ICJ Number 3

The status of duly elected Delegates to the Uniting Conference who have been elected to the Interim Judicial Council of the Uniting Conference with respect to the right of such delegates to serve in the General Conference and a Jurisdictional Conference.

Digest

A delegate to the Uniting Conference who has been elected to serve as a member of the Interim Judicial Council of the Uniting Conference may not serve as a delegate to the Uniting Conference during his tenure as a member of the Interim Judicial Council. Upon the termination of his service on the Interim Judicial Council, he is eligible thereafter to serve as a member of the General Conference or as a member of a Jurisdictional Conference of The United Methodist Church.

Statement of Facts

At the 1966 session of the General Conference of The Methodist Church and at the 1966 session of the General Conference of the Evangelical United Brethren Church, a Plan of Union for the unification of the two churches was adopted. This Plan of Union included, inter alia: (1) a Constitution for the new church (Part I of said Plan), (2) a plan for the organization and administration of the new church (Part IV of said Plan), and (3) certain Enabling Legislation believed to be necessary to effect an orderly transition of the two former churches into one body. By the requisite votes, the Enabling Legislation of the Plan of Union was declared to have constitutional status. Part IV, Organization and Administration, was adopted in principle subject to subsequent amendment by the Uniting Conference or ensuing General Conferences.

The Uniting Conference held in Dallas, Texas, on April 24, 1968, adopted Committee Report No. 6 from the Committee on Judicial Administration (D.C.A. 164 and D.C.A. 192), creating an Interim Judicial Council to serve for the duration of the Uniting Conference, and in the same legislative act elected the members of the Interim Judicial Council of this Uniting Conference.

On April 27, 1968, the Uniting Conference requested that the Interim Judicial Council make a Declaratory Decision clarifying the status of duly elected delegates to the Uniting Conference who have been elected by the Uniting Conference to the Interim Judicial Council with respect to the right of such delegates to serve in the General Conference and a Jurisdictional Conference.

Jurisdiction

Jurisdiction in this matter exists under Paragraph 1717 of the Plan of Union of The Methodist Church and The Evangelical United Brethren Church, as adopted by the General Conferences of both said churches at their 1966 sessions (see Decisions of the Judicial Council of The Methodist Church No. 88 and 131). 

Decision

We therefore advise the Uniting Conference of The United Methodist Church that any member of the Uniting Conference who is elected by said conference to a place on the Interim Judicial Council of the Uniting Conference must relinquish his seat as a member of the Uniting Conference so long as he remains on the Interim Judicial Council or until said Council has completed its responsibilities to the Uniting Conference. Thereupon, said member may serve in the ensuing General Conference or a Jurisdictional Conference or a Jurisdictional Conference of The United Methodist Church to which he may have been elected as a delegate and shall not be limited by any restrictions in Paragraph 1705.

Torrey A. Kaatz and William K. Messmer did not participate in the above Decision.

April 29, 1968

PAUL R. ERVIN

President, Interim Judicial Council

J. RUSSELL THROCKMORTON

Secretary, Interim Judicial Council