Civil Court Resolution of Property Disputes Among Religious Organizations
Patty Gerstenblith, 39 Am. U. L. Rev. 513 (2009)
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[T]his Article advocates that courts, in their resolution of internal religious disputes, must apply a truly neutral set of legal principles. Part I of this Article will outline the framework for judicial application and interpretation of the first amendment in the context of internal religious disputes. Part II will consider briefly the history of judicial resolution of such property disputes prior to the Supreme Court’s 1979 decision in Jones v. Wolf. Part III of this Article will then consider, in greater detail, the state and lower federal court decisions on this subject since Jones v. Wolf. This section will also concentrate on differences in the interpretation of “neutral principles” among the courts that have adopted this approach. Finally, Part IV of this Article will develop the legal concepts in trust, property, and other areas of the law which should be applied in order to accomplish a truly neutral approach to the resolution of such disputes. Only through the application of such concepts can courts effectuate the values of both first amendment religion clauses.
