Statement of the Case.

teachings and preachings or their actions created any division or schism in said voluntary religious sect.

"That any dedication or setting aside of any of the personal property herein before set out as having belonged to the late corporation, to the uses and purposes of or in trust for the members of the late corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or any of them, would practically and in effect be a dedication and setting aside of said personal property to the uses and for the purposes of and in trust for the unincorporated religious sect known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

"That at the commencement of this suit all of said personal property was in the possession of the said William B. Preston, who held it in trust and for the benefit of said corporation.

"That all of the above described property, real and personal, is now in the possession of Frank H. Dyer, receiver of this court.

"That of the above-described real estate the following tract, including the buildings thereon, situated in said county of Salt Lake, Territory of Utah, and being all of block eightyseven (87), in plat 'A,' Salt Lake City survey, at the time of the passage of the act of Congress of February 19, 1887, was used exclusively for the worship of God according to the doctrines and tenets of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

"That several proceedings have been instituted by and with the consent and advice of this court, by information, on behalf of the United States of America, in the Third District Court of said Territory of Utah, for the purpose of having declared and adjudged forfeited and escheated to the government of the United States all of the above-described real estate, excepting the said block eighty-seven of plat 'A,' Salt Lake City survey, last above mentioned, by virtue of the said act of Congress entitled 'An act to amend section 5352 of the Revised Statutes of the United States in reference to bigamy, and for other purposes,' which proceedings are now pending in said court and undetermined."

Upon this finding of facts the court adjudged and decreed as follows, to wit:

Statement of the Case.

"That on the 3d day of March, 1887, the corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints became and the same was dissolved, and that since said date it has had no legal corporate existence.

"2d. It is furthermore adjudged and decreed that the following alleged deeds, herein before set out, were executed without authority, and that no estate in the property set out in said deeds passed by the same or any of them, to wit;

"The deed, dated June 30th, 1887, from John Taylor, trustee in trust, to William B. Preston, Robert T. Burton and John R. Winder, as trustees, for the property described as the 'Temple Block.' The deed, dated July 2d, 1887, from Theodore McKean and his wife to William B. Preston, Robert T. Burton and John R. Winder, as trustees, for property known as the 'Guardo house' and grounds. The deed, dated July 2d, 1887, from Robert T. Burton and wife to William B. Preston, Robert T. Burton and John R. Winder, as trustees, for the property described as the 'Tithing house' and grounds.

"And it is therefore ordered and decreed that said alleged deeds and each of them be, and the same are hereby, annulled, cancelled and set aside.

"3d. It is further adjudged and decreed that the followingdescribed real estate, to wit, all of block eighty-seven, in plat 'A,' Salt Lake City survey, in the city and county of Salt Lake, Territory of Utah, be, and the same is hereby, set apart to the voluntary religious worshippers and unincorporated sect and body known as the Church of Jesus Christ of LatterDay Saints, and that the said William B. Preston, Robert T. Burton and John R. Winder, trustees appointed by the Probate Court of Salt Lake County, as herein before set out, do hold, manage and control said property so set aside for the benefit of said voluntary religious worshippers and unincorporated sect and body, and for the erection and use by them of houses of worship, and for their use and convenience in the lawful exercise of worship according to the tenets of said sect and body; and it is ordered that Frank H. Dyer, receiver of this court, heretofore appointed, do surrender and deliver possession and control of all of the property so set aside to the trustees,

Statement of the Case.

William B. Preston, Robert T. Burton and John R. Winder, aforesaid.

"4th. It is furthermore adjudged and decreed that, except as to the Temple block aforesaid, the petitions of William B. Preston, Robert T. Burton and John R. Winder, trustees, filed the 6th day of October, 1888, in this court for the setting aside of certain real estate for the uses and purposes of the religious sect known as the Church of Jesus Christ of LatterDay Saints be, and the same are hereby, denied; and it is adjudged and decreed that the balance of the real estate over and above said Temple block, which has been herein before found as belonging to said late corporation, has not nor has any of it ever been used as buildings or grounds appurtenant thereunto for the purposes of the worship of God or of parsonages connected therewith, or for burial grounds by the said late corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, nor is the said real estate, except as set aside, or any part thereof, necessary for such purposes for the unincorporated religious sect known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

"5th. It is furthermore adjudged and decreed that all of the real estate set out in the findings of fact herein before was the property of and belonged to the late corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and the same was held in trust for said corporation; and, furthermore, that the legal titles of and estates in said real estate and every part and parcel thereof were acquired by said late corporation and its trustees subsequently to July 1, 1862, and that prior to said date neither the said corporation nor its trustees had any legal title or estate in and to said real estate or any part thereof.

"6th. And it is further adjudged and decreed that the petition of intervention by George Romney, Henry Dinwoody, James Watson and John Clark, on behalf of themselves and other members of the late corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, filed this day in this court, which said petition alleges the claim on behalf of the petitioners and those for whom it is filed in and to the real and personal property formerly belonging to said late corporation and now

Statement of the Case.

in the hands of the receiver of this court be, and the same is hereby, denied; and it is adjudged and decreed that neither said interveners nor those in whose behalf they filed said petition have any legal claim or title in and to said property or any part thereof.

"7th. And the court does further adjudge and decree that the late corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of LatterDay Saints having become by law dissolved as aforesaid, there did not exist at its dissolution and do not now exist any trusts or purposes within the objects and purposes for which said personal property was originally acquired, as herein before set out, whether said acquisition was by purchase or donation, to or for which said personalty or any part thereof could be used or to which it could be dedicated, that were and are not in whole or in part opposed to public policy, good morals and contrary to the laws of the United States; and, furthermore, that there do not exist any natural persons or any body, association or corporation who are legally entitled to any portion of said personalty as successors in interest to said Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, nor have there been nor are there now any trusts of a definite and legal character upon which this court, sitting as a court of chancery, can administer the personal property herein before set out; and it is furthermore adjudged that all and entire the personal property set out in this decree as having belonged to said late corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has by reason of the dissolution of said corporation as aforesaid, on account of the failure or illegality of the trusts to which it was dedicated at its acquisition and for which it had been used by said late corporation and by operation of law, become escheated to and the property of the United States of America, subject to the costs and expenses of this proceeding and of the receivership by this court instituted and ordered.

"8th. It is furthermore ordered and adjudged that there is not now and has not been since the 3d day of March, 1887, any person legally authorized to take charge of, manage, preserve and control the personal and real property herein before set out, except the receiver heretofore appointed by this court;

Argument for Appellants.

and it is therefore ordered that the receivership herein before established by this court is continued in full force and effect, and that the said receiver shall continue to exercise all and entire the powers and authority conferred upon him by the decree appointing him; and it is further ordered that he do continue in his possession and keeping all of the property, real and personal, herein before set out, except such realty as has been set apart by the provision of this decree for the benefit of the unincorporated religious sect known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and that he do safely keep, manage and control the same in accordance with the provisions of the order of this court appointing him receiver, pending the determination of the proceeding upon information hereinbefore referred to and until the further order of this court; and final action upon and determination concerning the accounts, proceedings and transactions of said receiver and all matters connected with or incidental thereto are ordered to be reserved for the future consideration and decision of this court."

From this decree the defendants appealed, and the interveners, Romney and others, also took a separate appeal, and the case is now here for adjudication.

Mr. James O. Broadhead (with whom was Mr. Franklin S. Richards on the brief) for appellants.

It is settled law that the people of the United States represented by Congress, may do for the Territories what the people of each State may do for their State. But the same authority has established the doctrine that the personal and civil rights of the inhabitants of the Territories are secured to them by the same principles of constitutional liberty which restrain all the agencies of government, state and national, and that therefore the Congress of the United States has no right to impair the safeguards which protect the civil rights of every citizen, whether in a State or a Territory, and which are secured to him by the express provisions of the Constitution of the United States, or by the principles of government which underlie our whole political system. And it is equally well established by