Dilandu wrote:blackjack217 wrote:No, they seized the property under the legal principle of "Its a war, I can steal your property whenever I want."
The problem is, that the other side didn't recognise this, and have a legal rights to not recognise this. Especially due to the dual status of property - as the property of Church, and the property of Knights of the Temple Lands. The "wartime methods" could work during the wartime, but after the war, without official nationalisation, Charis would find a lot of headache, trying to satisfy both sides.
For example, some property in Charis was taken over by the Church of Charis as the Temple property. But after the war, some vicar appeared, and claimed that, as the Knight of the Temple Lands, he was the private owner of the property, and as a private owner, he demand his property to be compensated. What would Charis do - assuming, of course, that Inner Circle would be able to take the rising industrial-age imperialism and nationalism under control?
None of the Church property was owned by the (nominally secular) KoTL. It was all owned outright by the Church of God Awaiting. Guess what happened to the elements of the CoGA in Charis? They renamed themselves the Church of Charis and retained the Church properties, except for the Temple Loyalist parish churches and rectories. There might be a few Temple Loyalist Convents or Abbeys.
As far as the Empire is concerned, the CoGA no longer has any legal claim on the Church properties the Church of Charis took over. The Church properties within the Empire that open Temple Loyalists are running/managing/working out of, however, are more of a gray area and it could be argued that the CoGA could sell those Church properties. If the Temple Loyalists protested, I still wouldn't want to lay odds on what the civil courts
with jurisdiction (meaning local/Imperial Charisian ones) would rule.
Frankly, unless the Empire looses, buying Church properties within the Empire from the CoGA is not the way you want to be spending your money.
The CoGA can try to sell anything it wants, but it's not going to mean the current owners (Church of Charis) or local legal authorities (Empire of Charis) are going to recognize the sales as valid.
It'd be like the Catholic Church trying to sell lands it had owned that are currently in the hands of the Anglican Church to finance a Catholic restoration (and Catholic country-sponsored invasion, such as Spain) in Protestant England. You could give the Catholic Church as much money as you wanted, but unless they succeeded, all you have to show for your money is a bunch of paper and hot air that nobody (who is in authority) in England is going to care.