ECUSA is acting as though the decision in All Saints Waccamaw resolved nothing in South Carolina. It does so at its peril, because all South Carolina trial and appellate courts are bound by its holdings: that religious corporations who have the unrestricted power to amend their governing documents may do so without regard to any \u201cheirarchical\u201d\u009d claims by a superior body that have not been reduced to writing; and that no declaration of any trust on religious property in South Carolina is effective to create an enforceable trust unless it is in a writing that is signed by the owner of the real property being placed into the trust.<\/p>\n
ECUSA\u2019s attorneys may think they are \u201cmaking a record,\u201d\u009d but the record of their hierarchical arguments and supposedly hierarchical documents will amount to nothing under South Carolina law\u201d\u201dbecause ECUSA never made its hierarchy explicit in its governing documents<\/b>.<\/p>\n