct. 2006). “See G.L.c. 68, § 1 et seq. (describing a corporation sole as a nonprofit entity; stating that officers of the church, i.”
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