TITLE XII. BENEVOLENT CORPORATIONS. SECTION 593. Corporations for purposes other than profit, how formed. 594. Additional facts, articles of incorporation to set out. 595. Amount of real estate limited. 596. Land held by Masons, Odd Fellows, and Pioneers. 597. Directors to make verified report annually. 598. Sale and mortgage of real estate. 599. What may be provided for in their by-laws, &c. 601. No member to transfer membership, &c. 602. Religious societies may become sole corporations. § 593. Any number of persons associated together for any purpose, where pecuniary profit is not their object, and for which individuals may lawfully associate themselves, may, in accordance with the rules, regulations, or discipline of such association, elect directors, the number thereof to be not less than three nor more than eleven, and may incorporate themselves as provided in this part. [In effect April 5, 1880.] § 594. In addition to the requirements of section 290, the articles of incorporation of any association mentioned in the preceding section must set forth the holding of the election for directors, the time and place where the same was held, that a majority of the members of such association were present and voted at such election, and the result thereof; which facts must be verified by the officers conducting the election. 52 Cal. 333. § 595. All such corporations may hold all the property of the association owned prior to incorporation or acquired thereafter in any manner, and transact al business relative thereto; but no such corporation must own or hold more real estate than may be necessary for the business and objects of the association and providing burial grounds for its deceased members, not to exceed six whole lots in any city or town, nor more than twenty acres in the country, the annual increase, income, or profit whereof must not exceed fifty thousand dollars, provided, that any such corporation now, or hereafter having, and having had continuously for the next preceding three years, the care, custody, control, and maintenance each year, upon an annual average of not less than one hundred orphans, half orphans, and indigent minor children at any one orphan asylum, shall be entitled and allowed to own and possess any number of acres not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres of land in the country, outside of any incorporated city or town, and the annual income or profit of which does not exceed fifty thousand dollars; and provided further, such orphan asylum shall be situated on such lands; and provided further, that the limitations herein provided for shall not apply to corporations formed, or to be formed, under section six hundred and two of the Civil Code, when the land is held or used for churches, hospitals, schools, colleges, orphan asylums, parsonages, or cemetery purposes. [In effect February 26, 1881.] § 596. In addition to that provided for in the preceding section, friendly societies and Pioneer associations may hold such real estate as may be necessary to carry out their charitable purposes, or for the establishment and endowment of institutions of learning connected therewith. In case any such corporation is the owner, by donation or purchase, of more lands than herein or in the preceding section provided for, such surplus must be sold and conveyed by the corporation within five years after its acquisition. Such sale may be made without the order or decree of the Superior Court, as hereinafter provided. [In effect April 5, 1880.] § 597. The directors must annually make a full report of all property, real and personal, held in trust for their corporation by them, and of the condition thereof, to the members of the association for which they are acting. § 598. Corporations of the character mentioned in section five hundred and ninety-three may mortgage or sell real property held by them, upon obtaining an order for that purpose from the Superior Court held in the county in which the property is situated. Before making the order, proof must be made to the satisfaction of the court that notice of the application for leave to mortgage or sell has been given by publication in such manner and for such time as the court or judge has directed, and that it is to the interest of the corporation that leave should be granted as prayed for. The application must be made by petition, and any member of the corporation may oppose the granting of the order by affidavit or otherwise. [In effect April 5, 1880.] § 599. Corporations organized for purposes other than for profit may in their by-laws, ordinances, constitutions, or articles of incorporation, in addition to the provisions in Title I. of this part, provide for: 1. The qualifications of members, mode of election, and terms of admission to membership; 2. The fees of admission and dues to be paid to their treas ury by members; 3. The expulsion and suspension of members for miscon duct or non-payment of dues; also, for restoration to membership; 4. Contracting, securing, paying, and limiting the amount of their indebtedness; 5. Other regulations, not repugnant to the Constitution or laws of the State, and consonant with the objects of the corporation. § 600. Members admitted after incorporation have all the rights and privileges, and are subject to the same responsibilities, as members of the association prior thereto. § 601. No member, or his legal representative, must dispose of or transfer any right or privilege conferred on him by reason of his membership of such corporation, or be deprived thereof, except as herein provided. See acts of March 28, 1874, Relative to Mutual Beneficial and Relief Associations, Appendix, p. 481; and January 8, 1872, Relative to Incorporation of Colleges by Benevolent and Religious Societies, p. 465. § 602. Whenever the rules, regulations, or discipline of any religious denomination, society, or church require, for the administration of the temporalities thereof and the management of the estate and property thereof, it shall be lawful for the bishop, chief priest, or presiding elder of such religious denomination, society, or church to become a sole corporation in the manner prescribed in this title, as nearly as may be, and with all the powers and duties and for the uses and purposes in this title provided for religious incorporations, and subject to all the conditions, limitations, and provisions in said title prescribed. The articles of incorporation to be filed shall set forth the facts authorizing such incorporation, and declare the manner in which any vacancy occurring in the incumbency of such bishop, chief priest, or presiding elder is required by the rules, regulations, or discipline of such denomination, society, or church to be filled, which statements shall be verified by affidavit; and for proof of the appointment or election of such bishop, chief priest, or presiding elder, or of any succeeding incumbent of such corporation, it shall be sufficient to record, with the clerk of the courty in which such bishop, chief priest, or presiding elder resides, the original or a copy of his commission or certificate, or letters of election or appointment, duly attested: provided, all property held by such bishop, chief priest, or presiding elder shall be in trust for the use, purpose, and behoof of his religious denomination, society, or church. The limitation in section five hundred and ninety-five shall not apply to corporations formed under this section when the land is held or used for churches, hospitals, schools, colleges, orphan asylums, parsonages, or cemetery purposes. Any judge of the Superior Court in the county in which any incorporation is formed under this chapter shall at all times have access to the books of such incorporation. Any corporation sole heretofore organized and xisting under the laws of this State may elect to continue its existence under this act by filing a certificate to that effect under its corporate seal and the hand of its incumbent, or amended articles of incorporation in the form required by the preceding section, as prescribed by section two hundred and eighty-seven (287) of the Civil Code; and from and after the filing of such certificate or amended articles, such corporation shall be entitled to the privileges and subject to the duties, liabilities, and provisions of this act expressed. [In effect April 5, 1880.] 58 Cal. 8. TITLE XIII. CEMETERY CORPORATIONS. SECTION 608. How much land may be held, and how disposed of. 609. Who are members eligible to vote and hold office. 610. May hold personal property, to what amount. How disposed of. .611. May issue bonds to pay for grounds. Proceeds of sales, 612. May take and hold property or use income thereof, how. 614. Lot owners previous to purchase to be members of the cor poration. § 608. Corporations organized to establish and maintain cemeteries may take by purchase, donation, or devise, land, not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres in extent, in the county wherein their articles of incorporation are filed, to be held and occupied exclusively as a cemetery for the burial of the dead. The lands must be surveyed and subdivided into lots or plats, avenues, and walks, under order of the directors, and a map thereof filed in the office of the recorder of the county wherein the lands are situated. Thereafter, upon such terms and subject to such conditions and restrictions, to be inserted in the conveyances, as the by-laws or directors may prescribe, the directors may sell and convey the lots or plats to purchasers. $609. Every person of full age who is proprietor of a lot or plat in the cemetery of the corporation, containing not less than two hundred square feet of land, or, if there be more than one proprietor of any such lot, then such of the proprietors as the majority of joint proprietors designate, may, in person or by proxy, cast one vote at all elections had by the corporation for directors or any other purpose, and is eligible to any office of the corporation. At each annual meeting or election, the directors must make a report to the proprietors of all their doings, and of the management and condition of the property and concerns of the corporation. § 610. Such corporations may hold personal property to an amount not exceeding five thousand dollars, in addition to the surplus remaining from the sales of lots or plats after the payments required in the succeeding section. Such surplus must be disposed of in the improvement, embellishment, and preservation of the cemetery, and paying incidental expenses of the corporation, and in no other manner. § 611. Such corporations may issue their bonds, bearing interest not exceeding twelve per cent. per annum, for the purchase of lands for their cemeteries, payable out of the proceeds of the cemetery, and not otherwise. Sixty per cent. of the proceeds of sales of lots, plats, and graves must be applied at least every three months to the payment of the bonds and interest. Such corporations may also agree with the person or persons from whom cemetery lands shall be purchased, to pay for such lands, as the purchase price thereof, any specified share or portion, not exceeding one half, of the proceeds of all sales of lots or plats made from such lands: such payments to be made at such intervals as may be agreed upon. In all cases where cemetery lands shall be purchased and agreed to be paid for in the manner last provided, the prices for lots or plats specified in the by-laws, rules, or regulations first adopted by such association, or prescribed in the agreement between the cemetery and the person or persons from whom the cemetery lands were purchased, shall not be changed without the written consent of a majority in interest of the persons from whom such lands were purchased, their heirs, representatives, and assigns. [In effect April 16, 1880.] § 612. Cemetery corporations may take and hold any property bequeathed or given them on trust, or the lots, plats, or graves thereon, for the specific purpose of embellishing or |