Joseph McKenna

“ And this, too, would result from granting the contentions of petitioners,-a society whose chief purpose was to establish community of property would come back to the assertion and fact of individual ownership, and whose hope was self-sacrifice and self-abasement, would encourage self-interest and self-assertion. Members could go into the society or go out of it, take nothing to it, serve it ever so little, and become ultimate sharers of its property. They might die in the society, or, having withdrawn, die out of it, and will or convey their titles or rights to others. ”

“ Have the plaintiffs such a proprietary right or interest as would entitle them, upon the dissolution of the society, to share all its property or assets, or which entitles them to an accounting? (2) Has the society been dissolved by consent or by an abandonment of the purposes for which it was formed? A negative answer to either of the propositions determines the controversy against petitioners, and both were so answered by the master and by the circuit court and the circuit court of appeals. ”

“ All the property of the society, real, personal, and mixed, in law or equity, and howsoever contributed or acquired, shall be deemed, now and forever, joint and indivisible stock. Each individual is to be considered to have finally and irrevocably parted with all his former contributions, whether in land, goods, money, or labor ”

“ It has no power to feed, lodge, maintain, and support, or to care for the spiritual welfare of, members of the society, or to perform any of the duties imposed upon the boards. The trustees have no distinct title to the society's property, but only the rights pertaining to the stock of the Union Company. All the industries carried on in Economy are carried on by tenants and lessees of the Union Company, and the society has ceased to possess the power to carry out the purposes for which its property was accumulated. ”

“ The occupation or business of the said society was agriculture, except in so far as it was necessary to manufacture shoes, clothing, and other necessaries for the community. The members of the said society obeyed George Rapp as their spiritual and temporal leader and ruler. . . . About the year 1807 the community promulgated the doctrine of celibacy as being necessary for the success of a communistic society.'
Although styled 'George Rapp and his associates,' Rapp aws, from the beginning to his death, in 1847, the absolute and exclusive ruler, in whom all power was vested. ”

“ The present membership has shrunk to eight members, less than enough to fill the board of elders, and that board consists of Duss and his wife, an old man and five women, aged or ignorant. Practically, Duss is the last survivor, and he claims the ownership of this vast estate as such survivor. By the articles, no period was fixed for the termination of the life of the society. There is no remainder over, nor provision of any kind for the disposition of the trust estate in the event of the society's extinction. ”

“ Those provisions apply to those who withdrew from the society prior to 1836,-the first class into which the master divided the plaintiffs,-and need not much comment. None of the persons who so withdrew contributed property to the association. We are not informed by the record whether their conduct when in the society, or whether their manner of withdrawing from it, entitled them to the consideration that the articles of agreement permitted as an indulgence to withdrawing members. ”

“ But it shall be left altogether to the discretion of the superintendent to decide whether any, and, if any, what, allowance shall be made to such member or his representatives as a donation.'
The purpose was definite and clearly expressed. It was certainly thought to be clear enough by the men who framed it, to declare and accomplish the 'sacrifice of all narrow and selfish feelings to the true purposes of the association,' as the articles fervidly declared. ”

“ The society was formed by one George Rapp, who, with his son and others, came from the Kingdom of Wurtemberg to the United States in 1803 or 1804, and settled at Harmony, in Butler county, Pennsylvania. In 1814 the society moved to Posey county, Indiana, and later removed to Economy, Pennsylvania, its present abode, in 1825. Its members 'were associated and combined by the common belief that the government of the patriarchal age, united to the community of property adopted in the days of the apostles, would conduce to promote their temporal and eternal happiness.' 19 How. ”

“ An analysis of the agreements of 1847, 1890, and 1892 is not necessary. They were made to meet particular exigencies, and expressly affirmed the prior agreements, except the 6th section of that of 1827. ”

“ In 1803 George Rapp and others located at Harmony, Butler county, Pennsylvania, removed in 1814 to Indiana, and returned in 1825 to Pennsylvania, and located at Economy, in Beaver county. They formed a society or association, which, as said by the circuit court of appeals, 'was organized upon the principle of community of goods and land ownership. ”

“ This power of attorney was signed by 402 members of the association, and with the substitution, and not including the signatures, is as follows:
"Know all men by these presents: Whereas, Frederick Rapp, of Economy, in Beaver county, state of Pennsylvania, recently deceased, was for a series of years the agent in temporal affairs of the Harmonie Society, carrying on in his own name all the external business of said society, and taking to himself the titles to real estate, as well as the evidence of claims arising out of the various transactions of said society ”