• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.188-198
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• 2012

Church is one of organizations recognized not as corporation but as private association and therefore its identity and possession of properties must be confirmed by the general theories of the civil law in relation not to corporation but to private association. Different from corporation, the internal relations of private association is primarily regulated by the articles of association. When there is no article of association, ordinary resolution and provisions for incorporated association in the civil law are applied by inference. As for the debt of private association, all the members own it in a quasi-joint manner (article 275 and 278). For the last 50 years, the judicial precedents of the Supreme Court has permitted the partition of church for the Protestant church and ruled that the relationship of properties at the time of partition is the joint ownership by church members at the time of partition. This ruling is different from that of corporation and ordinary principles of law. However, a new judicial precedent (the Supreme Court, 2006. 4. 20, 2004다37775) prescribes that different from corporation, the partition of private association is not allowed. Thus, in order to settle the dispute of private association, the Supreme Court changes its traditional standpoint of allowing partition into denying it. This ruling seems to reflect the necessity of settling dispute above all.