17

In 1976, the Court ruled that the determinations of ecclesiastical judicatories in hierarchical churches involving questions of clergy discipline may not be disturbed by the civil courts on the basis of arbitrariness. Arbitrariness was defined as a failure by a judicatory to follow its own ecclesiastical procedure. The Court left unanswered the question of whether fraud or collusion remain legitimate grounds for civil court review of the disciplinary determinations of hierarchical judicatories. Presumably, arbitrariness is no longer a basis for civil court review of ecclesiastical determinations regarding property ownership, meaning that the civil courts cannot review such determinations even if it is alleged that a judicatory failed to follow its own stated procedures in reaching its result. Serbian Eastern Orthodox Diocese v. Milivojevich, 423 U.S. 696 (1976).