Roman Catholic Trusts Act 1907

An Act to provide for the Creation of Corporate Bodies of Trustees in which Property belonging to the Roman Catholic Church in Victoria may be vested and for other purposes.

WHEREAS the property of the Roman Catholic Church in Victoria is held by many different bodies of trustees:

AND WHEREAS owing to death and other causes the necessity for the appointment of new trustees is continually arising:

AND WHEREAS it is expedient that corporate bodies of trustees should be created for the purpose of holding managing and dealing with the property of the said Church and that for the better management thereof certain properties of the said Church should be vested in such corporate bodies and that the conveyance and transfer of such properties should be facilitated and rendered less expensive:

This Act shall be called and may for all purposes be cited as the Roman Catholic Trusts Act 1907.

In this Act the following terms shall if not inconsistent with the context have the meanings hereinafter respectively assigned to them:

s. 2

"Bishop" shall mean the person from time to time registered under the title of "Bishop" or "Archbishop" under the provisions of Part III of the Trusts Act 1890 or any statutory modification thereof as head of the Roman Catholic Church in the part of Victoria described in the Denominational Register and shall include the Administrator of the affairs of the diocese during the vacancy of the See or during the absence of the bishop from Victoria;

"diocese" shall mean the part of Victoria from time to time described in the Denominational Register as the diocese of the person so registered;

"Church" shall mean the Roman Catholic Church;

"council" shall mean a Diocesan Council constituted in any diocese according to the rules practices and usages of the Roman Catholic Church;

"resolution" shall mean a resolution of a council passed by a majority of those members present at a meeting.

s. 4

A certificate under the hand of a bishop that a council was duly constituted and convened within his diocese and that a resolution was duly passed by such council shall be conclusive evidence that the council was so constituted and convened and the resolution so passed.

As soon as may be after the passing of any resolution under the provisions of section three hereof the bishop of the diocese shall cause a copy thereof duly certified under his hand to be delivered to the Registrar-General who shall retain and register the same.

After the registration of any resolution passed under the provisions of section three hereof the Registrar-General shall notify the same in the Government Gazette and thereupon the trustees named in such notice and their successors to be appointed as hereinafter provided shall be a body corporate by the name stated in such notice and shall have perpetual succession and a common seal and may sue and be sued in their corporate name and may acquire take hold manage and deal with any property in trust for the Church within the diocese in which such resolution shall have been passed or for any person holding for the time being any office therein and may receive any moneys which have been or shall be given contributed or bequeathed by any person to be applied to any of the purposes of the Church and may take over any securities for money held by any person on behalf of the Church and may take in the name of such corporate body any securities for money belonging to the Church which shall be lent or advanced on account thereof and shall deal with all such property and securities so as to give effect to the trusts to which they shall be specially subject or when not subject to any express trust in such manner as a council of such diocese may from time to time by resolution direct but so as not to interfere with the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in the enforcement of trusts.

s. 7

When any property is vested or purports to be vested in the bishop of any diocese or has prior to the passing of this Act been granted conveyed transfered assigned devised or bequeathed to the bishop of any diocese in order that the same be held by him and his successors upon trust for the benefit of the person holding for the time being the office of bishop of such diocese or for any of the purposes of the Church in such diocese or for furthering any object in connexion therewith such property shall be held to be and from the date of his appointment to have been vested in the bishop for the time being of such diocese subject to the trusts affecting the same and such property may be conveyed transferred or assigned by such bishop if he thinks fit to the body corporate constituted under the provisions of this Act within the diocese of such bishop for the purpose of holding property in trust for the benefit of the Church and shall thenceforth be held by such body corporate subject to the trusts originally affecting the same and on the demise of any bishop prior to his having made any conveyance transfer or assignment the same shall become vested in such body corporate without any conveyance transfer or assignment unless such bishop shall by his last will or by any deed have otherwise expressly directed.

s. 8

When any persons hold any property within any diocese in trust for or on behalf of the Church such trustees may if they think fit consent in writing to a transfer of the trust property to the corporate body constituted in such diocese to hold property in trust for the benefit of the Church, and such transfer when registered as hereinafter provided shall from and after the date of such registration operate as a discharge of all such trustees from the duties of the trust.

If by reason of death absence from the State of Victoria or any other disability the consent of any trustee to the transfer as aforesaid cannot be obtained within six months after the constitution of the corporation as aforesaid the bishop may by writing under his hand consent to such transfer in place of any such trustee and if such consent be published in some newspaper circulating in the place where the property to which the consent refers is situate and if within a month from the publication of such advertisement no proceedings be taken therein by the person in whose name such consent is given such consent shall upon the expiration of such month be as effective for the purpose of this Act as a consent given by the person in whose place the consent is declared to have been given.

S. 10

amended by No. 18/1989 s. 13(Sch. 2 item 73(a)).

s. 10

Upon obtaining any such written consent as is mentioned in either of the last two preceding sections and the acceptance of the corporate body the Registrar-General or the Registrar of Titles as the case may be shall make the proper transfer in his Register and thereupon without further conveyance or transfer the whole estate and interest of the trustees shall vest in such corporate body and the Registrar-General or the Registrar of Titles as the case may be shall issue all necessary certificates of registration or of title or make any necessary recordings in the Register.