{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_23476/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_23476","id":"gutenberg_23476","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23476","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - British","Category: How To ...","Category: Law & Criminology","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Church maintenance and repair","Church of England"],"text":"Transcribed from the 1897 Simpkin and Co. edition by David Price, email\nccx074@pglaf.org\n\n                               Winchester:\n                Printed by Warren & Son, 85, High Street.\n\n\n\n\n\nChurchwardens' Manual:\n_THEIR DUTIES_,\n_POWERS_, _RIGHTS_, _AND PRIVILEGES_.\n\n\n                                    BY\n                           GEORGE HENRY, D.D.,\n\n           _Bishop of Guildford and Archdeacon of Winchester_.\n\n                              Third Edition.\n\n                                 LONDON:\n                        SIMPKIN AND CO., LIMITED.\n\n                               WINCHESTER:\n          WARREN AND SON, PRINTERS AND PUBLISHERS, HIGH STREET.\n\n                          _All rights reserved_.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.\n\n\nThe fact that a Second Edition of this Manual has been called for within\na few months of its first publication, shows, I think, that it has met a\nwant which was previously felt by Clergy and Churchwardens.  The whole of\nthe Manual has been revised, and additions made with special reference to\nthe Burial Laws, the position of District Churches as regards the Mother\nChurch, and the conveyance of land or buildings to trustees for mission\nor other purposes, which it is hoped will add to its value.\n\n                                                                  G. H. G.\n\nTHE CLOSE,\nWINCHESTER.\n\n_October_, _1890_.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.\n\n\nAdditions have been made to the present Edition, especially with\nreference to the changes which the Local Government Act, 1894, has made\nas to the duties of Churchwardens.  It is hoped that these additions may\nbe found useful.  I once more express the hope that this Manual may be\nfound increasingly helpful in the hands of the Churchwardens in the\ncarrying out of their very responsible duties as officers of the Church.\n\n                                                                  G. H. G.\n\nTHE CLOSE,\nWINCHESTER,\n_1897_.\n\n\n\n\nINDEX.\nActs quoted:--                      PAGE\n7 Gul. IV, and 1 Vict., cap. 45,    66\nsec. 3\n58 Geo. III, cap. 69                67\n59 Geo. III, cap. 85, sec. 1        69\n14 and 15 Vict., cap. 97, sec. 23   71\n18 and 19 Vict., cap. 128, sec.     78\n18\n15 and 16 Vict., cap. 85, sec. 10   80\n24 and 25 Vict., cap. 125, sec. 2   82\n43 Geo. III, cap. 108               84\n36 and 37 Vict., cap. 50            84\n4 and 5 Vict., cap. 38; 7 and 8     85\nVict., cap. 37\nAggrieved Parishioners, how to      58\ndeal with\nCemetery, how to be provided        32\nChurchwarden:--\nOrigin of Office                    1\nWho qualified to act                3\nNot to act except in concert with   9\nhis colleague\nDeclaration to be made              10\nLegality of Election, how           12\nascertained\nVacancy, how filled                 13\nCanonical Duties                    20\nDuty in connection with New         23\nIncumbent\nDuty in connection with Fabric,     21, etc.\nChurchyard, Church Goods,\nInsurance, Church Seats, Faculty\nPews, Sequestration, Parish\nDocuments\nChurchyard, enlargement of          31\n,, Closed, to be kept in order by   30\nChurchwardens at expense of\nParish Council\nCorporation.  Churchwardens not a   94\ncorporation except under special\ncircumstances\nCouncil, Parish--Powers of Vestry   13, etc.\ntransferred to with certain\nexceptions\nCustody of Keys of Church           53\n,, Church Bells                     54\n,, Tithe Map                        18\nDistrict Churches.  Banns not to    39, etc.\nbe asked or Marriages to be\nSolemnised in the Mother Church\nRatepayers residing in District     41\nhave a vote in Vestry of the\nMother Church\nMusic of Church, management of      53\nOffertories, power over             54\ndistribution of\nSidesmen, why so called             7\n,, How elected                      6\nTrust deeds.  How land and          49\nbuildings for mission and other\npurposes should be conveyed\nVestry, Notice of, how to be        7\nsigned\n,, Incumbent Chairman of            8\n,, How Votes taken                  10\n,, Select--abolished                10\nNotices of First Edition            87\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Duties of Churchwardens.\n\n\nI am so constantly asked in the course of my inspection of the Churches\nin the Archdeaconry of Winchester what are the duties and\nresponsibilities of Churchwardens, that I have thought it might be useful\nto publish the following remarks, which were in substance delivered in my\ncharge to the Clergy and Churchwardens of the Archdeaconry of Winchester\nin the Spring of 1889.  Many requests were then made to me that I would\npublish my charge as a manual for Churchwardens, and it is in consequence\nof those requests that this publication has been put forth.\n\nLet me first refer to the origin of the office.  The name appears in\nconnection with the ecclesiastical history of the fourth century.  St.\nAugustine refers to certain officers in the Church called _seniores\nEcclesiastici_.  These officers were not ordained persons, but yet had\nsome concern in the care of the Church.  They were entrusted with the\ntreasure and management of the outward affairs of the Church.  These\npersons may be looked upon as the ecclesiastical ancestors of our present\nrace of Churchwardens. {2}  In Lyndwood's _Provinciale_ there are\nallusions in some of the Provincial Constitutions of the fourteenth and\nfifteenth Centuries which seem to point to officers in connection with\nthe Church corresponding to our present Churchwardens.  It is not,\nhowever, until after the Reformation that we find their duties distinctly\ndefined in successive Canons, as in 1571 (Cardwell's _Synodalia_, I,\n122), in 1597 (Cardwell's _Synodalia_, I, 160), and in our own Canons of\n1603.\n\nIt is not desirable on the present occasion to trace the variations in\nthe duties of Churchwardens through successive centuries.  Each age has,\nof course, its own special features, and may require different treatment\nto its predecessor, but there is no doubt whatever as to the fact that\never since the Reformation Churchwardens have been recognised as officers\nof the Church, with their position and duties distinctly defined both by\ncanon and statute law.  Before particularising their duties I must point\nout what is the law as to their election.\n\nWho, then are qualified to be Churchwardens?\n\nAliens, Roman Catholics, Jews, children under ten years of age, and\npersons who have been convicted of felony are absolutely disqualified.\n\nThe following cannot be compelled to serve the office if they personally\nobject to do so:\n\nPeers, Sheriffs, Clergymen, Members of the House of Commons, Magistrates,\nBarristers and Solicitors, Physicians and Surgeons, Dissenting Ministers,\nOfficers in the Navy or Army on full pay, men in the Militia or Army\nReserve, Registrars of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, Officials of the\nCustoms, Excise, or Post Office, and those already acting as\nChurchwardens elsewhere.\n\nWith these exceptions the law of the land is that, if a householder\ndwelling in the parish be legally elected to the office, he must serve as\nChurchwarden.  In old parishes dissenters, if elected, may appoint a\ndeputy to be approved of by the Vestry. {4}  But in parishes formed under\nthe Acts 1 and 2, Will. IV, c. 38, sec. 16; 6 and 7 Vict., c. 37, sec.\n17; or 19 and 20 Vict., c. 104, which re-enacts 6 and 7 Vict., c. 37,\nsec. 17, with reference to this point, it is expressly en-acted that\nChurchwardens must be Churchmen.  Churchwardens ought to be elected in\nnew parishes twenty-one days after the consecration of the Church\nthereof.\n\nFemales, although there has been no legal decision authorising their\nappointment, are occasionally, if otherwise eligible, appointed to serve\nthe office, but it is not likely that the Courts, if called upon, would\nbe so ungallant as to compel a female householder, if elected, to serve\nagainst her will.\n\nIn my own Archdeaconry there are several ladies who have been elected\nChurchwardens, and they do their duty right well.\n\nA Churchwarden must be resident in the parish for which he is elected to\nserve.  The contrary has been held to be the law for some years past, but\na decision of the Court of Queen's Bench, reported in the _Times_ of Nov.\n20th, 1889, decides absolutely that both in new and old parishes none but\nresidents are qualified to serve as Churchwardens. {5}\n\nWith reference to this point, the following memorandum has been issued\nfor use in the diocese of Rochester by Chancellor Dibden:--\n\n    It is desirable, wherever practicable, to be careful that the persons\n    chosen \"live\" in the parish.  It sometimes happens, however, that it\n    is difficult to find suitable persons inside, and the parish wish to\n    appoint an outsider.  This should never be done if objection is\n    raised even by a single parishioner, because the appointment is\n    technically faulty, and could be set aside on _mandamus_ on the\n    application of even one individual.  If, however, the parish vestry\n    are unanimous, and the appointment is desirable in other respects, no\n    harm will ensue from the fact that the chosen churchwarden is\n    technically ineligible.  Unless and until his position is challenged,\n    as by a _mandamus_, he will have the same powers and rights as any\n    other Churchwarden.  For the election of a disqualified person as\n    Churchwarden is not absolutely ineffective, but the person so\n    elected, when once admitted, can do all lawful acts belonging to the\n    office until he has been displaced.\n\nThe 90th canon of 1603 (which is the date of the setting forth of the\nexisting code of canons) directs that \"the choice of . . . Churchwardens,\nor Questmen, Sidesmen, or Assistants, shall be yearly made in Easter\nweek.\"  An election at any other time is valid in law. {6}\n\nIt is supposed that the Churchwardens were called Questmen or Searchers\nfrom the fact that they were empowered and instructed to search for cases\nof heresy, or open sin, in their several parishes, and report them to\ntheir Ecclesiastical Superiors.\n\nTwo derivations are given of the title of Sidesmen.  Some suppose that\nthey are so called because they are elected as assistants to the\nChurchwardens to stand by their side; other suppose the word to be an\nabbreviation of Synodsmen, because in ancient times the Bishops summoned\ncertain persons of credit from the various parishes in order to testify\nas to the morals of the clergy and people.  These witnesses were called\nTestes Synodales, and hence some suppose the title of Sidesmen, or\nSynodsmen, to have taken its origin.  Of late years in populous towns\nSidesmen have often been elected, and are found to be of great help in\nassisting the Churchwardens in the execution of their duties.\n\nThe Vestry at which the Churchwardens and Sidesmen (if any) are to be\nelected must be duly summoned.  The notice summoning the Vestry must be\nsigned either by the Incumbent, the Curate, one Churchwarden, or one\nOverseer of the poor. {7}\n\nIt is obviously advisable that the signatures of the Incumbent and of\nboth Churchwardens should be attached to the notice of the Easter Vestry.\nThis notice specifying the particular business to be transacted must be\naffixed on a Sunday, three clear days before the holding of the meetings,\nat or near the principal door of all the Churches and Chapels in the\nparish. {8a}  The Incumbent of the parish is by law the ex-officio\nChairman of the Vestry. {8b}  In his absence the ratepayers present must\nelect a Chairman for the occasion.  The Curate does not necessarily take\nhis place as Chairman, unless elected to do so by the Vestry.  The usual\ncustom in parishes is for the Incumbent to nominate one Churchwarden and\nthe parishioners the other.  Sometimes the parishioners elect both.  The\ncanon {8c} indeed seems to point out the election of both Churchwardens\nby the joint consent of the Minister and the parishioners as the normal\nmode of action, and the nomination by the Incumbent of one and of the\nparishioners of another as only to be resorted to when they cannot arrive\nat a common agreement.  But custom goes for a long way in this matter,\nand the usual course is certainly for the Incumbent to nominate one and\nthe parishioners the other.  In the absence of the Incumbent the Curate\nhas the same right to nominate one Churchwarden as the Incumbent if\npresent would have. {9a}\n\nIn whatever manner the election may be carried out, the two Churchwardens\nsubsequently stand on an absolute equality.  The Incumbent's Churchwarden\nis not elected to look after the Incumbent's interests only, nor the\nparishioners' Churchwarden to look after the parishioners' interests\nonly.  The interests of both must be equally dear to the one and to the\nother.  Nor can they act except jointly.  The Vestry even is powerless to\nclothe one Churchwarden with authority to act against the will of his\ncolleague in office. {9b}  Any election by the parishioners must take\nplace in the usual manner.  Ratepayers present, whether paying directly\nor indirectly (32 and 33 Vic., c. 41, section 19), have a right to vote,\nand if a poll is demanded it cannot be refused by the Chairman.  The\nvotes must be taken in accordance with the provisions of the Vestry Acts,\n58 Geo. III, cap. 69, sec. 2, 3, 4, and 59 Geo. III, cap. 85.  If the\nvotes are equal the Chairman has by right a casting vote, in addition to\nwhatever number of votes he may have as an individual ratepayer.  By 58\nGeo. III, cap. 69, sec. 3, it is ordered that minutes of the proceedings\nshall be written out before the close of the Vestry, and after having\nbeen read be signed by the Chairman and any of the members present who\nmay like to do so. {10a}\n\nIn some new parishes there are select Vestries, but by the 14 and 15\nVict., cap. 97, sec. 23, in parishes formed under any Church Building\nActs before 1851 they are abolished, and it was enacted that after that\ndate no select Vestry should be formed. {10b}\n\nThe Churchwardens thus duly appointed must make the following declaration\nbefore the \"ordinary, or other person\" qualified to receive it:--\n\n    \"We do solemnly and sincerely declare that we will faithfully and\n    diligently perform the duties of the Office of Churchwardens, to the\n    best of our skill and understanding, and that we will present such\n    persons and things as to our knowledge are presentable by the\n    Ecclesiastical Laws of this Realm.\"\n\nThis declaration ought to be made at the visitation of the Bishop,\nChancellor, or Archdeacon next ensuing upon the election.  Until this\ndeclaration is made the Churchwarden is not legally qualified to act, and\ncould not enforce his authority as Churchwarden if objected to.  In case\nof the death of the Incumbent the parish would have no legal\nrepresentative to act as the custodian of the temporalities of the Church\nin that particular parish.  The fee payable by law at visitations is\neighteen shillings (30 and 31 Vict., cap. 135). {11}\n\nIf there is a dispute as to whether a Churchwarden is legally elected or\nnot, it is sometimes supposed that it is the Archdeacon's business at his\nvisitation to decide the question.  Of course Archdeacons are at all\ntimes ready, willing, and anxious to advise any persons who apply to them\nfor advice to the best of their power.  But it is no part of their duty,\nnor are they by law authorised to decide a disputed return.  Their duty\nis simply that of returning officers to declare the election as certified\nto them by the Vestry.  A copy of the minutes of the Vestry, in case of a\ndispute, should be laid before them, and the aggrieved party can, if he\nwishes to do so, apply for a mandamus commanding the Rector and\nChurchwardens to convene a Vestry to make a fresh election.  It is for\nthe court to grant or to refuse the application.  I hope I may not be\nunderstood as recommending this course.  I am merely stating what the law\nis. {12}  But all these matters should, if possible, be settled out of\ncourt.  Law-suits are apt to leave an unpleasant taste behind.  If such a\ncase should unhappily arise it might be advisable for the Archdeacon to\nsuggest to the parties that they should agree to submit to his decision\nof the disputed question, and waive their right of appeal to a Court of\nCommon Law.  If this were agreed to the case might be amicably settled at\nonce without resource being had to any external litigation.\n\nIf a Churchwarden duly elected ceases in the course of the year to reside\nin the parish he does not _ipso facto_ vacate the office, though it is a\ngood reason for resignation and the appointment of another in his place.\n{13}\n\nThe Churchwardens being thus duly elected, and having made the legal\ndeclaration at the visitation, continue in office until their successors\nare elected, and have in their turn made the said declaration.\n\nWhat, then, are their duties?\n\nThe Local Government Act, 1894, has in many ways affected them.\n\nChurchwardens in rural parishes are no longer _ex-officio_ Overseers of\nthe Poor. {14}  An additional number of Overseers may be appointed to\nreplace the Churchwardens, and reference in any Act to the Churchwardens\nand Overseers, shall, as respects any rural parish (except so far as\nthose references relate to the affairs of the Church), be construed as\nreferences to the Overseers, and the legal interest in all property\nvested either in the Overseer of a rural parish (other than a property\nconnected with the affairs of the Church, or held for an Ecclesiastical\nCharity), shall, if there is a Parish Council, vest in that Council.--V.\n2, (_a_), (_b_), (_c_).\n\nThe Poor Relief Act, 1819, _i.e._, 59 Geo. III, cap. 12, enabled\nChurchwardens and Overseers of a parish to acquire lands, &c., and they\nwere made a Corporation for that special purpose alone, and for the\nspecific purposes mentioned in the Act.  Such lands, as regards rural\nparishes having a Parish Council, now come under the management of the\nParish Council.\n\nThe Churchwardens of every rural parish are now only concerned as\nChurchwardens with the affairs of the Church.  What changes then, it will\nbe asked, are made with regard to Vestries?\n\nSpeaking generally as to rural parishes, the powers, duties, and\nliabilities of the Vestry except (i) so far as relates to the affairs of\nthe Church or to Ecclesiastical Charities, or (ii) any power, duty, or\nliability, transferred by this Act from the Vestry to any other authority\nare transferred to the Parish Council.--6, a, 1, 2.\n\nOne word with regard to the expression, Ecclesiastical Charities.  These\nwords include a charity, the endowment whereof is held for some one or\nmore of the following purposes:--\n\n(_a_.)  Any spiritual purpose which is a legal purpose, or,\n\n(_b_.)  For the benefit of any spiritual person, or ecclesiastical person\nas such, or\n\n(_c_.)  For use, if a building, as a church, chapel, mission room, Sunday\nSchool, or otherwise by any particular church or denomination, or\n\n(_d_.)  For the maintenance, repair, or improvement of any such building\nas aforesaid, or for the maintenance of Divine service therein, or,\n\n(_e_.)  Otherwise for the benefit of any particular church or\ndenomination, or of any members thereof as such (Sec. 75, i).\n\nAny endowment of a charity other than a building held in part only for\nsome of the purposes aforesaid, will be dealt with by the Charity\nCommissioners on the application of any person interested.\n\nThe expression, Ecclesiastical Charity, includes any building which in\nthe opinion of the Charity Commissioners has been erected or provided\nwithin forty years before the passing of this Act, mainly by or at the\ncost of members of any particular church or denomination.\n\nThe expression, affairs of the church, includes the distribution of\noffertories or other collections made in any church (sec. 75).\n\nIt may be well to add that the expression Parochial Charity, when used in\nthe Act, means a charity the benefits of which are, or the separate\ndistribution of the benefits of which is, confined to the inhabitants of\na single parish, or of a single ancient ecclesiastical parish divided\ninto two or more parishes, or of not more than five neighbouring\nparishes.  (_Ibid._)\n\nThese also come under the management of the Parish Council.\n\nThe provision of parish books and of a vestry room or parochial office,\nparish chest, and the holding or management of parish property not being\nproperty relating to affairs of the Church or held for an Ecclesiastical\ncharity, are also in rural parishes transferred to the Parish Council.\n\nThe custody of the registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials, and of\nall other books and documents containing entries wholly or partly\nrelating to the affairs of the Church or to Ecclesiastical charities,\nexcept documents directed by law to be kept with the public books,\nwritings, and papers of the parish, remains as provided by law before the\npassing of the Local Government Act, _i.e._, in the hands of the\nincumbent.\n\nThe Parish Council have a right to reasonable access to all such books\nand documents referred to above, and the incumbent and Churchwardens have\na similar right with respect to books, etc., in the custody of the Parish\nCouncil (xvii, 8).\n\nThere is one matter connected with the particular section of the Local\nGovernment Act, 1894, now under consideration, which has given rise to\nsome discussion.  In whose custody should the Tithe Map and Award be\nplaced?  Should the Incumbent or the Parish Council have the charge of\nthem?  Now, I am no lawyer, and I should be very sorry to be supposed to\ngive any opinion on a question which admits of so much argument on both\nsides.  But I do very strongly deprecate any litigation on the matter.\nIt is a very doubtful point, and he who takes the question into a Court\nof Law must at any rate be prepared to have to back up his opinion with a\nwell-filled purse.  The final paragraph of Section 17, Sub-section 8,\nalmost seems as if the draughtsman of the act expected questions to arise\nunder it.  It runs thus:--\"The Incumbent and Churchwardens on the one\npart, and the Parish Council on the other, shall have reasonable access\nto all such books documents, writings, and papers, as are referred to in\nthis Sub-section, and any differences as to custody or access shall be\ndetermined by the County Council.\"  Is it not just a case in which, if\nthere is no cause for complaint, and no reasonable access refused, these\ndocuments should remain in their existing custody (usually that of the\nIncumbent), and that if differences arise, an amicable appeal should be\nmade to the County Council, and the decision of that body acquiesced in\nby both parties?\n\nThis is evidently the opinion of the President of the Board of\nAgriculture (Mr. Chaplin), who on February 8th, 1897, in the House of\nCommons, replied as follows to a question on this subject:--\n\n    I am aware that questions have arisen with regard to the custody of\n    documents under Sub-section 8 of Section 17 of the Local Government\n    Act, 1894.  The Act contemplated that this would be the case, and has\n    provided that any questions as to such custody shall be determined by\n    the County Council.  The Local Government Board have no jurisdiction\n    to determine questions as regards the Tithe Map, and it has been\n    their practice to inform Parish Councils to this effect.  I am\n    advised that Tithe Maps are under the Tithe Commutation Act, 1886, to\n    be kept \"with the public books, writings, and papers of the parish,\"\n    and the Sub-section to which I have referred requires therefore that\n    they shall either remain in their existing custody or be deposited in\n    such custody as the Parish Council may direct.\n\nIt may be well to mention here that when there is in a rural parish an\nexisting Vestry Clerk appointed under the Trustees Act, 1850, he shall\nbecome the Clerk of the Parish Council, holding office by the same tenure\nas before, and while performing the duties shall not receive less salary\nor remuneration than before (sec. 81, 2, 4).\n\nIn our canons, which date from 1603, no fewer than eighteen refer to the\nduties of Churchwardens.  One canon enjoins them to present to the\nordinary those guilty of notorious crimes and scandals, hinderers of the\nWord of God, disturbers of Divine Service, and non-communicants at\nEaster.  Other Canons refer to their duties in not allowing loiterers\nnear the Church in time of Divine Service, in providing bread and wine\nfor the Holy Communion, and marking those who present themselves at the\nLord's Table.  Others enjoin them to take care that no stranger be\nadmitted to preach in Church without showing his licence; to provide a\nsure coffer for the safe keeping of the registers, and to see that the\nproper entries are therein made; to provide for the Church service books,\nfont, Communion table, and pulpit, and a chest for alms; and further, to\nsee that the Church is kept in sufficient reparation, that neither the\nChurch or Churchyard be in any way profaned; that the bells be not rung\nat any time without good cause to be allowed by the minister of the place\nand by themselves; to see that the parishioners duly resort to their\nChurch upon Sundays and holy days; that none stand idle in the\nChurchyard, or make any disturbance in the Church or Churchyard during\nthe time of Divine Service; and further, call upon and exhort such as are\nnegligent in resorting to the Church that they fail not to amend their\nways; to keep the accounts connected with these matters; and, \"last of\nall, going out of their office they shall truly deliver up to the\nparishioners whatever money or other things of right belonging to the\nparish which remaineth in their hands, that they may be delivered over by\nthem to the next Churchwardens by bill indented.\" {22}\n\nIn the fulfilment of these duties it is, in my opinion, difficult to\nexaggerate the influence for good which a Churchwarden may exercise in\nthe parish in which his lot is cast.  Of course it is possible to perform\nthe duties perfunctorily, or to let them slide altogether; but if his\nheart is really in his work, if he is anxious to do all in his power that\nthe ecclesiastical machinery in the parish should work smoothly, I will\nundertake to say that he will find plenty of scope for his energies.  If\nlethargic or antagonistic he may greatly hinder the Church's work; but if\nin a friendly spirit and with words of wisdom he is always ready to meet\nthe Rector and consult as to the advisability of this or that particular\ncourse of action, the office becomes neither a surplusage nor a sinecure.\nThere is nothing worse in a parish than either clerical or lay clan-ship.\nIsolation is good neither for the one nor the other.  The interests of\nboth are the same, and surely their hands should be joined together for\ncommon action in the common Master's cause.\n\nAnd as it seems to me this side of his office comes into prominence in\nconnection with the induction of a new Incumbent.  For the entering upon\na new cure is of undoubtedly great and solemn importance to the Parson\nhimself, but it is hardly less so to the parish.  How much depends, as\nregards the future peace, happiness, and prosperity of the parish, upon\nthe relations existing between Pastor and flock.  No doubt the character,\nzeal, energy, devotion, and even the idiosyncrasies, manner, and general\nbearing of the Incumbent are of vital importance.  Courtesy begets\ncourtesy.  Consideration for the feelings of others is met in the same\nspirit.  But sometimes, I fear the Laity suppose that the peace of a\nparish depends almost entirely upon the Clergyman.  He is but a unit in\nthe parochial system.  If one thing is more absolutely necessary than\nanother for the harmonious working of Clergy and Laity in a parish, or\nthe welfare of the whole, it is that there should be no suspicions the\none of the other.  Perfect confidence and a generous trust should be the\nrule of all dealings between Incumbents and Churchwardens.\n\nIt cannot but be expected that an Incumbent on first coming into a parish\nshould find some things which he would prefer otherwise.  The special\nhobbies, so to speak, of his predecessor may not be his.  His energies\nmay not be put forth on exactly the same lines as those of the Incumbent\nwhom he succeeds.  And then sometimes the staunch friends of the former\nministry may look coldly and askant upon the new Rector's labours and\nthink that his very efforts in fresh and hitherto untried fields are\nreflections upon the past.  It should not be so.  All men are not cast in\nthe same mould.  One branch of ministerial work may be more congenial to\none parish priest than another, and it is only natural that he should be\nmore devoted to that particular portion of work in which he seems to be\nmost successful.  But changes are not synonymous with reflections upon a\nformer _regime_.  A man should not be made an offender for a word.  A\nChurchwarden should be prepared in all good faith to transfer his\nallegiance, if called upon so to do, from one Incumbent to another.  It\nis no disloyalty to do so.  The \"King is dead; long live the King\" is\nloyalty alike to the past and to the newly reigning Sovereign.  If old\ncustoms are changed, old practices discontinued, the Churchwarden should\nfind out by private inquiry from his Rector the why and the wherefore,\nand if the change is for the better he should not let love of existing\npractice be stereotyped into a desire of a never changing system, which\nmay perchance easily slide into lethargy and somnolent repose.  In these\ndays it does not do merely\n\n    \"Stare super antiquas vias.\"\n\nSome persons I know are so constituted that they suspect the existence of\na snake under every blade of grass.  It is not a happy disposition either\nfor the person who is possessed with this idiosyncrasy, or in its reflex\naction upon others.  True charity thinketh no evil.  It is far better to\nbe over sanguine in our charitable estimate of other men's motives, even\nif we do sometimes ultimately find that our estimate was wrong, than to\nbe constantly living in an atmosphere of suspicion.  Suspicion and\nconsequent mistrust often produce the very effects which otherwise would\nnever have had any existence at all.\n\nI have ventured to say these few words because I feel very strongly how\nmuch the ecclesiastical peace of a parish depends upon the harmonious\naction of the Incumbent and Churchwardens.  It is not often that the case\nis otherwise.  Generally speaking they work zealously and actively\ntogether, ready as occasion may arise to adopt, if necessary, new methods\nof warfare in the conflict against sin and evil as fellow-workers with\nthe Clergy in the great work of the Church on earth.\n\nLet me then state, as briefly as I can, some of a Churchwarden's duties.\n\nI suppose him to be duly elected, and to have taken the declaration at\nthe visitation either of the Bishop, the Chancellor, or the Archdeacon.\nIt would be well that the first step should be to look to the fences of\nthe Churchyard and the general state of the fabric of the Church--the\nroof, the tiles, the tower or spire, and the general fittings of the\nChurch.  If any of these are found to be seriously out of order, counsel\nshould be at once taken with the Incumbent as to the proper course to be\nadopted.  In these matters a stitch in time often saves nine, and though\nwe have now no compulsory Church-rate to fall back upon for Church\nexpenses, yet in an harmoniously worked parish there really ought to be\nno insurmountable difficulty in raising the sum necessary for the due\nrepairs of the Church and for the services of the Sanctuary.  Offertories\nand subscriptions can be made to supplement one another, and if what is\nnecessary in the way of repair is really honestly done year by year, it\nwill be much easier to raise the funds wanted than if by neglect and\npostponement a large outlay is suddenly found to be absolutely necessary\nin order to avoid some dreadful catastrophe.\n\nIn this general preliminary survey the state of the Churchyard will\nnaturally come under his notice.  The Churchyard is the freehold of the\nIncumbent, which he holds in trust for the service which it is intended\nto subserve.  Sometimes an arrangement is made by him with the\nChurchwardens as to the keeping the Churchyard tidy.  No doubt the\nChurchwardens are bound to see that the proper measures for this purpose\nare taken by themselves or the Incumbent.  But although our Churches,\nspeaking generally, are in good repair, yet it seems to me that in many\ncases sufficient attention is not paid to the keeping of the Churchyard\nin proper order.  The days are gone by when horned cattle were allowed to\nfind sweet pasture in the resting-place of the dead, but sheep still\nlinger in some country districts.  And there is often a temptation not\nalways successfully resisted--when the Churchyard is large--that the crop\nof grass during the summer months should be allowed to grow without\ninterference by scythe or machine, until fit to be cut for hay.  But I do\nfeel strongly that the temptation _should be_ resisted.  Nothing so\nquickly awakens doubtful feelings in the breast of a passer-by as to the\nzeal, energy and devotion of the Incumbent, as a Churchyard untidy and\nunkempt, paths full of weeds, hedges untrimmed, grass long and\nstraggling.  Nothing, on the other hand, is so grateful to all the\nparishioners of a particular parish as the Churchyard well kept and\nlooked after, the graves neat and trimmed, the whole place by its very\nappearance asserting its right to the title of God's Acre.  I do not like\nto see the Parsonage garden filled with lovely flowers, and in beautiful\norder, while the adjoining Churchyard is starved.  Let each receive the\nattention which is its proper due.\n\nWith regard to closed Churchyards the obligations of the Churchwardens in\nrural parishes with respect to maintaining and repairing closed\nChurchyards, wherever the expenses of such maintenance and repair are\nrepayable out of the Poor Rate under the Burial Act, 1855, {30a} are\ntransferred to the Parish Council.  Provided that such obligations shall\nnot in the case of any particular parish be deemed to attach, unless or\nuntil the Churchwardens subsequent to the passing of this Act shall give\na certificate as in the Burial Act, 1855, provided, in order to obtain\nthe repayment of such expenses out of the Poor Rate (sec. 6, II, _b_).\n\nIt has been decided that {30b} if a Churchyard is closed by order in\nCouncil it must be kept in order by the Churchwardens, and if it be a\nCemetery formed by a Burial Board, then by the Burial Board.  In the\nformer case the expenses would, under the Local Government Act, be repaid\nto the Churchwardens in rural parishes by the Parish Council, on\npresentation of the proper certificate as mentioned in the previous\nparagraph.\n\nIf the Churchyard requires enlargement, and an adjoining piece of ground\ncan be obtained, it is well to remember that a special Act has been\npassed (30 and 31 Vict., c. 133) for diminishing the expense connected\nwith the consecration of ground so added to an old Churchyard.  The form\nof conveyance is given in the Act; the powers given in the School Sites'\nAct \"to persons being seised in fee simple, fee tail, or for life of and\nin any manor or lands of freehold, copyhold or customary tenure, and\nhaving the beneficial interest therein, to grant, convey, or enfranchise\nby way of gift, sale or exchange in fee simple, or for term of years, any\nquantity not exceeding one acre of such land as a site for a school\" are\n\"deemed to apply to all persons desirous of granting land for the purpose\nof such enlargement\" (of an existing Churchyard) \"in the same way as if\nthe said land had been granted as a site for a school.\"\n\nIn cases in which it is wished to provide a burial ground under a burial\nboard, the first step to be taken is for a vestry to be summoned _seven_\ndays before the holding of such meeting, to take the subject into\nconsideration, and if it is agreed to proceed in the matter, a\nrequisition to that effect must be sent to the Home Secretary, and the\nofficials of the Home Office will send down full directions as to the\nmode of procedure. {32}\n\nThe following general information on this subject may be found of use:--\n\nThe enlargement of a Churchyard sometimes makes it necessary that graves\nshould be built over, or the bodies therein contained removed to another\npart of the Churchyard, and it occasionally happens that the parties\ninterested object to the former but are prepared to agree to the latter.\nIt is well, therefore, to know that this removal can take place by\nfaculty granted by the ordinary for that purpose without application to\nthe Home Secretary (20 and 21 Vict., cap. 81, s. 25).  When a Churchyard\nis closed and a cemetery has been provided under a burial board to be\nused for interments, the custody of the old registers belongs to the\nIncumbent, and he is entitled to the fees for certificates of burial\nprevious to the closing of the Churchyard, but the custody of the\nregisters of interments in the cemetery belongs to the chaplain or\nofficer of the burial board.  The Act 52 Geo. III., cap. 146, s. 4,\nrequiring certificates of burials in any other place than the Churchyard\nof the Parish Church to be sent to the Incumbent, has been repealed as\nfar as burials are concerned in grounds provided by the Burial Acts (20\nand 21 Vict., cap. 81, s. 15).\n\nThen I wish that it were universally acknowledged that the next step\nshould be for a new Churchwarden to inspect the Church goods which are\nplaced under his charge; to see that they tally accurately with the list\nwhich ought to be kept in the iron chest of all movable articles\nbelonging to the Church in that parish. {34a}  If this were universally\ndone we should not hear, as we do now unfortunately hear from time to\ntime, of Church goods having disappeared during a vacancy, or of\nregisters being missing which may be absolutely invaluable.  Legally\nspeaking, the safe custody of the furniture of the Church rests upon the\nChurchwardens. {34b}  This list should be signed by the Incumbent and\nChurchwardens, and kept in the parish chest, and include all movable\narticles of Church furniture and belongings.\n\nThere should also be a report on the fabric of the Church, mentioning the\ncharacter, date, and cost of alterations made, the date of consecration;\nif a modern Church the Act under which built.  Any specially\ncharacteristic features of the Church should be mentioned.\n\nThe inventory of Church furniture should include Church plate, with\ncopies of inscriptions and dates, Church linen, Service books of all\nkinds, furniture of the vestry, ornaments for the Holy Table, special\ngifts, brasses, lectern, everything in short that is moveable, the bells,\nwith inscriptions, if any, and the rules for ringers, the parish register\nbooks, with dates carefully made of the first entry in each book.  If\nthere are any gaps in the registers it is well to mention them.\nBenefactions should be noted; also the nature of the tenure of the parish\nschool, with an intimation as to where the trust deed is kept.  A terrier\nof glebe lands, with any exchange noted, should be made.  There should be\na table of the customary fees charged, {35} and of any payments due to\nthe Ecclesiastical Commission or to Queen Anne's Bounty, with the amount\nof any receipts due from any public body.  It is clear that the more\ncomplete such a list can be made the more valuable will it be for future\ngenerations.\n\nIt would also be very useful to keep in connection with this inventory a\ncomplete list of the various services held, with the amount of the\noffertories and the purposes to which they are devoted.\n\nThen with regard to insurance of the fabric.  It is most important that\nthis should be looked into.  There is no excuse for any Church to remain\nuninsured.  The premium for insurance is now fixed at such a low rate\nthat the expense is really very small, and the Churchwardens should do\nall in their power to persuade the Vestry, if persuasion is necessary, to\nsanction the insurance of the Church for a proper sum.  I have sometimes\nfound, after making enquiries on the subject and having ascertained\neither that the Church was not insured, or, if insured, only for a very\nsmall sum, that the churchwardens always supposed it was \"all right.\"\nVery seldom have any held back from doing their duty when it has been\nquietly pointed out to them.  An Ecclesiastical Buildings Fire Office has\nbeen established on a sound basis, the offices of which are in Norfolk\nStreet, Strand, London.  It is doing a very large business, and whatever\nsurplus profits accrue are appropriated to the support of Church work in\nthe various Dioceses in proportion to the amount of insurances in each,\nand to such special objects as are recommended by the Bishop and\nArchdeacons.  I may also mention Mutual Fire Insurance Offices, such as\nthe Hand-in-Hand (New Bridge Street, London, E.C.) and the County Fire\n(Regent Street), which are old-established offices, and which\nperiodically return to insurers a certain amount of the premiums paid on\ntheir policies in cases in which no fire has taken place during the\npreceding few years.  Of this I am quite certain, that if an uninsured\nChurch were unfortunately burned down, those in the parish interested in\nthe erection of a new Church would have the greatest possible difficulty\nin raising the necessary funds, in the face of such a manifest want of\ndue caution and forethought on the part of the proper authorities in past\nyears.\n\nIt is, perhaps, hardly necessary for me to say that a strictly accurate\nrecord of every sixpence that is spent upon these and such like matters\nmust be kept by the Churchwardens, so that at the close of their year,\nwhen they pass on the parish books to their successors, they may be\nenabled to lay before them a clear and detailed account of all the\nreceipts and expenses of the preceding year, with vouchers for all\npayments, and to hand over the actual balance remaining after all\nliabilities have been met.\n\nIt is often supposed that Church Rates are abolished.  But such is not\nthe case.  _Compulsory_ Church Rates are done away with by 31 and 32\nVict., cap. 109, except in cases where the rates have been legally\nmortgaged, or are subject to private Acts of Parliament.  Section 6,\nhowever, of the above Act states distinctly that \"this Act shall not\naffect vestries, or the making, assessing, receiving, or otherwise\ndealing with any Church Rate, save in so far as relates to the recovery\nthereof\"; and Section 9 authorises the appointment of trustees, the\nIncumbent, and two householders or owners or occupiers of land in the\nparish, to be nominated, one by the patron, the other by the Bishop of\nthe Diocese in which the parish is situate.  These trustees form a body\ncorporate, and may, as circumstances require, pay to the Churchwardens\nany funds in their hands for the building, rebuilding, enlargement, and\nrepair of any Church or Chapel, and any purpose to which, as before\ndefined in the Act, Church Rates may be applied.\n\nQuestions are so often put to me as to the relation existing between\ndistrict parishes and the mother Church, that it may be useful if a few\npoints are mentioned with respect to which difficulties occasionally\narise.  The preliminaries of marriage and the solemnization of the rite\nitself are a fruitful source of difficulty.  They have however, as a\nmatter of fact, been set at rest by a decision in the Court of Queen's\nBench, in the case of Fuller _v._ Alford, before Mr. Justice Cave and Mr.\nJustice Day, which affects all new parishes hitherto created, or that may\nhereafter be created, under the Peel and Blandford Acts.  The question at\nissue was as to the right of the inhabitants of a district parish to have\ntheir banns published and to be married in the Church of the mother\nparish, and as to the right of the Incumbent of the mother parish to\npublish the banns, solemnise the marriage, and receive the fees for the\nsame in the case of residents in the district parish.  The case is fully\nreported in the _Times_ of March 9th, 1883.  Mr. Justice Cave, in giving\njudgment for the Plaintiff, said that the Act of 1843 as well as that of\n1856 (the words of the latter being clearer than those of the former)\nmade the district a new parish for all ecclesiastical purposes, and banns\nof marriage might be published and marriages solemnized, and all the laws\nand customs then relating to them would apply to the new parish, the\neffect of which was that the banns must be published in the Church of the\nnew parish.  Though recent legislation had brought into prominence the\ncivil character of the marriage contract, and had enabled it to be\nentered into before a Registrar, still he had no doubt that the\nsolemnization of matrimony in a Church was within the words\n\"ecclesiastical purposes.\"  The inhabitants therefore of a district\nparish have no more right to have their banns asked or their marriage\nsolemnised in the mother Church than they have in any other Church in\nEngland, so long as they reside in that district.\n\nDistrict parishes, it will be observed, are separate parishes _for\nEcclesiastical purposes_.  These words affect the question as to the\nright of the ratepaying parishioners of a new district voting for the\nChurchwardens of the old parish.  This they have a right to do on the\nfollowing ground:--The Churchwardens of an old parish have functions to\nperform which are rather secular than ecclesiastical.  They are in some\ncases _ex-officio_ Overseers, and in many cases officially concerned in\nthe management of endowed charities.  The creation therefore of a\ndistrict for ecclesiastical purposes does not deprive the inhabitants of\nthe new district of the right which they had before of voting for\nChurchwardens in the old civil parish of which they continue to be\nratepayers.  The ratepayers of the _whole_ of the old parish have\nconsequently a right to vote in vestry at the election of the\nChurchwardens in the old parish.  The privilege, however, is not\nreciprocal, for the ratepayers in the old parish have no similar right of\nattending at the vestry and voting for Churchwardens in the new district,\nbecause they are elected \"for ecclesiastical purposes\" only.\n\nIt would be impossible to speak of the duties of Churchwardens without\ntouching upon the vexed questions of pews.  I suppose that if we could\nturn the hands of the clock back for some centuries, and were then\nlegislating for the future of the Church with our experience of the pew\nsystem by a prophetic anachronism clearly present in our minds, we should\nhardly suggest for legislation such laws as would bring about the\nexisting state of things.  With the Epistle of St. James in our thoughts\nthere are some points in our present legal system which most persons find\nit difficult to justify.  But it is a thorny subject, and I do not want\nto dogmatise.  It is, perhaps, just the one very point with respect to\nwhich great caution is needed, much charity, much forbearance.  You\ncannot ride rough-shod over old prejudices, or if you do you are sure\nsooner or later to suffer for it.  No doubt in theory (to use the words\nof the Bishop of Carlisle) the Churchwardens, as the officers of the\nordinary, have, subject to him, the sole appointment and arrangement of\nthe seats.  They are to act to the best of their judgment, and without\nfavour, to the best advantage of all. {43}  And for the most part, in new\nChurches, this arrangement works well.  Either by agreement of the heads\nof the parish the Church is declared to be in the popular sense of the\nterm \"free and open,\" which is perhaps on the whole the best of all or\nelse by mutual forbearance and general co-operation an arrangement is\narrived at by which the worshippers in Church have from time to time\nseats allotted to them.\n\nIt is not, however, in the case of new Churches that difficulties arise,\nexcept when these new Churches take the place of old ones.  Then it may\nbe that the old abuses of faculty pews and of supposed exclusive rights\nin certain holdings have to be contended with.  Cases have occurred where\nsupposed usurpers have been kept out of faculty pews when there is plenty\nof room, or of locking up the pew when the so-called owner is absent.\nFaculty pews are an anomaly, and I wish there were none, but if the title\nto them can be proved they are legal and must be dealt with accordingly.\nI do not imagine that any new faculties are now issued by the Courts, but\nin the rebuilding of old Churches the dealing with existing faculties\nrequires very tender handling.  It were heartily to be wished that all\nlegal holders of faculty pews would consent to waive their rights for the\nfuture, for the sake of peace and the avoidance of jealousies.  Of course\nin such a case the Churchwardens would feel it an obligation which it\nwould be their pleasure to fulfil, to provide those who give up their\nrights with such accommodation as their families may require.  But if, as\nis sometimes the case, they stand exclusively upon their rights,\nChurchwardens have no power to abrogate the law, and can only look\nforward to the future with hope, either that a short Act of Parliament\nmay be passed enacting that at the death of the present owner of a\nfaculty pew that particular faculty should cease, and determine, only\nexcepting (unless with the consent of the owner) cases in which under the\nChurch Building Acts the faculty was issued in consequence of money paid\ndown for the building of the Church with the understanding that the\nfaculty would be granted in consequence: or if this be not done that in\nthe lapse of time some holder of the faculty may regard the matter from\nan unselfish standpoint and voluntarily resign his rights.\n\nMeanwhile it is well to remember with regard to existing faculty pews\nthat:--\n\n1.  The form of appropriation in old faculties varies considerably.  In\norder to ascertain the wording of a particular faculty application should\nbe made to the Diocesan Registrar.\n\n2.  With regard to pews annexed by prescription to certain messuages the\nright to the pew passes with the messuage, the tenant of which for the\ntime being has also _de jure_ for the time being the prescriptive right\nto the pew. {46a}\n\n3.  No faculty can be legally granted entitling a non-parishioner to a\nseat in the body of the Church. {46b}  Any faculty so worded as to allow\nthis is void as far as that particular point is concerned.\n\n4.  No faculty gives power either to the owners and occupiers of the\nhouse in respect of which the faculty has been issued to let such seats\napart from the houses, or to appropriate them to other persons.\n\nNo Churchwarden should ever allow a parishioner to repair the pew which\nhe may temporarily occupy.  Such an act, if done with the sanction of the\nChurchwardens, may in after years seem to give a claim to proprietorship\nin that particular pew.  Too great care cannot be taken to avoid any\nfuture misunderstanding.\n\nThe matter is too often looked upon as a party question.  The great Duke\nof Wellington was no party man, and I cannot forbear from quoting in\nconnection with this subject an extract from a letter written to my\nfather, the Bishop of Winchester, in 1836, in response to an application\nto him to support a Diocesan Church Building Society, which was then in\ncourse of formation.  The Duke writes concerning providing accommodation\nin country Churches as follows:--\n\n    \"It has frequently occurred to me that when Church room is required\n    the first thing to do is to prevail upon individuals to give up the\n    pews which they cannot use . . . If more space was required I should\n    propose that all pews should be given up, that the whole space of the\n    Church should be laid open for the accommodation of all the\n    parishioners indiscriminately, separate chairs of a cheap description\n    being provided for their accommodation.  This being done, and space\n    being still required for the accommodation of the parishioners in\n    their attendance upon Divine Service, I would propose to consider the\n    mode of enlarging the Church, or if that could not be effected, of\n    building another Church or Chapel.  It must never be forgotten that\n    another Church or Chapel would require the attendance of another\n    Clergyman, who must live and must be remunerated.  He can be\n    remunerated only by the sale or hire of the pews and places in the\n    new place of Divine worship; and here again would commence the evil\n    which has in my opinion been the most efficient cause of the\n    non-attendance at Divine worship of the lower classes of the people\n    of this country.\" {48}\n\nSurely these words, which (bearing in mind who was the writer of them)\ncannot be supposed to have been the offspring of heated ecclesiastical\npartisanship, are well worthy of consideration, even after the lapse of\nmore than half a century.  It does, indeed, seem sad that parochial\ndifficulties should so often arise in respect of Church sittings.  There\nis no part of the parochial machinery which more requires the free\napplication of the oil of common sense--Christian charity and a true\nspirit of forbearing courtesy in order to avoid friction.  Blessed are\nthe peacemakers.\n\nDifficulties not unfrequently arise in connection with the conveyance of\nbuildings or of land to be used not only for public worship, but also for\nmeetings, classes, etc.  The subject was under the consideration of the\nCommittee of the Incorporated Church Building Society in 1889, and with\nthe co-operation of their legal advisers a statement was issued clearly\npointing out the advantages and the disadvantages of the several modes of\nprocedure possible.  With the permission of the Church Building Society's\nCommittee, I add in Appendix X a summary of the conveniences and\ninconveniences of the several Acts.  The Minister and Churchwardens are\nnot a corporation with perpetual succession under the common law, though\noften supposed so to be because they are specially so made for the\npurpose of carrying out the Schools Sites' Acts.  The advisers of the\nChurch Building Society on the whole recommend that a conveyance should\nbe made to individual Trustees, \"which will be good according to the\nordinary law of mortmain as a charitable conveyance, the only real\nobjection to this being that if the conveyance be a gift, without price\npaid, it will fail if the grantor dies within twelve months.\"  A form of\nsuch conveyance has been settled for the parish of Staines.  This form\nhas been printed by the Church Building Society, but they recommend that\nit should be amended by adding a power, to be used if a consecrated\nChurch is eventually built on the land, to revoke the trusts and convey\nthe land and building for the purpose of a Church to any person or body\nlawfully authorised to accept such conveyance.  If the Staines form is\nnot adopted, it is on the whole recommended that action should be taken\nunder 43 Geo. III, cap. 108. {50}\n\nI pass on to another point.  On a vacancy occurring in an incumbency\neither through the resignation or death of the Incumbent, certain duties\nof considerable importance devolve upon the Churchwardens.  During the\nvacancy they are in charge of the temporalities of the incumbency, and\ntherefore it is necessary that a sequestration of the living should be\nissued, empowering them to do such things as are necessary in connection\ntherewith.  Application should at once be made with reference to this to\nthe Bishop's Registrar.  It is then their duty to see that Church\nproperty, whether in connection with the fabric, endowment, or glebe,\nsuffers no loss during the vacancy.  They have also to provide for the\nservices in Church and any occasional duty which may arise.  A\nnewly-appointed Incumbent does not become legally responsible for this\nuntil he has been instituted, or collated, as the case may be.  But it\nwould be well always if the Churchwardens, immediately on an appointment\nbeing notified to them, should communicate with the Incumbent-elect and\nconsult with him as to the best mode of providing for the duty.  It is\nwell that Churchwardens should know that the license of a Curate does not\nlapse in consequence of the death of the Incumbent.  Six weeks' notice\nwithin six months after institution is legally necessary if a change is\nto be made. {52a}  The widow of a deceased Incumbent has a right to\nremain in the parsonage house for two calendar months subsequent to the\ndeath of her husband. {52b}  All these points should, if possible, be\nmade a matter of friendly arrangement, but the actual law of the case is\nas I have stated it.\n\nThere is one question sometimes asked by Churchwardens to which it may be\nwell to refer.  Have they the custody of the keys of the Church, the\nappointment of the organist, control over the Church music, and over the\nringing of the Church bells?\n\nWith regard to the keys of the Church.  It is the undoubted fact that the\nchurch is the freehold of the Incumbent, subject, of course, to the right\nof the parishioners to be present in it at all legal Services of a\nreligious character.  It may be often convenient that the Churchwardens\nshould have a duplicate key of the Church, in order that they may be able\nto fulfil their duties in connection with the survey of the fabric, or\nfor other causes, but this must be clearly understood to be subject to\nthe will of the Incumbent.\n\nThe same with regard to the musical portion of the Service or appointment\nof the organist.  Lord Stowell's words are:--\n\n    \"The Minister has the right of directing the Service, _e.g._, when\n    the organ shall and shall not play, and when children shall chaunt\n    and shall not chaunt, though the organist is paid and the children\n    managed by the Churchwardens.\" {53}\n\nNothing can be clearer or stronger than this.\n\nSo too with regard to the Church bells.  The Churchwardens have the\ncustody of the bells, and the bell ropes are in most cases Church\nproperty placed under their charge, but the law with reference to the\nringing of the bells is undoubted; that for any occasion except that of\nDivine Service the permission of the Incumbent is absolutely necessary\nfor the ringing of the bells.  Without that permission they cannot be\nrung. {54}\n\nThere is one further point on which a question sometimes arises in\nconnection with offertories and collections in church.  With reference to\noffertories gathered at the time of the celebration of Holy Communion at\nan ordinary Service the Churchwardens and Incumbent are expressly\ndirected by the rubric to dispose of them to such pious and charitable\nuses as they shall think fit, wherein if they disagree it shall be\ndisposed of as the Ordinary shall appoint.  The Incumbent has the\nresponsibility of arranging with reference to collections made not in\nconnection with the celebration of the Holy Communion.  Incumbents are\nthankful when the Churchwardens help them with their advice as to what\nobjects shall be brought before the congregation.  In the case of all\ncollections, for whatsoever purpose they be made, it is most desirable\nfor the avoiding of any possible difficulty that a written statement\nshould be put upon the Church door on the Sunday after, stating the\namount of the collections made on the previous Sunday.  If the collection\nbe made for any charitable or missionary society the official receipt for\nthe money collected and sent should also be affixed to the church door.\n\nThis leads me to mention another point of considerable importance.  In\nthese days of monetary difficulties and agricultural depression the\nfrequency of offertories is often a question difficult of solution.  It\nis perhaps still more difficult wisely to decide the objects for which\nthe offertory shall be made.  With regard to local objects there can of\ncourse be no question.  We recognise in these days the power of the\npence, and no one grumbles at the collection of money for purely\nparochial purposes.  But it is when our people are asked for money for\nobjects outside the parish that the difficulty really arises.  But it\nought to be remembered that we do not lead individual isolated lives\napart from our fellows.  The parish is not the centre of the universe.\nThe tendency of the uneducated mind is to isolate itself from the\ninterests of others, and to look at all matters from a purely selfish\npoint of view.  The parish is an accidental collection of individual\nsouls in a particular diocese.  The diocese is an aggregation of separate\nparishes scattered through an assigned area.  The members of the Church\nin a particular parish and diocese are members of the Holy Catholic\nChurch, which by its very nomenclature abrogates individual isolation.\nIt follows, therefore, that parochial interests must not absorb attention\nto the exclusion of larger and less personal objects.  The Body is one,\nand the members of the Body should work together for the good of the\nwhole.  Corporate as well as individual life is a reality, and this fact\nmust not be lost sight of in connection with our offertories.  I venture\nto say that a parish which confines its offertories to local and\nparochial purposes will lose by the very contraction of its sympathies.\nThe duty that lies upon us as trustees of God's gifts to utilize them for\nHis honour and glory, should be pointed out.  The privilege of being\nallowed to help with our substance, those who stand in need of our\nassistance, should be duly urged; and the warmth which is thus kindled in\nthe heart towards others will react in infusing fresh life into the\nsupport of parochial institutions.  The habit of giving grows by use.\nThe blood must not stagnate round the heart, or the extremities will soon\nsuffer.  Your fingers die because the action of the heart is weak.  The\npromise is that \"He that watereth others shall be watered also himself.\"\n\nI have no intention of entering into many details in this matter, but I\ncannot be wrong in enforcing this principle.  Church work at home and\nabroad, as distinct from parochial organizations, should be\nsystematically brought before all congregations however small: Church\nwork at home, including home missions; and Church work abroad, including\nforeign missionary societies.\n\nLet me give very emphatically this caution.  If aggrieved parishioners\ncome to a Churchwarden and endeavour to persuade him to join a cave of\nAdullam, he should be careful not to be rash or hasty in his answer.  He\nmust not take all for granted which heated partisans may allege, but\nremember there are always two sides to every question.  We are none of us\ninfallible in our judgment, and many matters after consultation with\nothers assume a very different aspect to that which at first sight they\nseemed to present.  If difficulties arise he must not threaten.  It does\nmore harm than good.  Let him try what conciliation will do.  Let him see\nwhether common ground of action cannot be found.  Certainly it is unwise\nto rush into print; it only tends to inflame the smouldering embers of a\nquarrel which, but for the unfortunate publicity given to it, might soon\nhave come to a happy termination.\n\nChurchwardens _must_ work with the Clergy and the Clergy with the\nChurchwardens if they are to be a blessing in the parish in which they\nare elected to serve.  They have not been brought by chance into\nconnection with the Incumbent of their parish, for chance is not a word\nto be found in the Christian's dictionary.\n\nWith regard to all these cases, if difficulties arise in connection with\nany of them it is seldom, if ever, wise to stand out for strict law.  If\nthe matter cannot be settled amicably the interposition of the Rural Dean\nor Archdeacon, or, as a final resort, the Bishop, will often smooth a\nwrinkled brow and restore to a parish the inestimable blessing of peace.\n\nIt is because I feel the great importance and usefulness of the office of\na Churchwarden, that I have ventured, in accordance with the wish so\nkindly expressed by those to whom the foregoing words were in substance\naddressed, to publish them in this more permanent form; and I have only\nto express the hope that they may be found useful in pointing out to\nChurchwardens that their office, far from being a sinecure, may, if\nfaithfully used, tend very directly to the furtherance of our common\nMaster's cause, and that work done by them in a spirit of faith and love\nwill not lose its reward in the great Hereafter.\n\n                                                   GEORGE HENRY GUILDFORD.\n\nTHE CLOSE, WINCHESTER,\n_August_, _1897_.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX I.\n\n\nQUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION.\n(_Before_ LORD COLERIDGE _and_ MR. JUSTICE MATHEW.)\nTHE QUEEN V. HARDING, VICAR OF BECKENHAM.\n\n\nThis case raised the question whether, in new parishes under the Church\nBuilding Acts, it is necessary that Churchwardens shall be residents in\nthe parish or whether it is enough that they are rated occupiers.  The\nquestion had arisen under these circumstances.  There was a new Church\nbuilt and consecrated in Beckenham, Kent, in 1875, and by an Order in\nCouncil in 1878 a district was constituted and annexed to it under the\nChurch Building Act, 59 Geo. III, cap. 134, sec. 16, constituting a\n\"district chapelry.\"  In 1885, on the death of the Incumbent, all the\nfees of the district became due and payable to the Minister of the new\nChurch, and then, by the operation of Lord Blandford's Act (19 and 20\nVict., cap. 104), the district became a separate parish for\necclesiastical purposes; and the question was what effect this had as to\nthe election of Churchwardens.  Under 8 and 9 Vict., cap. 70, sec. 6, it\nwas provided that \"two fit and proper persons should be annually elected\nChurchwardens, they residing within the district;\" and if that statute\napplied, it was admitted the Churchwardens must be resident.  But it was\ndisputed whether it did apply, or whether at common law Churchwardens\nmust be resident.  In Lord Blandford's Act it is provided, in sec. 14,\nthat wherever and as soon as banns of marriage are authorised to be\npublished in a consecrated Church or Chapel to which a district belongs,\nand the Incumbent is by such authority entitled, for his own benefit, to\nthe fees arising from the performance of such services, then such\ndistrict shall become and be a separate parish for ecclesiastical\npurposes, as is contemplated in 6 and 7 Vict., cap. 37, sec. 15, and all\nthe provisions of the same shall apply; and then, under that Act, sec.\n15, when any Church or Chapel shall be built, etc., such district shall\nfrom and after consecration be deemed to be a new parish for\necclesiastical purposes.  This, however, did not in terms, it will be\nseen, deal with the present question, and appeared to leave it open, and\nso it will be seen it was discussed in the alternative on the ground that\nat common law Churchwardens must be resident, and that is not altered by\none Act, and is re-enacted in the other.  However, in the present case it\nappeared that it had not been so understood, and on April 25, 1889, when,\nat Easter, two Churchwardens were chosen for the new district parish of\nChrist Church, Beckenham, one of them was a gentleman who had been chosen\nin previous years, and who is not a resident, though he is a rated\noccupier in the parish.  The gentleman in question, a Mr. Matthews, was\nelected by a majority of three; no objection was taken at the time, but\nafterwards his opponent, a Mr. Hayland, desired to raise the objection,\nand on June 24th last obtained a rule _nisi_ for a _mandamus_ to the\nvicar to hold a new election of churchwarden on the ground that the\nelection of Mr. Matthews was invalid, as he was not a resident in the\nparish, he having premises there, a \"store\" and some stabling for which\nhe was rated, but not living in the parish.  The case now came on to be\nargued.\n\nMr. Dibden appeared for the applicant.\n\nMr. Jeune, Q.C. (with Mr. Houghton), appeared on the part of the vicar to\nshow cause.\n\nLord Coleridge said, in giving judgment, that the party elected was not\nentitled to hold the office.  The effect of the statute was that the new\nparish was to be treated for all purposes as the old one--that it was to\nbe subject to the same law.  Now, it was necessary under the old law that\nchurchwardens should be living in the parish.  This gentleman was not so;\nand therefore was not under the old law \"a fit and proper person\" to hold\nthe office of churchwarden.  The Churchwarden had to discharge various\nduties which required knowledge of the parish and parishioners.  It was\nsaid that there were authorities to the contrary in the Ecclesiastical\nCourts; but speaking of them with the utmost respect, those were\necclesiastical cases, and this was a common law case--that is, a case to\nbe decided by the common law--and he did not think that by the common law\na party not living in the parish, and perhaps living at a distance, was\nqualified to be elected, and, if elected, bound to serve the office of\nchurchwarden.  It appeared to be clear, rating would not be enough.  It\nwas admitted that there must be some kind of occupation equivalent to\nactual residence, and in the present case there was nothing of the kind.\nNo doubt the parishioners were glad to have a respectable gentleman to\nfill the office.  No doubt the word \"residence\" had received under\ndifferent statutes different interpretations, the sense being necessarily\ndifferent.  Sometimes it meant where a man could be found during the day;\nsometimes it meant where he slept or lived; and for some purposes perhaps\nthis gentleman might be deemed a resident, but for this purpose it was\nnecessary that he should live in the parish, be acquainted with the\nparishioners, and thus be able to exercise the duties of his office,\nwhich were to be personally exercised.  The rule for a _mandamus_ to the\nvicar, therefore, must be made absolute.\n\nMr. Justice Mathew concurred.\n\nRule absolute for a _mandamus_.\n\n                                        From the _Times_, Nov. 29th, 1889.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX II.\n\n\n7 Gul. IV, and 1 Vict., cap. 45, sec. 3.\n\n\nBe it further enacted that no such notice of holding a Vestry shall be\naffixed on the principal door of such Church or Chapel unless the same\nshall previously have been signed by a Churchwarden of the Church or\nChapel, or by the Rector, Vicar, or Curate of such parish, or by an\nOverseer of the Poor of such parish; but that every notice so signed\nshall be affixed on or near to the principal door of such Church or\nChapel.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX III.\n\n\n58 Geo. III, cap. 69, 3rd June, 1818.\n_An Act for the Regulation of Parish Vestries_.\n\n\nSec. 2.--For the more orderly conduct of Vestries be it further enacted\nthat in case the Rector, or Vicar, or perpetual Curate, shall not be\npresent the persons so assembled in pursuance of such notice shall\nforthwith nominate and appoint, by plurality of votes to be ascertained\nas hereinafter is directed, one of the inhabitants of such parish to be\nthe Chairman of and preside in every such Vestry; and in all cases of\nequality of votes upon any question arising therein the Chairman shall,\nin addition to such vote or votes as he may by virtue of this Act be\nentitled to give in right of his assessment, have the casting vote; and\nminutes of the proceedings and resolutions of every Vestry shall be\nfairly and distinctly entered in a book, to be provided for that purpose\nby the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor, and shall be signed by\nthe Chairman and by such other of the inhabitants present as shall think\nproper to sign the same.\n\nSec. 3.--And be it further enacted that in all such Vestries every\ninhabitant present, who shall by the last rate which shall have been made\nfor the relief of the poor have been assessed and charged upon or in\nrespect of any annual rent, profit, or value not amounting to fifty\npounds, shall have and be entitled to give one vote and no more; and\nevery inhabitant then present, who shall in such last rate have been\nassessed or charged upon or in respect of any annual rent or rents,\nprofit or value, amounting to fifty pounds or upwards, whether in one or\nin more than one sum or charge, shall have and be entitled to give one\nvote for every twenty-five pounds of annual rent, profit, and value upon\nor in respect of which he shall have been assessed or charged in such\nlast rate, so, nevertheless, that no inhabitant shall be entitled to give\nmore than six votes; and in cases when two or more of the inhabitants\npresent shall be jointly rated, each of them shall be entitled to vote\naccording to the proportion and amount which shall be borne by him of the\njoint charge; and when one only of the persons jointly rated shall\nattend, he shall be entitled to vote according to and in respect of the\nwhole joint charge.\n\nSec. 4.--Provided and be it further enacted that when any person shall\nhave become an inhabitant of any parish, or become liable to be rated\ntherein, since the making of the last rate for the relief of the poor\nthereof, he shall be entitled to vote for and in respect of the lands,\ntenements, and property for which he shall have become liable to be\nrated, and shall consent to be rated, in like manner as if he should have\nbeen actually rated for the same.\n\nSec. 5.--Provided also and it is hereby further enacted that no person\nwho shall have refused or neglected to pay any rate for the relief of the\npoor which shall be due from him and shall have been demanded of him,\n_and_ (see Sec. 3 of the next Act quoted) shall be entitled to vote or to\nbe present in any Vestry of the parish for which such rate shall have\nbeen made, until he shall have paid the same.\n\n\n\n59 Geo. III, c. 85, sec. 1.\n\n\n. . . From and after the passing of this Act, any person who shall be\nassessed and rated for the relief of the poor in respect of any annual\nrent, profit, or value arising from any lands, tenements, or\nhereditaments, situate in any parish in which any Vestry shall be holden\nunder the said recited Act (58 Geo. III, c 69), although such person\nshall not reside in or be an inhabitant of such parish, shall and may\nlawfully be present at such Vestry . . . and have the same privileges as\nthough he were an inhabitant of the said parish.\n\nSec. 3 of the same Act states that the word \"_and_,\" marked in italics in\nthe above quotation from Geo. III, c. 69, was inserted by mistake.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX IV.\n\n\n14 and 15 Vict., c. 97, sec. 23.\n\n\nFrom and after the passing of this Act no select Vestry shall be formed\nunder the provisions of the Church Building Act, and every such select\nVestry already formed under such provisions shall be and is hereby\ndeclared to be abolished, and all the powers and provisions therein\nenacted relative to such select Vestries shall henceforth cease and\ndetermine, provided that all matters and things done by any such select\nVestry in pursuance of any powers given them by such Acts, or any of\nthem, shall be and remain as valid as if such select Vestry had not been\nabolished.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX V.\n\n\nIt was agreed in 1870 between some of the leading Laity of the Counties\nof Hants and Surrey and the then Bishop of the Diocese that the sum asked\nshould only be five shillings, payable annually by each parish and\necclesiastical district by the hands of the Churchwardens.  When there is\nan election of a Proctor to Convocation, an additional shilling is added,\nmaking the total due six shillings.  It was also decided at the meeting\nbefore referred to that this charge might be defrayed out of the\noffertory or other voluntary collections for Church purposes in any\nparish or ecclesiastical district.  I am happy to say that the cases are,\ncomparatively speaking, rare in which the Churchwardens decline to pay\nthis charge, reduced by voluntary action as it has been from the legal\nfigure of eighteen shillings to either five shillings or in some years\nsix shillings, the extra shilling being added when an election of a\nProctor for the Archdeaconry takes place.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX VI.\n\n\nCanons agreed upon by the Convocation for the Province of Canterbury\nassembled by the king's licence in their Synod, A.D. 1603, published by\nHis Majesty's authority under the Great Seal of England.\n\n89.  _The choice of Churchwardens and their Account_.\n\nAll Churchwardens or Questmen in every parish shall be chosen by the\njoint consent of the Minister and parishioners, if it may be; but if they\ncannot agree upon such a choice, then the Minister shall choose one, and\nthe parishioners another: and without such a joint or several choice none\nshall take upon them to be Churchwardens: neither shall they continue any\nlonger than one year in that office, except perhaps they be chosen again\nin like manner.  And all Churchwardens at the end of their year, or\nwithin a month after at the most, shall before the Minister and the\nparishioners give up a just account of such money as they have received,\nand also what particularly they have bestowed in reparations and\notherwise, for the use of the Church.  And, last of all, going out of\ntheir office, they shall truly deliver up to the parishioners whatsoever\nmoney or other things of right belonging to the Church or parish, which\nremaineth in their hands, that it may be delivered over by them to the\nnext Churchwardens by bill indented.\n\n90.  _The choice of Sidemen_, _and their joint office with\nChurchwardens_.\n\nThe Churchwarden or Questmen of every parish, and two or three or more\ndiscreet persons in every parish, to be chosen for Sidemen or Assistants\nby the Minister and parishioners, if they can agree (otherwise to be\nappointed by the Ordinary of the diocese), shall diligently see that all\nthe parishioners duly resort to their Church upon all Sundays and\nHoly-days, and there continue the whole time of Divine Service; and none\nto walk or to stand idle or talking in the Church, or in the Churchyard,\nor in the Church-porch, during that time.  And all such as shall be found\nslack or negligent in resorting to the Church (having no great or urgent\ncause of absence) they shall earnestly call upon them; and after due\nmonition (if they amend not) they shall present them to the Ordinary of\nthe place.  The choice of which persons, _viz._, Churchwardens or\nQuestmen, Sidemen, or Assistants, shall be yearly made in Easter-week.\n\n85.  _Churches to be kept in sufficient Reparations_.\n\nThe Churchwarden or Questmen shall take care and provide that the\nChurches be well and sufficiently repaired, and so from time to time kept\nand maintained, that the windows be well glazed, and that the floors be\nkept paved, plain and even, and all things there in such an orderly and\ndecent sort, without dust, or anything that may be either noisome or\nunseemly, as best becometh the House of God, and is prescribed in an\nHomily to that effect.  The like care they shall take that the\nChurchyards be well and sufficiently repaired, fenced and maintained with\nwalls, rails, or pales, as have been in each place accustomed, at their\ncharges unto whom by law the same appertaineth: but especially they shall\nsee that in every meeting of the congregation peace be well kept: and\nthat all persons excommunicated, and so denounced, be kept out of the\nChurch.\n\n88.  _Churches not to be profaned_.\n\nThe Churchwardens, or Questmen, and their Assistants, shall suffer no\nplays, feasts, banquets, suppers, church-ales, drinkings, temporal\ncourts, or leets, lay juries, musters, or any other profane usage, to be\nkept in the Church, Chapel, or Churchyard, neither the bells to be rung\nsuperstitiously upon holy days, or eves abrogated by the Book of Common\nPrayer, nor at any other times without good cause to be allowed by the\nMinister of the place, and by themselves.\n\n52.  _The names of strange Preachers to be noted in a book_.\n\nThat the Bishop may understand (if occasion so require) what sermons are\nmade in every Church of his diocese and who presume to preach without\nlicence, the Churchwardens and Sidemen shall see that the names of all\nPreachers, which come to their Church from any other place, be noted in a\nbook which they shall have ready for that purpose; wherein every Preacher\nshall subscribe his name, the day when he preached, and the name of the\nBishop of whom he had license to preach.\n\n111.  _Disturbers of Divine Service to be presented_.\n\nIn all visitations of Bishops and Archdeacons the Churchwardens, or\nQuestmen, and Sidemen shall truly and personally present the names of all\nthose which behave themselves rudely and disorderly in the Church, or\nwhich by untimely ringing of bells, by walking, talking, or other noise,\nshall hinder the Minister or Preacher.\n\n118.  _The old Churchwardens to make their presentments before the new be\nsworn_.\n\nThe office of all Churchwardens and Sidemen shall be reputed ever\nhereafter to continue until the new Churchwardens that shall succeed them\nbe sworn, which shall be the first week after Easter or some week\nfollowing, according to the direction of the Ordinary, which time so\nappointed shall always be one of the two times in every year, when the\nMinister, and Churchwardens, and Sidemen of every parish shall exhibit to\ntheir several Ordinaries the presentments of such enormities as have\nhappened in their parishes since their last presentments.  And this duty\nthey shall perform before the newly-chosen Churchwardens and Sidemen be\nsworn, and shall not be suffered to pass over the said presentments to\nthose that are newly come into office and are by intendment ignorant of\nsuch crimes, under pain of those censures which are appointed for the\nreformation of such dalliers and dispensers with their own consciences\nand oaths.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX VII.\n\n\n18 and 19 Vict., cap. 128, sec. 18.\n\n\n_Burial Board to keep in order closed burial grounds_, _etc._\n\nIn every case in which any order in Council has been or shall hereafter\nbe issued for the discontinuance of burials in any churchyard or burial\nground, the Burial Board, or Churchwardens, as the case may be, shall\nmaintain such churchyard or burial ground of any parish in decent order,\nand also do the necessary repair of the walls and other fences thereof,\nand the costs and expenses shall be repaid by the Overseers upon the\ncertificate of the Burial Board, or Churchwardens, _as the case may be_,\nout of the rate made for the relief of the poor of the parish or place in\nwhich such churchyard or burial ground is situate, unless there shall be\nsome other fund legally chargeable with such costs and expenses.\n\nThe words in italics have given rise to some dispute as to their\ninterpretation.  Some Burial Boards have claimed the right to maintain\nclosed churchyards.  The question was brought into the Court of Queen's\nBench in 1879, and it was decided that a Burial Board was required to\nmaintain a closed cemetery, and that Churchwardens were the proper\npersons to maintain a closed churchyard. {79}\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX VIII.\n\n\n15 and 16 Vict., cap. 85, sec. 10.\n\n\n_Churchwardens after order or at any time upon requisition of ten\nratepayers to convene Vestry Meeting to determine whether a burial ground\nshall be provided_.\n\nUpon the requisition in writing of ten or more ratepayers {80a} of any\nparish in the metropolis {80b} in which the place or places of burial\nshall appear to such ratepayers insufficient or dangerous to health (and\nwhether any Order in Council in relation to any burial ground in such\nparish has or has not been made), the Churchwardens and other persons to\nwhom it belongs to convene meetings of the Vestry of such parish shall\nconvene a meeting of the Vestry for the special purpose of determining\nwhether a burial ground shall be provided under this Act for the parish;\nand public notice of such Vestry Meeting, and the place and hour of\nholding the same, and the special purpose thereof, shall be given in the\nusual manner in which notices of the meetings of the Vestry are given, at\nleast seven days before holding such Vestry Meeting: and if it be\nresolved by the Vestry that a burial ground shall be provided under this\nAct for the parish, a copy of such resolution extracted from the minutes\nof the Vestry, and signed by the Chairman, shall be sent to one of Her\nMajesty's principal Secretaries of State.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX IX.\n\n\n24 and 25 Vict., cap. 125, sec. 2.\n\n\nThe Overseers of any parish may, with the consent of the Vestry, provide\nproper depositories of all the documents, books, and papers belonging to\nsuch parish, for which no provision is otherwise made by law, and charge\nthe cost thereof on the poor rate.\n\n\n\n52 Geo. III, cap. 146, sec. 5.\n\n\nAnd be it further enacted that the . . . register books . . . shall be\nkept by and remain in the power and custody of the Rector, Curate, or\nother officiating Minister of each respective parish or chapelry as\naforesaid, and shall be by him safely and securely kept in a dry, well\npainted iron chest, to be provided and repaired, as occasion may require,\nat the expense of the parish or chapelry, and which said chest,\ncontaining the said books, shall be constantly kept locked in some dry,\nsafe, and secure place within the usual place of residence of such\nRector, Vicar, Curate, or other officiating minister, if resident within\nthe parish or chapelry, or in the parish church or chapel; and the said\nbooks shall not, nor shall any of them, be taken or removed from or out\nof the said chest, at any time or for any cause whatever, except for the\npurpose of making such entries therein as aforesaid, or for the\ninspection of persons desirous to make search therein, or to obtain\ncopies from or out of the same, or to be produced as evidence in some\ncourt of law or equity, or to be inspected as to the state and condition\nthereof, or for some other purposes of this Act; and that immediately\nafter making such inspection, entries, or producing the said books\nrespectively for the purposes aforesaid, the said books shall forthwith\nagain be safely and securely deposited in the said chest.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX X.\n\n\n43 Geo. III, cap. 108.\n\n\nCONVENIENCES.--Permits conveyance of site to any Body Political or\nCorporate.\n\n--Contains no clause avoiding the conveyance if Service is discontinued\nfor a time.\n\nINCONVENIENCES.--Requires the concurrence of Ordinary.\n\n--Will be avoided (unless made for valuable consideration) if grantor\ndies within three months.\n\n--Must be strictly for a Church or Chapel.\n\n--Must be enrolled within six months.\n\n--No provision for grant by a person under disability, _e.g._, tenant for\nlife.\n\n\n\n_Place of Worship Sites' Act_.\n36 & 37 Vict., cap. 50.\n\n\nCONVENIENCES.--Enables tenant for life to convey.\n\n--Does not require consent of Ordinary.\n\n--Deed will not be avoided by death of grantor within twelve months after\nexecution of it.\n\nINCONVENIENCES.--Contains no power of conveyance to a Body Corporate\nexcept permission given to make Ecclesiastical Commissioners trustees of\nthe site.\n\n--Contains clauses involving the loss of the property, (_a_) if the land\nbe used for any other purpose than that of a site for a place of worship;\n(_b_) if Service be discontinued in the place of worship for one year.\n\n--May give difficulty as to consecration, if the Mission Room becomes a\nChurch, owing to possible reversion to profane uses on the temporary\ndiscontinuance of Services.\n\n\n\nSchool Sites' Act.\n4 & 5 Vict., cap 38; 7 & 8 Vict., cap. 37.\n\n\nCONVENIENCES.--Enable tenants for life to convey.\n\n--Permit conveyance to Bodies Corporate making Minister and Churchwardens\na corporation with perpetual succession for the purposes of these Acts.\n\nINCONVENIENCES.--Contain clauses involving the loss of the property if\nused for other purposes than those of education.\n\n--Require enrolment of deeds.\n\n\n\n\nChurchwardens' Manual\n_NOTICES OF THE FIRST EDITION_.\n\n\n\"Churchwardens will find in the _Churchwardens' Manual_ some useful brief\nnotes put together by the Bishop of Guildford relative to their duties,\npowers, rights and privileges.\"--_Guardian_, April 9th.\n\n\"The Bishop of Guildford has just published a very useful little handbook\nfor the use and guidance of Church wardens . . . The book is a most\nhelpful one with regard to Church matters.\"--_Hampshire Chronicle_.\n\n\"The Bishop of Guildford's _Churchwardens' Manual_ meets a real want, in\nthat it provides in small compass . . . a handy pocket book containing\nthe many matters legal and ecclesiastical, which concern the\nChurchwarden's office . . . No one ought to assume it without being armed\nwith such a work as this, and an Incumbent cannot do better than present\nhis Churchwardens with this little Manual.\"--_Church Times_.\n\n\"It is a Manual which ought to be in the possession of every holder of\nthe important office of Churchwarden, and which other Churchmen also\nwould do well to familiarise themselves with, as a better understanding\nof the subject would be greatly to the advantage of many parishes; clear,\nprecise, handy and cheap, it is precisely the handbook that was\nwanted.\"--_Winchester Observer_.\n\n\"A thoroughly useful and practical work, and just the one which ought to\nbe in the hands both of Incumbents and Churchwardens.\"--_Ecclesiastical\nChronicle_.\n\n\n\n\nFootnotes:\n\n\n{2}  _Smith's Christian Antiquities_, i, 391; _Bingham's Antiquities of\nthe Christian Church_, B. ii, c. 19, sec. 19.\n\n{4}  1 Will. and M., ch. 18, sec. 5; 31 Geo. III, ch. 32, sec. 7.\n\n{5}  See Appendix No. I.\n\n{6}  _Prideaux's Churchwardens' Guide_, p. 17.\n\n{7}  7 Gul. IV, and 1 Vict. cap. 45, sec 3.  See Appendix No. II\n\n{8a}  7 Gul. IV and 1 Vict., cap. 45, sec. 1, 2.\n\n{8b}  Note 58 Geo. III, c. 69, sec. 2.\n\n{8c}  See Appendix No. VI.\n\n{9a}  Phillimore II, 1470.\n\n{9b}  Dewdney _v._ Good referred to in _Addresses delivered to the\nChurchwardens and Sidesmen of the Diocese of Liverpool_, by Thomas E.\nEspin, D.D., Chancellor of the Diocese.  Liverpool: Holden, Church\nStreet.  p. 29.\n\n{10a}  See Appendix No. III.\n\n{10b}  See Appendix No. IV.\n\n{11}  As far, however, as the diocese of Winchester is concerned, see\nAppendix No. V.\n\n{12}  _Cripps' Practical Treatise on the Law relating to the Church and\nClergy_, 6th Ed., pp. 178, 182.\n\n{13}  _Cripps' Practical Treatise on the Law relating to the Church and\nClergy_, 6th Ed., p. 174.  It may be a question whether Lord Coleridge's\njudgment as to the residence of Churchwardens may not affect this.  See\nAppends No. I.\n\n{14}  Churchwardens are _ex officio_ Overseers under the Poor Relief Act,\n1601 (43 Eliz., c. 2, s. 1), only in the case of an ancient\necclesiastical parish, for which overseers are appointed under that\nAct.--_Jenkin's Local Government Act_, p. 25.\n\n{22}  See Appendix No VI.\n\n{30a}  18 and 19 Vict., cap. 128, sec xviii.  See Appendix No. VII.\n\n{30b}  The Queen _v._ the Burial Board of Bishop Wearmouth.--_Law\nReports_, _Queen's Bench Division_, vol. v, p. 67.  See Appendix VII.\n\n{32}  See Appendix No. VIII.\n\n{34a}  See Appendix No. IX.\n\n{34a}  See _An Address to Churchwardens_, by the Bishop of Carlisle,\npublished by the S.P.C.K., p. 13.\n\n{35}  By 59 Geo. III, c. 134, s. 11.--The Ecclesiastical Commissioners\nare empowered to make a table of fees for any parish with the consent of\nthe Vestry, and with the consent of the Bishop of the Diocese.\n\n{43}  Bishop of Carlisle's _Address to Churchwardens_, S.P.C.K., p. 17.\n\n{46a}  See _Fuller v. Lane_.  2 _Adams_, 419.  Prideaux's _Churchwarden's\nGuide_, appendix, XLVI.  Phillimores' _Ecclesiastical Law_, II, 1801-4.\n\n{46b}  _Fuller v. Lane_.  Prideaux's _Guide_, XLV.\n\n{48}  _Life of Charles Richard Sumner_, _D.D._, _Bishop of Winchester_\n(Murray), by the Author of this manual, p. 250.\n\n{50}  In many Dioceses now a body of trustees has been appointed for the\nspecial purpose of holding Church properties.  It is hoped that ere long\nevery Diocese in the country will have its own special body for the\npurpose, with a carefully considered Trust Deed.  I believe that the\nscheme in the Arch Diocese of Canterbury is found to work very\nsatisfactorily.\n\n{52a}  1 and 2 Vict., cap. 106, sec. 95.\n\n{52b}  Ditto, sec. 36.\n\n{53}  _Addresses delivered to the Churchwardens and Sidesmen of the\nDiocese of Liverpool_, by Thomas E. Espin, D.D., Chancellor of the\nDiocese; p. 29.  Liverpool: Holden, Church Street.\n\n{54}  _Cripps' Practical Treatise on the Law relating to the Church and\nClergy_, p. 190.  See also Canon 88 in Appendix vi.\n\n{79}  In the Court of Appeal, 1879, The Queen _v._ The Burial Board of\nBishop Wearmouth.--_Law Reports_, Queen's Bench Division, Vol. V, p. 67.\n\n{80a}  Sections 10 to 42 of this Act, inclusive, as well as secs. 44, 50,\n51, and 52, are extended to the whole Country by 16 and 17 Vict., cap.\n134, sec. 7.\n\n{80b}  The provision in this section as to the requisition of ten or more\nratepayers is done away with by 18 and 19 Vict., cap. 128, sec. 3, by\nwhich it is enacted that a Vestry can be convened for the purpose without\nany previous requisition of the Churchwardens.","title":"Churchwardens' Manual: their duties, powers, rights, and privilages","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":15802}