Historical Judgement

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          The most significant judgement in the history of the Baha’i Faith




One morning the Caravan House was served a legal notice by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States and Canada, that the Caravan has no right to use the designation Baha’i Bookshop on the windowpane of the little store because the word Baha’i is registered in the US Patent Office, No. 245,271. The Caravan was therefore advised to discontinue use of the word Baha’i, not only on the show window but also on all the Caravan publications as well. Sixteen months later, on April 1, 1941,Justice Valente of the the Supreme Court of New York State declared that the plaintiffs have no right to a monopoly of the name of a religion and the defendants have an equal right to use the name of the religion in connection with their activities.

Reference:  “From Gaslight to Dawn”, an autobiography by Julia Chanler. New York: New History Foundation, 1956

Law journal screenshot of judgement ‘New York Law Journal.’






































Reference: The Broken Silence by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab


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