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9 ICJ 1 (2023)

handle is hein.journals/icjuris9 and id is 1 raw text is: International Comparative Jurisprudence 2023 Volume 9 Issue 1 ISSN 2351-6674 (online) DOI:ht i ice 6 i 2 0 001 MyIRm International Comparative JuriSprudence University THE LEGAL STATUS OF CHURCH PEWS IN CERTAIN CIVIL LAW JURISDICTIONS Anatoliy A. Lytvynenkol Baltic International Academy, Latvia Robert Gordon University, United Kingdom E-mail: a-natyyn i s j mmilgoni Jevgenij G. Machovenko2 Vilnius University, Lithuania E-mail: jexgenit~mahx ven . It Received: 1 May 2023; accepted: 22 May 2023 DOI: / d do1 org/l I 16,/j- ij2O2 06 001 Abstract. Objects of common use in various houses of worship, one of which is a place in a church (church pew), suggest that parishioners have the right to use them, often for quite a long period of time. However, do parishioners have property rights to a place in a church? How can disputes about the inheritance of a place in a church be resolved? In what area of legal regulation does this issue lie? The historical judicial practice of different countries around the world is quite rich in such examples, with the oldest surviving in collections dating back to the 16th century. Moreover, courts have come to quite varied conclusions about the legal status of a place in a church, property rights to it (if any, and whether recognised by law or custom), issues of its inheritance, the right of the church leadership to seize a place in a church from the previous owner and transfer it to other parishioners, and other disputes. It should be noted that in the historical judicial practice of the Republic of Lithuania - namely in judgment of the Supreme Tribunal of the Republic of Lithuania No. 107 (1927) - the issue of the possession and inheritance of a place in a synagogue was also raised. The historical jurisprudence of various countries shows a very rich range of sources of law being applied in such disputes - from customary and proprietary to civil and ecclesiastical law. The authors primarily use the historical-legal method within this article, including the method of interpreting legal norms relating to legal status and proprietary or inheritance rights regarding church pews. Keywords: church pew, ecclesiastical law, law of custom, proprietary rights, church customs. Introduction Among the objects of common use in houses of worship, the most famous that stands out is the pew - or, simply speaking, a place in a church. Based on the definitions of J.-N. Guyot (1784, p. 121) and P.-A. Merlin de Douai (1825, p. 423), the pew is the place where everyone has the right to sit down to listen to a church service. This implies many different interrogations relating to the legal status of a place in a church: Do parishioners have property rights (or other rights) to pews? Who manages and who provides the use of church pews to parishioners? Is it possible to bequeath a church pew to one's heirs? There may be many similar issues, and history has preserved a number of legal cases of disputes concerning a place in a church in which the norms from various branches of law were applied by the courts. This article will attempt to answer these questions. In legal and historical science, questions concerning legal status, property rights, inheritance, and other complicated legal issues regarding a place in a church (church pews) have been covered relatively infrequently. Nevertheless, legal literature from France - where disputes over places in churches were well known both during and after the Ancien Rdgime era, i.e., in the 19th and 20th centuries - left a rather interesting legacy. For example, we may cite the repertoire of the jurisprudence of the French lawyer, legal adviser, prosecutor and politician Doctor of Legal Sciences, academic researcher at Baltic International Academy (Riga, Latvia), doctoral student at the School of Law at Robert Gordon University (Aberdeen, Scotland, UK) (corresponding author). 2 Dr. Hab. (HP), professor at the Department of Public Law at Vilnius University (Vilnius, Lithuania), responsible secretaryof the Teise journal (Vilnius, Lithuania).

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