Constitutional Crisis in ECUSA: Part V

The Dennis Canon

This fifth post in a series covering the constitutional crises that presently engulf ECUSA will take us into the labyrinths of the Dennis Canon (text may be read at the link). "Adopted" illegally and by stealth on the next-to-last day of General Convention in July 1979, it has been embroiled in controversy ever since it first came to light in litigation, after lying dormant for some twenty years. One of the first cases in which it was asserted resulted in a ruling that the Canon was not self-executing, and could not create a trust in church property without the written consent of the parish, as the property's owner. But in many other court cases, the Canon has withstood attack because of the courts' deference to obiter dictum, for which former Justice Blackmun must take the blame.

It is the constitutional aspect of the Dennis Canon that interests us in this post -- not its constitutionality under federal or state law, but under the constitution of ECUSA. The questions of its constitutionality group themselves into topics, each of which is addressed below

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