Churches (Scotland) Act 1905

1 Allocation of Church property between the Free Church and the United Free Church by a Commission.U.K.

(1)The Commission established under this Act shall allocate between the Free Church and the United Free Church the property in question as defined by this Act in such manner as appears to the Commission fair and equitable, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, but subject to the provisions of this Act.

(2)The Commission, in making their allocation of property under this Act, shall allocate congregational property to the Free Church in any case where they consider that, out of those who, in the opinion of the Commission, were members or adherents of the congregation on the thirtieth day of October, nineteen hundred, and are at the commencement of this Act both resident in the district and members or adherents of the Free Church or United Free Church congregation, at least one-third are members or adherents of the Free Church congregation; with power, however, to make special arrangements where several church buildings are situated in the same neighbourhood, and in any other cases which appear to them to require exceptional treatment; and

(3)The Commission in making their allocation of property under this Act shall, having regard to congregational contributions and other income of the Free Church, make adequate provision for the education of the students for the ministry of the Free Church, for the support, subject to payment of the usual annual contributions (if any), of aged and infirm ministers and of widows and orphans of ministers of that Church, for the support of the ministers of Free Church congregations to which congregational property has been allocated under this Act, for itinerant preachers and for the general purposes of administration and management of that Church. The funds and property out of which provision may be made for each of the above-mentioned objects shall be those set out in the second column of the First Schedule to this Act, opposite the description of the object in the first column of that schedule.