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Hanna v. Malick: the Russy-Antacky schism in the Michigan Supreme Court
Matthew NameePrior to Bishop Raphael Hawaweeny’s death in 1915, pretty much all the Syrian (Antiochian) Orthodox in America recognized his authority. This included St. George Syrian Orthodox Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan, which was incorporated…
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Ecumenical Patriarch denied appeal of Bishop Dionisije
Matthew NameeWell, this is interesting. Lately, I’ve been looking at the Supreme Court case Serbian Diocese v. Milivojevich, which pitted the representatives of the Serbian Church against the incumbent American bishop, Dionisije, who had been…
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Neutral Principles of Law and the Problems of Deference
Matthew NameeSo far, we’ve been discussing the role of civil courts in church property disputes in the context of the “deference” approach: that is, the courts will defer to the decisions of the highest church authorities. This was the…
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Serbian Diocese v. Milivojevich, Part 2: Justice Rehnquist’s Dissenting Opinion
Matthew NameeIn my last article, I wrote about Justice Brennan’s majority opinion in Serbian Diocese v. Milivojevich, the 1976 Supreme Court case that deferred to the Holy Assembly of the Serbian Church in its defrocking…
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Serbian Diocese v. Milivojevich, Part 1: Justice Brennan’s majority opinion
Matthew NameeWe’ve introduced the first major Supreme Court case dealing with Orthodoxy, Kedroff v. St. Nicholas Cathedral (1952). Today, we’ll begin an analysis of the other landmark case, Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese v. Milivojevich (1976).…
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1965 Yale Law Journal article on the Moscow-Metropolia Supreme Court case
Matthew NameeIn May 1965, the Yale Law Journal published a paper entitled, “Judicial Intervention in Church Property Disputes: Some Constitutional Considerations,” by Dennis E. Curtis. (For the lawyers reading this, the citation is 74 Yale…