CHAP. 81.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 1398 of the Code of
Virginia, as heretofore amended, in relation to conveyances of real
estate for religious purposes. (S. B. 159.)

Approved February 29, 1916.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
section thirteen hundred and ninety-eight of the Code of Vir-
ginia, as heretofore amended, in relation to conveyances of
real estate for religious purposes, be amended and re-enacted
so as to read as follows:

Sec. 1398. Every conveyance, devise, or dedication shall be
valid which, since the first day of January, seventeen hundred
and seventy-seven, has been made, and every conveyance shall
be valid which hereafter shall be made of land for the use or
benefit of any religious congregation as a place for public wor-
ship, or as a burial place, or a residence for a minister, or for
the use or benefit of any church, or religious society, as a resi-
dence for a bishop or other minister or clergyman who, though
not in special charge of a congregation, is yet an officer of such
church or religious society, and employed under its authority
and about its business; and every conveyance shall be valid
which may hereafter be made, or has heretofore been made, of
land as a place of residence for the sexton of a church, provided
such land lies adjacent to or near by the lot or land on which
is situated the church to which it is designed to be appurte-
nant; and the land shall be held for such uses or benefit and for
such purposes, and not otherwise. And no gift, grant, or be-
quest hereafter made to such church or religious congregation,
or the trustees thereof, shall fail or be declared void for insuf-
ficient designation of the beneficiaries in, or the objects of, any
trust annexed to such gift, grant, or bequest in any case where
lawful trustees of such church or congregation are in existence,
or said congregation is capable of securing the appointment of
such trustees upon application as prescribed in section thir-
teen hundred and ninety-nine; but such gift, grant, or bequest
shall be valid, subject to the limitation of section fourteen hun-
dred and three; provided, that whenever the objects of any such
trust shall be undefined, or so uncertain as not to admit of
specific enforcement by the chancery courts of the Common-
wealth, then such gift, grant, or bequest shall enure and pass
to the trustees of the beneficiary congregation, to be by them
held, managed, and the principal or income appropriated for
the religious and benevolent uses of said congregation, as said
trustees may determine, by and with the approval of the vestry,
board of deacons, board of stewards, or other authorities which,
under the rules of usages of such church or congregation, have
charge of the administration of the temporalities thereof.