This is the sharpest edge of Hutterite life and it has been litigated. In Lakeside Colony of Hutterian Brethren v. Hofer, decided by the Supreme Court of Canada on 29 October 1992, the court held that a religious community expelling members must observe the rules of natural justice — notice, an opportunity to answer, and an unbiased tribunal — and set aside the expulsions because none of the defendants had been told their expulsion was to be considered. The colony's claim to have them removed from its land failed on that ground. The court did not disturb the underlying principle that departing members have no property claim, and Canadian courts have generally upheld it. What the case did establish is that the colony's internal discipline is reviewable by a secular court for procedural fairness, which is precisely what four hundred years of Anabaptist practice was designed to avoid.