Sec. 7.
The vestry shall have the care and management of all the temporal affairs of such church, and they shall have authority, in the corporate name, to lease or to purchase and hold such real estate as shall be reasonably necessary for a church building, chapel, parish house, lecture and school rooms, and for dwellings for the ministers thereof; but it shall not be lawful for such corporation to hold or use any real estate for any other purpose for a longer period than 10 years. The said vestry shall also have power to alienate or encumber any of the property of said corporation, but they shall not have power or authority to alienate or encumber any real estate purchased or held for any of the purposes above enumerated, without being first authorized to do so by a vote of the congregation of the parish, at the annual meeting or at a special meeting called for such purpose, and no other person shall vote at such special meeting except those qualified to vote at the annual meeting; nor shall it be lawful to encumber or alienate any such property without the previous consent of the bishop, acting with the advice and consent of the standing committee of the diocese in which such property is situated. Said vestry shall have authority to erect, alter, repair, enlarge, take down or remove and rebuild any church or other building belonging to such corporation, provided such vestry shall first have obtained from the parish authority so to do, in the manner hereinbefore provided for alienating or encumbering the property thereof. No owner of any pew or slip in such church shall be held to be the owner of any interest in the land whereon the same is erected.
History: 1899, Act 40, Imd. Eff. Apr. 18, 1899 ;-- CL 1915, 10934 ;-- CL 1929, 10942 ;-- CL 1948, 458.257