Reform of the English Ecclesiastical Courts
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REFORM OF THE ENGLISH ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS. THE Anglican Bishops have now intro duced a scherne for the reform of the English ecclesiastical tribunals, based on the report in 1883, of a strong and representa tive commission presided over by Arch bishop Tait, and, after his death, by Arch bishop Benson. If this scheme becomes law it will profoundly alter the constitu tion of the church courts in England. It may be interesting to American readers, to have placed before them a brief sketch of the existing system of ecclesiastical jurisdiction in England, and of the present proposals for its amendment. The lowest order in the judicial hierarchy, if one may apply the term to a graduation which is partly secular, is the consistory court. A bishop has two kinds of jurisdiction, one is voluntary or non-contentious, the other is contentious. The former includes such matters as the grant of licenses and visitation. The other embraces procedure under such statutes as the clergy discipline act, 1892, and the issue of " faculties," as episcopal permissions to do acts affecting old fabrics or interiors of churches, otherwise illegal, are styled. It has long been the practice for the bishops to delegate both species of jurisdiction. The voluntary jurisdiction was delegated to the vicar-general; the contentious to the official principal. But these offices are now usually united in the chancellor of the diocese, who is appointed by the bishop by patent. It is in the consistory court that the bishop's contentious jurisdiction is exercised, and for all practical purposes, the chancellor is the judge of that tribunal. From the consistory court an appeal lies to the provincial courts, i. e., to the courts of the Archbishop of the province of Canterbury or York, as the case may be. In the province of Canterbury the name of provincial court has been and is applied to various tribunals, the court of the
vicar-general, where bishops of the province are confirmed, and the court of the master of the faculties, where cases relating to notaries public are held. It is usually desig nated, however, the famous court of arches. This tribunal derives its name from the church of St. Mary-le-Bow — Eeelesia Beatce Marice de Areubus — in which it formerly sat. Its history past and present cannot be explained without a brief digression. In the English ecclesiastical system, as in that of the western church generally, there are a number of districts exempt from the juris diction of the bishop of the diocese in which they are placed. These are called "peculiars "; some of them, c. g., the Chapel Royal, St. George's, Windsor, and West minster Abbey, are " royal peculiars," being under the immediate jurisdiction of the crown. Others are " bishop's peculiars," and the bishop, for instance, has four in the diocese of Lincoln, while yet a third class are " archbishop's peculiars." These last sprang from a privilege enjoyed by the pri mates of exercising jurisdiction in the places where their seats and palaces are. There were thirteen such peculiars in the City of London. One of them was the parish of St. Mary-le-Bow, and the archi-episcopal juris diction over them all was exercised in the court of arches by an officer called the dean of arches, while the ordinary metropolitan jurisdiction of the primate was exercised by his official principal. No dean of arches has been appointed for centuries, although the name has sometimes been given to the official principal. Besides its jurisdiction over the " archbishop's peculiars," the court of arches entertains appeals from the vari ous consistory courts, and also exercises, under letters of request from the bishop of any diocese in the province, jurisdiction over causes of which the consistory court
