The crisis came out of patronage. Scottish parishes had for centuries been provided with ministers by lay patrons, and the Church of Scotland's Veto Act of 1834 allowed a congregation to reject a patron's presentee. Rejected candidates went to the civil courts, which held in the Auchterarder case and others that the church had no power to make such a rule and ordered the presentees inducted.
The church's answer was the Claim, Declaration and Protest adopted by the General Assembly in 1842, which asserted that Christ is the only head of the church, that its jurisdiction in spiritual matters is held from him and not from the state, and that no civil authority may compel it to induct a minister or overrule its courts in spiritual things. It was addressed to Parliament, and Parliament declined to act. On 18 May 1843, at the opening of the General Assembly in Edinburgh, the outgoing Moderator read a protest and walked out, and more than four hundred ministers, roughly a third of the clergy, followed him down the street to constitute the Free Church of Scotland. They left behind manses, stipends, churches and schools, and built replacements across the country within a few years, which is the measure of how seriously the principle was held rather than merely stated.