SUPREiME COURT OF CANADA.
THE REV. JOEL TOMBLESON
WRIGHT. (PLANTIFF) ...... .........
APPELLANT; * Dec. THE INCORPORATED SYNOD OF)
'June 22. THE
DIOCESE
OF
HUKON
RESPONDENTS. (DEFENDANTS) ................... .........
ON APPEAL FROM THE COURT OF APPEAL FOR ONTARIO. The sum received for commutation under the Clergy Reserve Act was paid to the Church Society of the Diocese of Huron, upon trust to pay to the commuting clergy their stipends for life, and when such payment should cease then " for the support "and maintainance of the clergy of the Diocese of Huron in "such manner as should from time to time be declared by any "by-law or by-laws of the Synod to be from time to time passed "for that purpose."
In 1860, a by-law was passed providing that out of the surplus of the commutation fund, clergymen of eight years and upwards active services hould receive each $200, with a provision for increase in certain events. In 1873, the plaintiff became entitled under this by-law, and in 1876 the Synod (the successors oft he Church Society) repealed all previous by-laws respecting the fund, and made a different appropriation of it.
Held (affirming the judgment of the court below, Fournier and Henry, JJ., dissenting,) that under the terms of the trust there was no contract between the plaintiff and defendants; the trustees had power, from time to time, to pass by-laws regulating the fund in question and making a different appropriation of it, for the support and maintainance of the clergy of the Diocese, and the plaintiff must be assumed to have accepted his stipend with that knowledge and on that condition. APPEAL from a judgment of the Court of Appeal for Ontario (1), reversing the judgment of Proudfoot, J. (2). PIESENT.-Sir W. J. Ritchie, C. J., and Strong, Fournier, Henry and Taschereau, JJ.