Court Opinion

ID: 9734269
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 17:30:34.013498+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:47.482992
License: Public Domain

GARDEBRING, Justice
(dissenting)
I concur with that portion of the dissent which concludes that exclusion of the relevant provisions of the Code of Canon Law was error. The “neutral-principles-of-law” doctrine, as enunciated by this court in Piletich v. Deretich, 328 N.W.2d 696 (Minn.1982), allows courts to consider church-originated documents, including local church charters and general church constitutions, in examining questions of the “control of church property,” which is precisely the issue raised by the appellant’s elaim-of-right defense. The Code of Canon Law should have been admitted.
However, I believe that the dissent goes too far in concluding that this criminal trespass action involves a matter of church polity, and therefore, its consideration by the civil courts is prohibited by the first amendment. I believe it is more properly characterized as a matter which is “not * * * doctrinal, nor * * * committed to adjudication by the highest tribunal in a hierarchical church * * *.” Id. at 700. I find no first amendment barrier to consideration by the civil courts.
Therefore, I would remand the matter to the trial court for retrial, directing that the Code of Canon Law be admitted into evidence on the lawful possessor and claim-of-right issues.