From Christianity Today-
The Supreme Court of Virginia has ruled in favor of the Episcopal Church in the state's much-watched dispute over church property. But it's just the latest ruling in what will continue to be a long fight.
Reversing a lower court's ruling, the Virginia Supreme Court said that the Anglican churches cannot use the Virginia "Division Statute" (the state law governing property when "a division has heretofore occurred or shall hereafter occur in a church or religious society") to file their claims.
But the actual answer to who owns the property is still a long way off.
Legal details after the jump...
At issue is Virginia code § 57-9[A]. I’ve bolded the two words at issue:
If a division has heretofore occurred or shall hereafter occur in a church or religious society, to which any such congregation whose property is held by trustees is attached, the members of such congregation over 18 years of age may, by a vote of a majority of the whole number, determine to which branch of the church or society such congregation shall thereafter belong. Such determination shall be reported to the circuit court of the county or city, wherein the property held in trust for such congregation or the greater part thereof is; and if the determination be approved by the court, it shall be so entered in the court's civil order book, and shall be conclusive as to the title to and control of any property held in trust for such congregation, and be respected and enforced accordingly in all of the courts of the Commonwealth.
The Virginia Supreme Court essentially gave the Episcopal Church two significant wins and a minor (and somewhat irrelevant) loss.
First, Justice Lawrence L. Koontz ruled that the circuit court erred in ruling that there was a division in the Anglican Communion—at least in terms of applying the Virginia code to the property dispute. The Anglican Communion as such isn’t claiming an interest in the Virginia properties, Koontz noted. And while there is an obvious theological dispute between the Episcopalians and the then-Nigerian-affiliated Virginia Anglicans, “all of these entities continue to admit a strong allegiance to the Anglican Communion.”
More here-
http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/archives/2010/06/virginia_suprem.html
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