ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS. 



ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS. 



749 



Sovereign in council shall from time to time appoint. At present the 

 court sits in Westminster Hall. So also by the 20 & 21 Viet a 85, 

 are they deprived of their jurisdiction over question* of marriage and 

 divorce. The power of granting judicial separations (limilar to those 

 A mend el Ikon, but more remedial in their effect) is now veated in 

 the crown, a* alao the power of dissolving a marriage. [DIVORCE.] 

 The court styled Her Majesty'* Court for Divorce and Matrimonial 

 Causes alone administer* matrimonial law, subject to an appeal to the 

 House of Lords. The archbishop* and bishops, however, still retain 

 their privilege of granting licenses to marry without publication of 



By these enactments the ecclesiastical courts have lost the moat 

 important of their functions, but they still retain exclusive cognisance 

 of all spiritual matters concerning the clergy, such as the preaching or 

 publishing of unsound doctrine, that in, anything repugnant to the 

 articles or doctrine of the Church of England; and also their dis- 

 cipline, that is, their moral conduct and mode of life ; also whether 

 the performance of the church service is at variance with the in- 

 junctions of the rubric. (The Church Discipline Act, 3 & 4 Viet., c. 86, 

 defines and regulates the mode of procedure against offending clergy- 

 men, although its provisions are by no means perfect in attaining its 

 object). They also can inquire into the refusal of a bishop to institute 

 the presentee of a patron to a living by the form of a proceeding 

 known as a duplex qutrela ; non-payment of church-rates, repair of 

 churches and faculties for their alteration, the extension and violation 

 of graveyards, or the removal of bodies ; the right to pews, whether 

 merely a possessory right or one confirmed by title or presumption ; 

 brawling, that is, violent behaviour in the church ; non-payment of 

 tithes (where there is no modus or prescription, in which case the 

 matter is for the temporal courts) ; simony, also a matter for tem- 

 poral cognisance, as regards a layman. These are questions within 

 the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts, to which might be added 

 incontinence, swearing, drunkenness, absence from church, and other 

 matters which, in former times, it was deemed the duty of Mother 

 Church to restrain and punish ; but such proceedings have fallen into 

 desuetude. 



The ordinary ecclesiastical courts are : 1. The Provincial Courts, 

 being, in the province of Canterbury, the Court of Arches, or Supreme 

 Court of Appeal, the jurisdiction of which ia settled by 23 Hen. VIII. 

 c. 9, and the Court of Peculiars ; and in the province of York, the 

 Chancery Court. 2. The IXocaan Courlt, being the consistorial court 

 of each bishop, exercising general jurisdiction; the court or courts of 

 one or more commissaries appointed by the bishop, or fixed by custom, 

 in certain dioceses, to exercise general jurisdiction, within prescribed 

 limits ; and the court or courts of one or more archdeacons or their 

 officials, who exercise general or limited jurisdiction, according to the 

 terms of their patents, or to local custom. 3. There ore also Peculiart 

 of various descriptions in most dioceses, and in some they are very 

 numerous : royal, orchiepiscopal, episcopal, decanal, sub-decanal, pre- 

 bendal, rectorial, and vicarial. 



The Provincial Courts of the archbishop of Canterbury, and the 

 archbishop of York, are independent of each other ; the process of one 

 province does not run into the other, but is sent by a requisition from 

 the court of one province to the local authority of the other, for 

 execution, when it is necessary. The appeal from each of the pro- 

 vincial courts lies to the sovereign, represented by the Judicial Com- 

 mittee of Privy Council ; but before the passing of the statute 2 & 3 

 Will IV., c. 92, a commission issued under the Great Seal in each 

 individual case of appeal, to certain persons or delegates, to hear and 

 determine the matter in contest. [DELEGATES, COURT OF.] 



Of the three Archiepiscopal Court* of Canterbury, the Arches Court 

 is the first [ARCHES, COURT OF,] (deriving its title from the place 

 where it originally sat, Bow Church, St. Mary de arcubitt). It is 

 presided over by a functionary, styled the " Dean of the Arches," 

 appointed by the archbishop of Canterbury. This court exercises 

 appellate jurisdiction from each of the diocesan and most of the 

 peculiar courts within the province. It may also take original cogni- 

 sance of causes by letters of request, from each of those courts. 



The Court of Peculiars, thirteen of which are in the Province of 

 Canterbury, is the third Archiepiscopal Court of Canterbury, it takes 

 cognisance of all matters arising in those Peculiars, among which are 

 the Deaneries of London, Rochester, and Winchester ; and some others, 

 over which the archbishop exercises ordinary jurisdiction, and which 

 are exempt from and independent of the several bishops within whose 

 dioceses they are locally situated. 



The province of Canterbury includes twenty-one dioceses. The Arch- 

 bishop's Court (that is, the Arches Court), does not exercise ordinary 

 episcopal jurisdiction, and therefore a commissary is appointed for that 

 purpose, which stands on the same footing as the ordinary consistory of 

 a bishop. Thus the ordinary episcopal jurisdiction is exercised by the 

 commissary, in the same manner as in other dioceses. 



The province of York includes five dioceses, besides that of Sodor 

 and Man, the archiepiscopal jurisdiction is exercised therein much 

 in the same manner as in the province of Canterbury. 



The Diocesan Courts take cognisance of all matters arising locally 

 within their respective limits, with the exception of places subject to 

 peculiar jurisdiction. They may decide matters of spiritual discipline ; 

 suspend clergymen from their office, and administer the other branches 



of ecclesiastical law ; but in matters of importance the case is generally 

 nt to the Arches Court by letters of request 



The Archdeacon's Court is generally subordinate, with an appeal 

 to the Bishop's Court ; though in some instances it is independent 

 and co-ordinate. 



The Archdeacons' Courts, and the various Peculiars already enume- 

 rated, in some instances take cognisance of all the ecclesiastical matt* 

 arising within their own limits, though the jurisdiction of many of the 

 peculiar courts extends only to a single parish : the authority of some 

 of them is limited to a part only of the matters that are usually the 

 subject of ecclesiastical cognisance ; several of the peculiars possess 

 voluntary but not contentious jurisdiction. 



The total number of courts which exercise any species of ecclesias- 

 tical jurisdiction in England and Wales is 372, which may be classed as 

 follows : 



Provincial and diocesan courts . . . . 80 

 Courts of bishops' commissaries . . .14 

 Archidiacoual courts 37 



Peculiar Jmi*dicti<ii>*. 



Royal 



Archiepiscopal and episcopal 

 Decanal, subdecanal, &c. . 



Prebendal 



Rectorial and vicarial 



Other peculiars .... 



Courts of lords of manors . 



11 

 44 



44 



88 

 63 

 17 

 48 



The amount of compensation awarded to the judges, registrars, and 

 other officials of the several courts abolished by the late Acts, taking 

 the half of an average of fees, &c. for the five years preceding llth 

 January, 1858, amounted, for England to 40,950j. 14. 8d., and to the 

 proctors 60,3041. 9. 9rf ; for Ireland, judges, Ac., 77192. 9. 6d. ; proctors, 

 87172. 18s. 2rf., making in the whole 117,7822. 12. 3d., payable in the 

 shape of annuities. 



The canon law has been practised in the ecclesiastical courts as a 

 distinct profession for upwards of three centuries ; but owing to recent 

 changes by taking from those courts their testamentary and matri- 

 monial jurisdiction, it is scarcely probable that any body of professional 

 men will henceforth devote themselves exclusively to those tribunals. 

 The courts, together with that of the Admiralty, have hitherto sate in 

 the College of Advocates at Doctors' Commons, where also, in close 

 contiguity to the court, have resided the judges and advocates. The site 

 of the building was purchased by some members of this body in 1567. 

 [DOCTORS' COMMONS.] The members of the society were incorporated 

 in 1768 by a royal charter, under the name of ' The College of Doctors 

 of Laws exercent in the Ecclesiastical and Admiralty Court*.' The 

 proctors discharge duties similar to those of solicitors and attorneys in 

 other courts. [PROCTOR.] 



The course of proceeding in these courts is as follows : The mode 

 of commencing the suit, and bringing the parties before the court, is 

 by a process called a Citation, or summons. This citation, in ordinary 

 cases, is obtained as a matter of course, from the registry of the court, 

 and under its seal ; but in special cases, the facts are alleged in what 

 is termed an act of court, and upon those facts the judge or his surro- 

 gate decrees the party to be cited ; to which, in certain cases, is added 

 an intimation, that if the party does not appear, or appearing doea not 

 show cause to the contrary, the prayer of the plaintiff, set forth in the 

 decree, will be granted. The party cited may either appear in person, 

 or by his proctor, who is appointed by an instrument, under hand and 

 seal, termed a proxy. The proctor thus appointed represents the 

 party, acts for him and manages the cause, and binds him by his acts. 



The mode of enforcing all. processes, in case of disobedience, is by 

 pronouncing the party cited to be contumacious ; and if the dis- 

 obedience continues, a significant issues, upon which an attachment 

 from Chancery is obtained, to imprison the party till he obeys. In 

 cases where some act is required to be done by the party cited, the 

 compulsory process is enforced ; but in some cases, where no act is 

 necessary to be done by the party cited, the plaintiff may proceed in 

 pscnam contumaciec, and the cause then goes on <.< parle, as if the 

 defendant had appeared. The party cited, to save his contumacy, may 

 appear under protest, and may show cause against being cited ; such 

 as, that the court has no jurisdiction in the subject-matter, or that he 

 is not amenable to that jurisdiction : this preliminary objection is 

 heard upon petition and affidavits ; and either the protest is allowed, 

 and the defendant is dismissed, or the protest is overruled, and the 

 defendant is assigned to appear absolutely ; and costs are generally 

 given against the unsuccessful party. Each party may appeal from 

 the decision on this preliminary point ; or the defendant, in case the 

 judge decides against him on the question of jurisdiction, and on some 

 other questions, may apply to a court of law for a prohibition. 



The form of the pleadings is next to be described. These arc in- 

 tended to contain a statement of the facts relied upon and proposed 

 to be proved by each party in the suit, the real grounds of the action, 

 and of the defence. 



Causes, in their quality, are technically classed and described as 

 plenary and summary, though in modern practice there is substantially 

 little difference in the mode of proceeding. All causes in the Preroga- 

 tive Court are summary. 



