ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSION 



2781 



ECCLESIASTICAL LAW 



speaks in an assembly " (hence 

 Jerome's rendering concionator and 

 the English translation " the 

 Preacher "). In i, 1, 12 the writer 

 seems to be identified with King 

 Solomon, to whom tradition as- 

 cribed the authorship. But the 

 language of the book, which con- 

 tains Persian and possibly Greek 

 words, and represents a transitional 

 stage in the development of Mish- 

 nic Hebrew, is that of an age much 

 later than Solomon's. The book 

 cannot, however, be later than Ec- 

 clesiasticus (c. 200 B.C.), which pre- 

 supposes its existence. It presents 

 a strange mingling of despair and 

 pessimism (" Vanity of vanities, 

 all is vanity ") with an irresistible 

 sense of the goodness of God. Thus 

 the writer's utterances often seem 

 contradictory. 



The true explanation seems to 

 be that the book is a series of re- 

 flections representing two or more 

 moods, or in other words is the 

 record of the negative and positive 

 phases in a soul's struggle for light. 

 Hence, probably under Greek in- 

 fluence, a philosophic materialism 

 and epicureanism ; under the in- 

 fluence of national subjection, a 

 general despondency ; and yet, 

 under the influence of an innate 

 religious trend, an unquenchable 

 faith in a divine dispensation. The 

 materialistic element will account 

 for the hesitation with which the 

 book was admitted into the He- 

 brew Canon. The writer in one 

 mood sees little profit or progress 

 in life ; the same happenings recur 

 perpetually (c/. Nietzsche's philo- 

 sophy). The best course in life 

 seems to be to eat and drink and 

 enjoy things as much as possible. 

 But in another and wiser mood it 

 is realized that true happiness is 

 dependent upon fear of God and 

 obedience to His commandments 

 (xii, 13). See Proverbs, Ecciesias- 

 tes and Song of Songs, ed. G. Currie 

 Martin, 1908 (in the Century Bible). 



E cclesias tical Commission . 

 Body constituted in 1836 to man- 

 age the extensive estates of the 

 Church of England. Under its di- 

 rection the large incomes of certain 

 bishops and other dignitaries were 

 gradually reduced to a more uni- 

 form scale, and the surplus was de- 

 voted to the endowment of poor 

 parishes. 



The commissioners are the two 

 archbishops, the English diocesan 

 bishops, 5 cabinet ministers, 4 

 judges, and 12 others, but in reality 

 the work is directed by the three 

 principal commissioners, one of 

 whom is usually a member of the 

 House of Commons. In certain 

 cases, in 1836, the dean and 

 chapter refused to hand over the 

 cathedral estates to the commis- 



sioners, and several such incomes 

 were reduced owing to agricultural 

 depression. Those which took the 

 other course receive a fixed income 

 whatever the rent-roll of the sur- 

 rendered estates may be. The 

 Commission deals with an annual 

 income of nearly 2,000,000, and 

 after paying the various stipends 

 it usually sets aside some 400,000 

 a year for increasing the endow- 

 ment of poor livings and pro- 

 viding something for new ones. 

 The offices are in Millbank, West- 

 minster, S.W. See The Ecclesias- 

 tical Commission : sketch of its 

 history and work, L. T. Dibdin 

 and S" E. Downing, 1919. 



Ecclesiastical Courts. Courts 

 of law that deal with offences 

 against ecclesiastical law, i.e. cases 

 affecting benefices and the like. 

 Such are in their nature confined to 

 an established church, or to one 

 that, although no longer a state 

 church, was so formerly, and re- 

 tains part of its old organization. 

 The courts held by the pope and by 

 the various prelates of the Roman 

 Catholic Church are ecclesiastical 

 courts. (See Curia.) 



In England clerics are now for 

 practical purposes on the same 

 footing before the law as laymen. 

 Formerly this was not so, and the 

 church courts dealt with all kinds 

 of offences committed by clergy- 

 men as well as with all cases affect- 

 ing marriage (divorce, etc.), and 

 wills two subjects which the 

 church regarded as peculiarly its 

 own. The process of reducing the 

 powers of the ecclesiastical courts 



was a gradual one, but by about 

 1860, the date of the Ecclesiastical 

 Courts Jurisdiction Act, they may 

 be said to have been confined to 

 their present duties, dealing only 

 with cases affecting church disci- 

 pline, and no longer with any that 

 are offences against the state. In 

 1855 their jurisdiction in cases of 

 defamation was taken away, and 

 in 1857 they lost that affecting wills 

 and matrimony. 



The existing ecclesiastical courts 

 in England are the court of arches, 

 presided over by the dean of arches, 

 which is the chief court in the pro- 

 vince of Canterbury ; and the chan- 

 cery court, which fulfils the same 

 purpose for the province of York. 

 Each diocesan bishop has his court, 

 called the consistory court, over 

 which the chancellor of the diocese 

 presides. The archdeacons have 

 courts, which, however, have little 

 to do. Each archbishop has an 

 almost obsolete court of audience. 

 There is also the court of the 

 vicar-general, which deals with 

 ecclesiastical offences committed 

 by bishops, and a court for mar- 

 riage licences. 



The court of arches hears ap- 

 peals from the consistory courts, 

 and from it there is an appeal to the 

 judicial committee of the privy 

 council. Until 1833 these appeals 

 were to the court of delegates of 

 appeals, which dated from the time 

 of the Reformation. The law ad- 

 ministered in the church courts 

 was mainly canon law. See Canon 

 Law ; Church of England ; Eccle- 

 siastical Law. 



ECCLESIASTICAL LAW IN ENGLAND 



Harold Hardy, Barrister-at-Law, Author of The Benefices Act, etc. 



This article deals with Ecclesiastical Law, the main branch of which 



is that under which the Church of England lives and works. A nother 



aspect of the same subject is dealt with under Canon Law. S.ee also 



Church of England 



Ecclesiastical law may include 

 all laws affecting any church or 

 religious society ; or, it may be re- 

 stricted to the law which regulates 

 a particular church controlled by 

 the state, as, for instance, the estab- 

 lished church of Scotland. In this 

 article, however, ecclesiastical law 

 means the law relating to the 

 Church of England as administered 

 in the courts of the country, in- 

 cluding the common law based 

 upon custom, the canon law, and 

 statute law. 



Ecclesiastical law relates to the 

 officers, who are the archbishops, 

 bishops and clergy, and the laity, 

 who are persons not in Holy Orders; 

 the government and discipline ; the 

 faith, form of worship, rites and 

 ceremonies; the fabric of the church, 

 vicarage house and buildings, and 

 other forms of church property. 



Ecclesiastical law is adminis- 

 tered in the civil courts, and in the 

 ecclesiastical courts which have 

 both civil and criminal jurisdiction. 

 It includes part of what is called 

 the common law of England, based 

 on custom ; it also comprises a 

 considerable body of statute law; 

 while the canon law is binding 

 upon the officers of the church and 

 to some extent upon the laity. 

 The chief officers of the church are 

 the two archbishops, who exercise 

 jurisdiction in their respective pro- 

 vinces of Canterbury and York. 

 Each province is divided into dio- 

 ceses, presided over by a bishop, 

 who has an ecclesiastical court 

 where cases, generally relating to 

 church property, are tried before 

 his law officer, the chancellor. 



Archbishops and bishops are 

 appointed by the crown, and are 



