A South Carolina judge issued a summary judgment on Oct. 15 that neither the parish nor the diocese holds title to the property of All Saints', Pawleys Island.

The decision could set a precedent for other colonial churches if it is upheld. The Rt. Rev. Edward L. Salmon, Bishop of South Carolina, told the Post and Courier of Charleston that the diocese will appeal.

"The diocese has always maintained that All Saints' owns the property subject to the constitutions and canons of the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of South Carolina and will continue to do so," Bishop Salmon said.

In a new motion filed Aug. 31, All Saints' argued that Percival Pawley, for whom Pawleys Island is named, transferred title to the church campus to a trust in 1745 for the benefit of the inhabitants of the Waccamaw Neck for use as a church or chapel for the divine worship of the Church of England. According to terms to the trust, Mr. Pawley named his son, George Pawley, and William Poole to serve as trustees. No successor trustees were named in the trust and none has been appointed since the death of the two initial trustees in the 1700s.

The matter came to the attention of the court after the parish learned that the diocese had filed a lien, or claim, in county court contending that it owned the property. All Saints' learned of the lien when it began making preparations to add a seminary, chapel and parking lot to its church campus and filed suit contesting the claim.

The diocese argued that the Pawley Trust was created merely to build a church, and that once a church was constructed and All Saints' Parish was created by law in 1767, the trust no longer had any purpose. The diocese further argued that All Saints' Church had acquired title to the property through adverse possession since it has occupied and used the property openly for more than 200 years. Finally, the diocese argued that it and the national Episcopal Church are successors to the Church of England in this country, and therefore if the trust was still in existence, the property would be held in trust for their benefit as successors to the Church of England.

In addition to the expected appeal, both All Saints' and the diocese are likely to file claims asking the court to designate them as successor trustees of the property. However, the parish feels sufficiently confident in its claim that it will proceed with its long-planned property improvements. Although the parish rents administrative office space to the Anglican Mission in America, a group seeking official designation as a rival province of the Episcopal Church within the Anglican Communion,