In a 30-page ruling released Thursday, all nine Supreme Court justices agreed the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench had no authority to rule on civil action against Jehovah's Witness brought by former member Randy Wall. The plaintiff had argued that his expulsion from the church affected his property and civil rights.

Courts have neither the "legitimacy nor institutional capacity to deal with contentious matters of religious doctrine," wrote Justice Malcolm Rowe.

"In the end, religious groups are free to determine their own membership and rules," Rowe concluded, adding courts will only intervene in such matters if there is an underlying legal dispute that must be resolved, reported the National Post.

A Calgary-based independent realtor, Wall was "disfellowshipped" by the elders of the Highwood Congregation of the Jehovah's Witnesses congregation in 2014 for insufficient repentance. Wall had admitted to two incidents of drunkenness and one of verbally abusing his wife, but contended he was under stress because his 15-year-old daughter's previous expulsion from the congregation led him to evict her from the family home, according to a summary of the case in the Court of Appeal of Alberta ruling.

When his appeal to church bodies failed, Wall applied to the court to overturn the decision, arguing the expulsion affected him financially because half his clients were members of Jehovah's Witness congregations and had severed ties with him, the Post reported.

A judge ruled the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench had jurisdiction to rule on the matter because the disfellowship had an economic impact on Wall, and the Court of Appeal upheld that decision in September 2016.

The Highwood congregation appealed to the Supreme Court, which heard the case on November 2, 2017.

A number of faith and civil liberties groups intervened in the case on behalf of the Highwood congregation. Several hailed Thursday's ruling as a victory for religious and free association rights.

"Mr. Justice Rowe's reasons provide a strong statement on the limited role courts should have on reviewing internal decisions of private institutions, and in particular, ecclesiastical bodies," said Philip Horgan, a Toronto-based constitutional lawyer and president of Catholic Civil Right League.

"We are pleased with the court's analysis of the limited role for judicial review of such institutional decisions, and the further recognition that secular courts are not qualified to rule on theological or ecclesiastical concerns"...

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