CURATES 1 & 2 VICT. order, for any such taxes, &c., which shall have become due after the STIPENDIARY passing of the act, payment to be enforced by monition and sequestration, This power of the bishop to order re-payment of taxes, &c. does not extend to taxes or rates on land; nor to any taxes, &c. for more than one year, ending at Michaelmas preceding the order. By sect. 95 & 96., on a benefice becoming vacant, the curate is to quit his curacy and the house of residence, on receiving six weeks' notice, given within six months of the new incumbent's admission, collation, institution, or licence. Every incumbent, resident or non-resident, having obtained permission, under the hand of the bishop, may require a curate to quit his curacy and the house of residence, &c., upon six months' notice thereof; and in the case of the house of residence, &c., the bishop may alone give notice. (1) In the event of the bishop refusing such permission to give notice to quit the curacy, and the incumbent being resident, or (1) A case of difficulty may arise upon the construction of these two sections. A non-resident incumbent desiring to reside, whose house of residence, with a portion of glebe, is assigned to the curate under sect. 93., may apply to the bishop for permission to require the curate to quit the curacy under sect. 95., and the house and glebe under sect. 96.; the bishop refuses permission in both cases; the archbishop, on appeal under sect. 95., grants permission to give notice to quit the curacy (the only permission he can grant). How is the incumbent to obtain possession of the house and glebe? It is true, that it is not likely that a bishop would withhold permission in such a case, or refuse himself to give the six months' notice; but if he does, there appears to be Do Summary means of obtaining possession of the house and glebe. Rogers' Eccles. Law, 286. (1) Form of notice by a new incumbent to a curate to quit curacy, or to give up possession of house of residence. I. A. B., clerk, having been duly admitted to the rectory of -, in the county of, and diocese of -, do hereby, in pursuance of the power and authority for this purpose vested in me by virtue of the act of parliament passed in the first and second years of her present Majesty's reign, intituled "An Act to abridge the holding of benefices in plurality, and to make better provision for the residence of the clergy," give notice to and require you, C. D, elerk, to quit and give up the curacy of aforesaid [the following to be added where applicable and to deliver up possession of the rectory house of aforesaid, and the offices, stables, gardens, and appurtenances thereto belonging, and (if any) such part of the glebe land as has been assigned to you] at the expiration of six weeks from the giving of this notice to you. Witness my hand this day of 18 (2) Form of notice by an incumbent, with in the in consent of the bishop, to a curate to quit cu- c. 106, aforesaid, and the offices, stables, gardens, and appurtenances thereto belonging, and (if any) such part of the glebe land as has been assigned to you] at the expiration of six calendar months from the giving of this notice to you. * Witness my hand, this 18-. day of Form of bishop's permission to an incumbent to give his curate notice to quit curacy, or give up possession of house of residence. Ss. 95. & 96. Curate when to quit. (Applicable to notice No. 2. only.) aforesaid, and the offices, outhouses, gardens, • This notice must be dated on a day subsequent to the date of the bishop's permission. STIPENDIARY UNDER STAT. 1 & 2 VICT. c. 106. S. 97. Curate not to quit curacy without three months' notice to incumbent and bishop. wishing to reside, there is an appeal to the archbishop. But there is no appeal in the event of the bishop refusing permission to give notice to quit the house. If the curate, having duly received notice, shall refuse to deliver up such premises, or any of them, he is to forfeit 40s. for every day of wrongful possession after service of the notice. By sect. 97. no curate shall quit his curacy until after three months' notice given to the incumbent and the bishop, unless with the written consent of the bishop, on pain of paying to the incumbent a sum not exceeding the amount of the stipend for six months, to be specified by the bishop. This sum may be retained out of the stipend if any part thereof remains unpaid; or if it cannot be so retained, may be recovered by action of debt. PROVISIONS UNDER THE ACTS FOR BUILDING AND ENDOWING CHURCHES. 4. PROVISIONS FOR CURATES UNDER THE ACTS FOR BUILDING AND ENDOWING Churches. (1) By stat. 1 & 2 Vict. c. 107. s. 13., in all district churches and district chapelries the licence of the stipendiary curate appointed to serve the chapel of such chapelry will not be rendered void by the avoidance of the Stat. 1 & 2 Vict. church of the parish or district parish in which such chapel is situate, unless the same be revoked by the bishop of the diocese under his hand and seal; but such licence will continue in force, unless otherwise directed by the bishop, notwithstanding the avoidance of the church of the parish, or district parish. c. 107. s. 13. Licence of stipendiary curate of dis trict chapelry not to be void by avoidance of parish church. Stat. 8 & 9 Vict. c. 70. s. 18. Licence of ministers of a new church not void by avoidance of parish church unless revoked by bishop. Stat. 2 & 3 Vict. c. 49. s. 11. The extent and meaning of stat. 1 & 2 Vict. c. 107. s. 13. By stat. 8 & 9 Vict. c. 70. s. 18., the licence of the minister appointed to serve a new church (without a district), already or to be hereafter built, wholly or in part, by means of any monies at the disposal of the Church Building Commissioners, under the provisions of the Church Building Acts or any of them, will not be rendered void by reason of the avoidance of the parish church of the parish in which such new church is situate, unless such licence be revoked by the archbishop or bishop who may have granted the same, or by the successor of such archbishop or bishop. Stat. 2 & 3 Vict. c. 49. s. 11., after reciting it was by stat. 1 & 2 Vict. c. 107. s.13. enacted, that in all district churches and district chapelries the license of the stipendiary curate appointed to serve the chapel of such chapelry shall not be rendered void by the avoidance of the church of the Given under my hand, this day of Note. The notice No. 1. applies only to The notice No. 2. applies to every other case of an incumbent requiring his curate to quit the curacy. The consent of the bishop is required only in the latter case. The 112th section contains directions as to the mode in which the notice is to be served; and it directs that "it shall be served personally upon the spiritual person therein named, or to whom it shall be directed, by showing the original to him, and leaving with him a true copy thereof, or, in case such spiritual person cannot be found, by leaving a true copy thereof at his usual or last known place of residence, and by affixing another copy thereof upon the church door of the parish in which such place of residence shall be situate." The notice must immediately after the service thereof be returned into the Consistorial Court (or the Court of Peculiars, in the case of an archbishop's or bishop's peculiar, vide seet. 108), and be there filed, together with an affidavit of the time and manner in which the same shall have been served. The foregoing forms have been extracted from Mr. Hodgson's Instructions for the Clergy, pp. 18, 19 & 20. (1) Stats. 58 Geo. S. c. 45., 59 Geo. S. c. 134., and 1 & 2 Vict. c. 107. s. 13. FOR CURATES UNDER THE ACTS FOR parish or district parish in which such chapel is situate, unless the same PROVISIONS shall be revoked by the bishop of the diocese under his hand and seal, and that doubts existed as to the extent and meaning of such provision, enacts, that the same shall apply to the licence of the stipendiary curate of a district chapelry, and to the licence of the stipendiary curate of a district parish church. Under stat. 58 Geo. 3. c.45. s.63., and stat. 59 Geo. 3. c. 134. s. 26., the Church Building Commissioners may assign stipends out of the pew rents. Under stat. 58 Geo. 3. c. 45. s. 64. the Church Building Commissioners can assign out of the pew rents a proper stipend to the spiritual person serving any church or chapel, with consent of the bishop of the diocese, regard being had to the extent and population of the district assigned to the church or chapel, and the sum which may probably be recessary to enable such spiritual person to procure a residence in the district, and to all other circumstances; and the commissioners may also assign salaries to the clerks of such churches or chapels; and if the commissioners and bishops do not agree as to the amount of the stipend, it is to be settled by the archbishop of the province. BUILDING AND CHURCHES. Stat. 58 Geo. 3. c. 45. s. 64. Stipends to clergymen can be assigned out of pew rents. c. 45. s. 72. Deeds for By stat. 58 Geo. 3. c. 45. s. 72. every deed, grant, or endowment for Stat. 58 Geo. 3. securing a provision or salary to the spiritual person serving any church or chapel under the act, is to be enrolled in the Court of Chancery, and registered in the registry of the diocese. clergymen's stipends to be enrolled. c. 103. s. 18. Powers of Church Building Acts for reof minister and covery of salary pew rents to By stat. 59 Geo. 3. c. 134. s. 28. every assignment of any stipend to any minister or clerk under the provisions of stat. 58 Geo. 3. c. 45. and that act, c. 134. s. 28. is to be registered in the registry of the diocese to which the parish belongs. By stat. 5 Geo. 4. c. 103. s. 18. all the powers, authorities, provisions, Stat. 5 Geo. 4. regulations, clauses, penalties, and forfeitures in the Church Building Acts, or any or either of them contained, for the securing, recovering, and paying the salaries of spiritual persons, and for the recovery of pew rents, and all regulations as to the number or proportions of free seats in churches or chapels built or purchased wholly or in part with money advanced by the Church Building Commissioners under the provisions of such acts, is to extend and be in full force, and be applied in all cases of any such churches or chapels being built or purchased by subscription or by rates, under the provisions of that act, as fully and effectually, to all intents and purposes, as if the same and each and every of them were severally and separately re-enacted and repeated in that act. Stat. 3 & 4 Vict. c. 60. s. 5., after reciting it was expedient that the Church Building Commissioners should have the power, with the consent of the bishop of the diocese, to augment, out of the surplus pew rents of a church or chapel, the stipend of the incumbent or minister thereof (in respect to which church or chapel the commissioners have made, or hereafter may make, an order for the reservation of the pew rents thereof, and an assignment thereout of an annual stipend to such incumbent or minister, under stat. 58 Geo. 3. c. 45.), enacts, that the commissioners can direct, under their common seal, with the consent of the bishop of the diocese under his hand and seal, a further assignment to the incumbent or minister of any church or chapel, for his use and benefit, of a part or of the whole of the surplus pew rents thereof, already accrued or hereafter to accrue, in respect to which church or chapel the commissioners may have made, or hereafter churches and chapels built by subscription. Stat. 3 & 4 Vict. c.60. s. 5. Commissioners may, with consent of cases augment PROVISIONS UNDER THE BUILDING AND LICENCE FOR PERPETUAL AND Requisites before licence. Construction of canon 48. Judgment of Sir John Nicholl in may make, an order for the reservation of pew rents, and an assignment thereout to such incumbent or minister; and every such further assignment shall be registered in the registry of the diocese: provided, that the power shall not be exercised in any case where such surplus pew rents have been invested in government securities in the names of trustees to be appointed by the bishop of the diocese, and suffered to accumulate, for the purpose of forming a fund for the building or purchasing a house of residence, with the consent of the bishop of the diocese, for the spiritual person serving such church or chapel, or where such surplus pew rents have been charged or chargeable by the commissioners with the payment of any sum or sums of money borrowed or advanced by way of loan at interest, or by way of annuity, or otherwise, for or towards the building any such church or chapel, or for the purchasing any site or sites for the same, and defraying all expenses relative thereto, and in keeping such church or chapel in repair. 5. Licence for PERPETUAL AND STIPENDIARY CUrates. (1) A curate, whether he be perpetual or stipendiary, cannot perform the duties of his office until he has acquired from the bishop of the diocese a licence to officiate. By canon 48. "No curate or minister shall be permitted to serve in any place without examination and admission of the bishop of the diocese, or ordinary of the place having episcopal jurisdiction, in writing, under his hand and seal, having respect to the greatness of the cure and meetness of the party." And the canon is headed, "None to be curates but allowed by the bishop." (2) In Gates v.Chambers (3) Sir John Nicholl stated, "Now the object of this canon seems at least to be, that curates who are engaged to take charge of Gates v. Cham- parishes, either altogether or in part, for a continued time, shall be 'examined and admitted' by the diocesan.... bers. "It may be very proper that curates, within the meaning of the canon, as already explained — and in which light the Court, as at present advised, is disposed to regard it—should be examined and admitted' by the diocesan in order to prevent persons, not duly qualified, from being introduced into parishes in that character. But the defendant in the instance in question, it should now seem, did not attend at Byfield in that character; nor was he acting as curate within the meaning of the canon so understood — he only came to officiate for the rector on a particular occasion. That occasional assistance so given is punishable as an ecclesiastical offence, merely because the minister, so assistant, has not been licensed as curate by the bishop of the diocese, is more than, without further consideration and other authorities being adduced, I am prepared to lay down as the rule of law: such à (1) Vide post, tit. PRIVILEGES AND RE- nisi prius per episcopum, &c. examinatus ac STRAINTS OF THE CLERGY. admissus fuerit." (2) This, in the Latin, is "Ministri, nisi ex episcopi vel ordinarii approbatione, pro curatis non admittendi." And the canon itself is, "Nulli curato, aut ministro, permittetur, ullibi curæ animarum inservire, It seems that the canons of 1603 were originally written in Latin; and the English translation is, in some parts, inaccurate. When apparent ambiguity exists, reference should be made to the original text. (s) 2 Ad. 189. rule would be highly inconvenient to the clergy, and might not unfrequently LICENCE FOR occasion parishioners to be deprived altogether of the church service. PERPETUAL AND "This interpretation of the forty-eighth canon is confirmed, in my judgment, CURATES. by the fiftieth and fifty-second canons, which are in pari materia. By the 6 first of these, the fiftieth canon, neither the minister, churchwardens, nor any other officer of the church, shall suffer any man to preach within their churches and chapels but such as, by showing their licence to preach,' shall appear unto them to be sufficiently authorised thereunto.' Now the fiftysecond canon plainly implies that this licence to preach,' at least, was not required to be had of the local ordinary; for the entry directed to be made, by that canon, for the purpose of conveying information to the local ordinary in the case of a stranger preaching in his diocese, is, among other things, to set forth the name of the bishop by whom his licence to preach' was granted. It appears, indeed, from the forty-ninth canon, that the 'licence to preach' referred to in these, the fiftieth and fifty-second canons, was quite a distinct thing from the licence to a cure,' which is the subject of the forty-eighth canon-being (the first) a licence to 'preach' specially, without which ministers were forbidden, by the forty-ninth (canon, to expound,' as it is termed (i. e. to preach), 'in their own cure, or elsewhere,' or to do any more than 'read plainly and aptly, without glossing or adding, the homilies (then) already set forth, or in future to be published, by lawful authority, for the confirmation of the true faith, and for the edification and instruction of the people.' It is well known that such (separate) licences to preach were in use both before, and for some time after, the Reformation: but, for the last century or two, in consequence of the clergy being better educated, or for some other reason, they have fallen into desuetude; and are now included either in 'letters of orders,' or in the 'licences of ministers to particular cures.'” To acquire the licence the curate must send to the bishop his nomina- Nomination to tion to the curacy on a 30s. stamp, duly executed by the patron. the curacy to be sent to the Secondly; the letters of orders of priest or deacon, because the curate bishop. must be in holy orders of deacon at least, if he be licensed to be an assistant curate; and of priest if he be licensed to a perpetual curacy. (1) And this must appear to the ordinary, either of his own knowledge, or by lawful testimony. nation. Thus, by a constitution of Archbishop Reynold, no person shall be Proof of ordiadmitted to officiate, until proof shall first be made of his lawful ordination. (2) orders. And by a constitution of Archbishop Arundel, no curate shall be ad- Letters of mitted to officiate in any diocese, wherein he was not born or ordained, unless he bring with him his letters of orders. (3) Letters testisigned by three monial must be Letters testimonial must be signed by three clergymen: thus, by a constitution of Archbishop Reynold, no person shall be admitted to officiate, until proof shall first be made of his good life and learning (4); and by a clergymen. |