Francis

Plaintiff commenced three actions against the defendants—two in claim and delivery and one in conversion—to recover the moneys and property held by the defendants as members of the Oakland Klan No. 9. Judgment went for the defendants in each case and the plaintiff has appealed on a bill of exceptions. By stipulation the three appeals have been consolidated and are to be heard as one.

The plaintiff is a corporation having its main office in Atlanta, Georgia; the Oakland Klan No. 9 is an unincorporated subordinate lodge organized and chartered under the constitution of the plaintiff. The presiding officer of the plaintiff, known, as the imperial wizard, signed and caused to be served upon the Oakland Klan a notice of suspension of its charter, without any previous notice to the Klan and without presentation of or hearing upon any charges against the Klan or against any of its members. From this order of suspension an appeal was taken to the tribunal provided by the plaintiff for that purpose and this appeal was still pending at the time of the trial of these actions.

The consolidated appeals from the three judgments all present the question whether a subordinate lodge, of a…