Writing in September 1895 to Septimus J. Hanna, then an editor of Christian Science periodicals and First Reader of The Mother Church, Eddy described the work of establishing the various by-laws as having been "impelled" by circumstances which made the need for a rule apparent.

[1] The impetus was always the future protection of the church, to fortify its structural integrity by preventing battles for personal control and creeping bureaucracy, and to maintain its spiritual integrity by preventing frivolous experimentation and the intrusions of personal opinion that would eventually adulterate the teaching and doctrine of Christian Science.

[11] A few of her students, including William R. Rathvon and Judge Septimus J. Hanna, concerned about the ramifications of these clauses in the event of her death, urged her to remove them.

Henry Moore Baker, a lawyer and politician who was also Eddy's cousin, assured her and others in the church that when she was gone clauses in the Manual which required her involvement would default to the "next in authority", which in this case would be the Board of Directors.

[17][18] This culminated in a period of litigation in 1921 when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld the Baker interpretation that the Board of Directors assumed jurisdiction over the estoppel clauses upon Eddy's death.

[15] The 1991 publication of a book by Bliss Knapp again sparked controversy in the church around the estoppel clauses that resulted in another lawsuit.