^Dorset 



peculiar. 



By Rev. Canon J. M. J. FLETCHER, M.A., R.D, 



JJIHE term Peculiar is derived from the Latin word 

 peculiaris (i.e., one's own, belonging to one's 

 private property to which no one else has a 

 claim).* In Canon Law it denotes " A particu- 

 lar parish, or church, having jurisdiction within 

 itself, and exempt from that of the ordinary or 

 bishop's court." Amongst the Anglo-Saxons 

 the only judges in Church Courts were the 

 bishops and such abbots as possessed exempt juris- 

 diction. In those days the archdeacon simply sat as 

 representing the bishop in his ecclesiastical court, much as 

 his steward would sit in his seignorial court ; but he would 

 have no independent jurisdiction. % It was in no small measure 

 due to an edict of the conqueror, which dealt with offenders 



* To trace this derivation a little farther back, it is interesting to 

 notice that peculium private property, properly property in cattle, 

 as well as pecunia, is derived from pecus sheep, cattle (which, in turn 

 is derived from a Greek word signifying to shear) because the private 

 property or riches of the ancients in a pastoral age consisted of flocks 

 of sheep and herds of cattle. 



