n 



llh> Kh ICE. 



BENT' 



;i 



rr.jiiiri rvrry parnou ami near before bin admission to be incumbent, 

 to subscribe a declaration -i conformity to tin- Liturgy of the ' 

 of EngUod u by law establish*!. 



The acts of institution or collation *o far confer a right to the tern- 

 poralitioi of the benefice, that the clerk may enter upon the glebe land 

 and take the tithe*, but he cannot uc for them or grant them until 

 induction. By induction the church become* full, even agaiiut the 

 ro\\n. and the clerk in seised of the temporalities of the benefice, and 

 I with the full right* and privilege* of portion ; but by the Act 

 I I 'iiifcinnit y he must, within two month* after he is in actual po*M*> 

 i"ii "f his be'netict , u]>ou ome Sunday, openly before hi* congregation, 

 read the morning and evening prayer*, and declare hi* assent to the 

 Book of Common Prayer, on pain, in case of neglect or refusal, of being 

 I/MO farta deprived of bin benefice. The name statute oblige* him, uii 

 pain of deprivation, to read publicly, within three months after hU 

 mibscription to the declaration of conformity to the Liturgy, the 

 bUtop'i certificate of hi* having made such subscription, together with 

 the declaration itself. The statute 23 tieo. III. c. 28, however, make* 

 an exception where the incumbent ia prevented by some lawful impedi- 

 ment, to be allowed and approved of by the ordinary of the place. 

 Too aaine penalty of deprivation u imposed by 13 Eliz. c. 12, in case- 

 of an incumbent failing, within two months after induction, to read 

 pnlilii-ly in the church the Tliirty-ninc Article*, and to declare his 

 assent to them. The 23 Geo. 111. c. 23, provide*, that, in case of sick- 

 ness or other lawful impediment, it shall be deemed a sufficient com- 

 pliance with the (tatute of Elizabeth if the incumbent reads the 

 Article*, and declares his assent to them at tbe same time that he 

 declares his assent to the Book of Common Prayer. The parson must, 

 within MX mouths after his admission to the benefice, take the oaths 

 of allegiance in one of the courts at Westminster, or at the general 

 quarter sessions of the peace, on pain of being incapacitated to hold 

 the benefice, and of incurring certain other disabilities therein specified. 

 Such are the mean* by which a clerk'* legal title as parson, rector, or 

 vicar is acquired, asserted, and completed. 



Every parson or rector of a parish with cure of souls, and where the 

 ]<arsonage is appropriated, every vicar or perpetual curate, though in 

 his natural capacity on individual, is in contemplation of law a body 

 corporate, with perpetuity of succession. The rector or parson is 

 seised of the freehold of the parsonage house and glebe lands, as well 

 as the tithe* of the parish, except where a special exemption from the 

 |yment of tithes exists by prescription or otherwise ; but owing to 

 the practice of appropriation, which formerly prevailed to a great ex- 

 tent in England, and has been attended with very remarkable conse- 

 quences, these are frequently vested in laymen, who have vicars or 

 curates under them to j>erfonn the spiritual duties. [Aovowsox.] This 

 custom was not confined to spiritual corporation* aggregate, but deans 

 and other officers in cathedrals, and in some places even parish priests, 

 procured the privilege of appointing a vicar to perform the spiritual 

 duties of the church, while its revenues were appropriated to them- 

 selves and their successors. Hence it happens that in some places a 

 rector and vicar are instituted to the same church ; in which case the 

 rector U excused from duty, and the rectory is called a sinecure bene- 

 fice, as being tint card animarum. Ill order to effectuate an appropria- 

 tion it was necessary that the patron should obtain the consent of the 

 crown and of the bishop, as each of these had an interest in the 

 patronage of the church in cose of lapse, which, a* a corporation never 

 die*, could not take place after the appropriation. Upon the making 

 an appropriation, an annual pension was formerly reserved to the 

 I -i h"p and his successors, called an indemnity, and payable by the 

 body to whom the appropriation was made. In an ancient deed of 

 appropriation preserved at Canterbury, the ground of the reservation 

 in expressed to be for a recompense of the profits which the bishop 

 would otherwise have received during the vacancy of tbe benefice. 



After the appropriation the appropriators and their successors be- 

 came perpetual parson* of the church; but if the corporation were 

 dissolved, the perpetuity of persons being gone, the appropriation 

 censed, and the church recovered its rights. 



This principle would have come into extensive operation at the time 

 of the dissolution of the monasteries in England, if the legislature hod 

 not exprewly provided against it. By the statute* 27 Henry VIII. 

 M.I Ml Henry VIII. c. 13, tbe poaKesions of the e leli^ious 

 houses, and l>y a subsequent xtatute, 32 Henry VIII. c. ill, tin Me of 

 the Knight* of St. John of Jerusalem, were all vested in the eioun. 

 In each of thaw statutes, parsonage* and tithes are expressly included, 

 and tbe fir.-t two confirm tbe royal grant* made or hereafter to be mode 

 of this property. Tithe* are also included in two subsequent statute*, 

 37 Henry VIII. c. 4 and 1 Edward VI. c. 14, by which the pomowiona 

 of chantries and religious fraternities are given to the crown. The lost 

 of theeo statute* empowers the commissioners, therein referred to. to 

 ordain (ltd lufficicntU . ndow vicar* in perpetuity in pariah churches 

 annexed to the religious fraternities whose possessions were confiscated 

 by that act ; and also to endow in |ierpetuity a schoolmaster or preacher 

 in mii-h place* where the religious fraternities or incumbents of chantries 

 were bound by tbe original foundation to keep a schoolmaster or priest. 

 Th property acquired by the crown from the above-mentioned sources, 

 and from the dissolution of alien priories in the reign of llemy V.. wa- 

 freely bestowed by the kings of England, especially Henry VIII.. not 

 only upon spiritual persona and corporations, but IIJM.II laymen. Hence 



it ia that there are so many instances in England at the present time, of 

 not merely the right to tithes, but tbe property of entire rectories 

 being vested in laymen. 'I'.,- m ' uefioe* are sometime* called lay, but 

 more commonly impropriate, rectories, as being (according to Spelnun) 

 improperly in the h.-mds of laymen. The rector is in that caw termed 

 the i i n proprietor ; but this appellation is now indiscriminately applied 

 not only to lay individuals and corporations,.but to all spiritual persons 

 and corporations who, either by virtue of ancient appropriation*, 

 grants from the crown since tbe dissolution of the religion* fraternities, 

 are entitled to the tithe* and other revenues ol 'the thmvh, without 

 performing any spiritual duties. By statute ." i I. i .7, the 



remedies which the law had provided in the ecclesiastical court* for 

 the subtraction of tithe* are communicated to laymen, and their title 

 to tithes in put on the same footing with that to land, by giving 

 the same or similar actions for vindicating their estates in those and 

 other ecclesiastical profits against all adverse claimant* wbatsoev. 

 abort, tithea and other fruit* of benefices, when vented in laymen, are 

 liable to the same process of execution for debt, and subject ! the 

 same incidents of alienation, descent, escheat, and forfeiture ax all other 

 incorporated real property. Moreover, by statute 43 Eliz. c. 2, tithes 

 impropriate are made liable to poor-rate*. They are also included in 

 the Land-tax Acts; and by the Statute of Limitation-. :; \- -I Will. IV. 

 c. 27, actions and suit* for their recovery are subject to the same periods 

 of limitation as those for the recovery of land. 



Another consequence of appropriation in England, besides the Teat- 

 ing of the possessions of the Church in laymen, was the end..,\ > 

 vicarages. The appropriating corporations at first used to depute 

 their own body to reside and officiate in the parish < -hi in In- i.y ; 

 by lot, and sometimes by way of penance ; but as this practice caused scan- 

 dal to the Church, especially in the case of monastic orders whose rule* 

 were thereby violated, the monka by degrees ceased to offici.v 

 sonally in the appropriated churches, and this duty was comm. 

 stipendiary vicars or curates, who were however removable at tbe will 

 of tbe appropriators. One of the numerous pretext* urged by tin- 

 monastic bodies for obtaining appropriations had been that they might 

 be the better enabled to keep up hospitality in their respective house*, 

 and that they might relieve the poor. These duties however were so 

 far neglected as to give rise to general discontent ; in addition to u hi< h. 

 the officiating priests were very poorly paid, and oppressed with bard 

 service, and consequently unable to answer the calls of hospitality ami 

 charity. At length the legislature, by way of a partial remedy to these 

 evils, enacted (15 Richard II. c. 6), "That in every licence fur the 

 appropriation of a parish church, it should be expressed that the 

 diocesan bishop should ordain, in proportion to the value of the 

 church, a competent sum to be distributed among the poor parishioners 

 annually, and that the vicarage should be sufficiently endowed." Still, 

 as the vicar was removable at pleasure, he was not likely 

 strictly on the legal sufficiency of the endowment. There!'' 

 establish the total independent- of vicars of the appropriate 

 statute 4 Henry IV. c. 12, provided, " That from thenceforth in 

 church appropriated there should be a secular person ordained \ic.ir 

 perpetual, canonic-ally instituted and inducted, and convenably < till) I 

 endowed by the discretion of the ordinary, to do divine sen-ice, and to 

 inform the people, and to keep hospitality there ; and that no i-e! 

 that is, regular priest, should in anywise be made vicar in any 

 appropriated." From the endowments made in pursuance ot 

 have arisen all the vicarages that exist at the present day. The title 

 of the vicar to tithes and other ecclesiastical dues, such as East* i 

 ings (which are said to be due to the parson or vicar of common right), 

 and customary payments for marriages, burials, and I in-nd- 



primarily upon the deed of endowment. As however the rector and 

 vicar are persons equally callable in law of holding such property, the 

 deed is not always conclusive evidence in any question that m.n 

 between these parties as to their respective rights ; but it is said, that 

 where either of them has for a long time had und;-puted enjoyment of 

 any particular portion of the tithes or other fruits of the be j 

 which is not consistent with the terms of the original deed, a variation 

 of that deed by some subsequent instrument may be presumed in 

 favour of such long enjoyment. The endowments of vicarages have 

 generally consisted of apart of the glelio land of the p.its-ui.i 

 what are technirulK called the small tithes of the |>ari><h. In some 

 places, also, a portion of the p. 

 [TmiKs.] 



A vicarage by endowment becomes a dutim ' i which the 



I- it i >! i ! i -. M -t. .I m ill. Impropriator 01 rintoun rector, and ta tild 

 to be appendant to the rectory. It follows that the 

 endowed with separate - enabled to recover his tn 



right* without the aid of the jtron. The loss of the original Act of 

 Endowment is supplied by prescription ; that is, it the vicar has 

 enjoyed any jarticular tithes or other fruits by constant usage, the law 

 will presume that ho was legally endowed with them. 



If the impropriatoi . either by design or mistake. pn ,-,'nt-< tin \ 

 the parsonage, the vicarage will be dissolved, and the person pn 

 will be entitled to all the ecclesiastical dues as rector. [ VICARAGE.] 



It is to be observed, that the .-tatute I Henry I \ . ,-. ] J. did not 



extend to appropriation! made licfore the first of Hiclnnl II. II 

 hap|H-ns that in some appropriated churches no vicar lias ever been 

 endowed. In this case the officiating minister is appointed by the 



