교회 분쟁 사례에 대한 법적 검토 - 판례의 태도를 중심으로 -

The recent increase of church disputes in number and the intensity of their character as a property dispute call for a thoroughly examined standard for church dispute resolution. This article seeks to review the positions of the current judicial precedents on several types of church dispute cases, focusing on the fact that almost all church disputes ended up in the court. The Supreme Court en banc Decision 2004Da37775 delivered on April 20, 2006 warrants a special attention in this regard. The goal of this decision was to clearly define the church property owners in case of church division as the consenting body of 2/3 or more of all church members who have voting rights, which overruled the previous precedents that have refrained from intervening with the church disputes, especially around the church properties. This decision has since served as an important reference to property crimes and other civil suits against the church properties. It is generally evaluated as reasonable decision practically contributes to the resolution of church disputes. However, in other penal offences in church disputes unrelated to the properties, the standards of criminal law is applied. For internal conflicts within the church such like disciplinary cases, the principle of judicial restraint is maintained. The decision above reflects the court’s tendency to widen the judicial intervention to church disputes. This tendency seems to become inevitable when the parties in the church disputes reach an impasse due to internal system’s lack of capacity to resolve the dispute autonomously. However, it should be noted that it is necessary to promote the internal and autonomous resolution of church disputes through the church’s own disciplinary system by enhancing its fairness, consistency and relevance to its specific context that promote harmonious coexistence of the differences within the church