Do priests and religious have a right to their ancestral property?
Religious Renunciation: Is it voluntary or mandatory?
Through the sacrament of ordination, a Catholic priest shares in the ministerial priesthood of Christ. Similarly, a Religious is called to live the life of Christ and His mission more radically through the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience. Both the priests and the religious make voluntary renunciation of their possessions for the sake of the Kingdom. Nowadays, this voluntary renunciation has become a tool to deny their constitutional and civil rights, especially property rights. In several cases, they are forced to fight their families because they are denied their rightful share of property for the fact that they are priests or religious. In other cases, when they divide their ancestral property, either parents or siblings leave out their son/daughter who is a priest or a religious. Many of the priests and religious struggle to make both ends meet when they choose to leave the dioceses or congregations. The following case will shed some light on this issue.
A case
Raphael and his wife Mary had three children—George, Xavier and Eleeswa. George, the eldest son, passed away before his parents. Eleeswa, his sister, died leaving behind six children on 4 April 1961. Xavier entered a religious congregation and was ordained a priest in 1943. After his ordination, his parents made a will by which they bequeathed their property to him. Xavier sold a portion of the “Willed Property” to his relations by executing two sale-deeds. The rest of the property, not liable to be divided, remained with him.
Does he suffer “Civil Death” on becoming a priest?
Three children of the deceased George approached the Trial Court seeking partition of the property excluding Xavier and also for a declaration that the two sale-deeds executed by him were not binding on the property. They contended that no rights derived from the “Will” to Xavier, since he had already become a priest and taken the vow of poverty before the “Will” was made. They also asserted that Xavier was at best a manager only who had suffered a ”Civil Death” on becoming a priest and that the disputed property was to be divided without giving him a share.
The Trial Court held that Xavier cannot claim right to ancestral property as he was ordained prior to execution of the “will.” Applying the principles of the Code of Canon Law, the Trial Court declared that priests or nuns cannot hold property once they enter into the Holy Order. The Trial Court, further, directed the property to be divided among the legal heirs excluding Xavier who had suffered a “Civil Death” on becoming a priest.
Right to Ancestral Property
Xavier, along with others, came up in appeal before the Kerala High Court, pointing out that applying the principles of Canon Law, the Trial Court ignored the statutory provisions of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 (ISA) which are applicable to all ‘Indian Christians.’ Disposing the case, on 7 June 2017, the division bench of the Kerala High Court declared that the Priests and the Religious have right to their ancestral property and denial of such right would amount to violation of their constitutional right to property.
“To hold that one would suffer a ‘civil death’ and be deprived of his property on entering into the Holy Order would be a naked infringement of Article 300-A of the Constitution of India”, the High Court said. Referring to a case decided by the Supreme Court “If a priest can hold a job, he can have right to ancestral property too,” the High Court said, “We wonder how a priest or nun would suffer a ‘civil death’ for the purpose of succession alone when he/she is very much alive and competent to accept a job on salary or practice as a lawyer receiving fees.”
Being a Priest or Religious is not a “Civil Death”
The Code of Canon Law is a body of principles, standards, rules and norms internal to the Catholic Church, distinct from the civil law. Being a norm internal to the Catholic Church, it has ceased to be a customary law after its codification in 1917. Civil rights, especially inheritance and succession of parties, cannot be decided on the basis of Canon Law. In its pristine sense, when priests and religious severed their natural family ties on entering dioceses or religious congregations, they may be said to have suffered a “civil death” making them ineligible to inherit property either by intestate succession or testamentary succession. “Civil Death” is inflicted by the courts on persons convicted for the crimes especially against the state, or any adult determined to be legally incompetent because of their mental disability; as a result a citizen loses all civil rights. By becoming a priest or a religious, does one undergo a “Civil Death”?
Dealing with the obligations and rights of clerics, the Code of Canon Law restricts the management of goods belonging to lay persons, including giving sureties and signing promissory notes (Can 285§4). Further, the professed religious, by virtue of the vow of poverty, renounces the capacity of acquiring and possessing in favour of the religious institute (Can 668§5). As a consequence of their voluntary renunciation, they neither own nor administer any property movable or immovable as their own, but administer the same for the achievement of the aims and objectives of their institute in accordance with its rules and regulations set forth. They bequeath all their property, assets, credits, both movable as well as immovable, in whatever character or wherever situated.
Legislation has Primacy over Personal Laws
The statute passed by the Legislature has primacy over the personal law, and the provisions of the statute shall prevail and override personal law, usage or custom prevailing before legislation. Governing all ‘Indian Christians’ as regards their inheritance and succession, ISA does not make any departure in the matter of inheritance or succession to Christian priests or religious, whether or not they have taken the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. There is no statutory prohibition for them to claim their legitimate share out of the estate of their father or mother. Hence, there cannot be any automatic deprivation of property acquired by way of intestate or testamentary succession by the mere fact that one has entered into the priesthood or religious order and renounced his/her worldly pleasures. Priests or religious are individuals with all civil rights, who can also voluntarily and freely relinquish the share of their property as per the manner of life they have chosen.
Fr. Ravi Sagar SJ is a law graduate and holds PG diplomas in labour laws as well as in human rights. He founded the Legal Cell for Human Rights Guwahati (LCHR) and served as its director till July 2017. He has been a practising advocate at Gauhati High Court, Guwahati, for over 15 years. ravisagarsj@gmail.com
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