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these Acts, every benefice previously held becomes void ipso facto (1). But all these prohibitions, in respect of population and yearly value, are subject to a provision whereby the Archbishop of Canterbury is enabled, in certain cases, to grant a dispensation therefrom on recommendation of the bishop of the diocese (m).

A clerk may lose his preferment, 2ndly, [by consecration. For when a clerk is promoted to a bishopric, all his other preferments are void the instant that he is consecrated. A method was formerly in use, by the favour of the Crown, of holding such livings in commendam. Commenda (ecclesia commendata) was a living commended by the Crown to the care of a clerk, to hold till a proper pastor should be provided for it; which commendation might be temporary-for one, two, or three years, or it might be perpetual. And this sort of commendation (or dispensation) used to be granted to bishops in the poorer sees, to aid the deficiency of their episcopal revenues (n).] But now, by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners Act, 1836, s. 18, no ecclesiastical dignity, office, or benefice may, in future, be held in commendam by any bishop; and every commendam thereafter granted, whether to retain (retinere) or to receive (recipere), and whether temporary or perpetual, is absolutely void to all intents and purposes (o).

A clerk may lose his preferment, 3rdly, [by deprivation. Which may be, on such nonfeasance or neglect, malfeasance or crime, as any penal statutes declare shall avoid the benefice (in which cases, the benefice is ipso facto

(7) Sect. 11; 13 & 14 Vict. (1850), c. 98, s. 7.

(m) 1 & 2 Vict. (1838), c. 106, ss. 5, 6. See also, as regards persons holding cathedral preferments, 1 & 2 Vict. (1838), c. 106, s. 11; 4 & 5 Vict. (1841), c. 39; 13 & 14 Vict. (1850), c. 98, s. 11; as regards deans of cathedrals, 13 & 14 Vict. (1850), c. 94, s. 19;

and as regards heads of colleges, 13 & 14 Vict. (1850), c. 98, ss. 5, 6.

(n) Colt v. Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry (1613), Hob. 144.

(0) See also (as to the Bishop of Sodor and Man) 1 & 2 Vict. (1838), c. 30; and (as to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge) 61 & 62 Vict. (1898), c. 48, s. 7.

[void without any formal sentence of deprivation) (p); or it may be, upon sentence declaratory under the Clergy Discipline Act, 1892, on the clerk's conviction of treason or felony or of any misdemeanor involving imprisonment with hard labour or any greater punishment (2); or on a bastardy order being made against him; or on a finding of the Divorce Court that he has committed adultery; or on a separation order being made against him, either by the Divorce Court or under the Matrimonial Causes Act, 1878, the bishop in every such case declaring, within twenty-one days after the conviction finding or order become final, his benefice vacant and himself incapable of holding preferment (sect. 1); and under the Benefices Act, 1898 (r), s. 10, a sequestration which has continued for one whole year, or a sequestration twice repeated, is made a ground of deprivation. A sentence of deprivation may also be for heresy (s), infidelity (t), and the like; or on a third conviction of having engaged in trade (u); or for simony (x), or plurality or for maintaining any doctrine in derogation of the king's supremacy, or of the Thirty-nine Articles, or of the Book of Common Prayer (y)]; or for neglecting to read in church the Thirty-nine Articles, and to make the proper "declaration of assent" at the time appointed by the ordinary (÷) ; or for using any other form of prayer than the Liturgy of the Church of England (a); or for continued neglect,

(p) Re Dean of York (1841), 2 Q. B. 1; Ex parte Denison (1854), 4 El. & Bl. 292.

(7) Bishop of Chichester v. Webb (1555), Dyer, 108; Jenk. 210. (r) 61 & 62 Vict. c. 48.

(*) Ex parte Denison (1854), 4 El. & Bl. 292; Combe v. Edwards (1878), 3 P. D. 103. It is often stated that the only penalty at present for illegal practices of the clergy is imprisonment. This is incorrect; de

privation has always been the
ultimate penalty.

(t) Fitz. Abr. tit. Trial, 54.
(u) 1 & 2 Vict. (1838), c. 106,

s. 31.

(c) 31 Eliz. (1588), c. 6; 13 Ann. (1713), c. 11.

(y) 1 Eliz. (1558), cc. 1, 2; 13 Eliz. (1571), c. 12.

(z) Clerical Subscription Act, 1865.

(a) 1 Eliz (1558), c. 2.

after order from the bishop followed by sequestration, to reside on the benefice (b).

A clerk may lose his preferment, 4thly, by resignation ; but this is of no avail, till accepted by the ordinary, into whose hands the resignation of the benefice must be made (c). And in connection with this last mode of vacating a preferment, it is necessary to notice an Act, called the Clerical Disabilities Act, 1870, which was passed with the object of relieving persons who had been admitted to the office of priest or deacon in the Church of England, from certain disadvantages to which (until protected by that statute) they were exposed. In order to effect this object, the Act provides, that any person admitted to holy orders may, after having resigned any and every preferment by him held, execute and cause to be enrolled in Chancery a deed of relinquishment in a prescribed form, and deliver an office copy of the same to the bishop of his diocese, to be recorded in the diocesan registry; and, on the bishop causing the deed to be recorded in the registry, the clergyman becomes incapable of acting in any way as a minister of the Church of England, and ceases to enjoy any right or privilege attaching to such office. On the other hand, he is freed from all disabilities, disqualifications, restraints and prohibitions to which he would, under certain statutes, have been subject as a person who had been admitted to holy orders (d), and from all penalties and proceedings to which he might under any law have been amenable, in consequence of any act or thing by him done under such admission (e). And we may also usefully notice here

(b) 1 & 2 Vict. (1838), c. 106,

s. 58.

(c) Fane's Case (1608), Cro. Jac. 198; Martin v. Mackonochie (1883), 8 P. D. 191.

(d) 41 Geo. 3 (1801), c. 63; 5 &

6 Will. 4 (1835), c. 76, s. 28; 3 & 4 Vict. (1840), c. 86.

(e) 33 & 34 Vict. (1870), c. 91, 8. 4; Ex parte a Clergyman (1873), L. R. 15 Eq. 154. There is a locus poenitentie, if nothing more is done after enrolment.

another Act, called the Incumbents Resignation Act, 1871, by which (as amended by the Act of 1887), a clergyman permanently incapacitated by illness may resign his benefice; and may receive a pension, to the amount of one-third the clear annual value, charged on the revenues of the benefice, recoverable as a debt from the subsequent incumbent thereof.

VI. The lowest degree of ecclesiastical persons is the CURATE, who is a clerk in holy orders employed by the rector, vicar, or other incumbent of a living, either to serve in his absence, or as his assistant, as the case may be (f). Every stipendiary curate, before he enters on his duties, must, however, be licensed by the archbishop or bishop of the diocese (g); and such licence may be afterwards revoked (h). Also, before the licence is granted, the curate must sign the stipendiary curate's declaration, that he will bona fide receive from his future vicar the whole stipend as arranged (i). He must also, on entering on his curacy (unless, having been ordained on the same day, he has already done so), make and subscribe the "declaration of assent" to the Thirty-nine Articles and Book of Common Prayer; and on the first Lord's day on which he officiates, he must publicly and openly repeat such declaration in the presence of the congregation, and during the time of divine service (k). For the proper sustentation and payment of licensed curates, the law has made a variety of provisions ; thus, by the 28 Hen. VIII. (1536), c. 11, a curate who shall serve a church during its vacancy, shall be paid such stipend as the ordinary thinks reasonable out of the

(f) Burn, Ecc. Law, by Tyrw.. vol. ii. p. 54 (a); Arnold v. Bishop of Bath (1829), 5 Bing. 316; and, as to lecturers and preachers, see 7 & 8 Vict. (1844), c. 59.

(g) Burn, vol. i. p. 61; Watson, C. L. 147, 207, 335.

(h) R. v. Archbishop of Canterbury (1859), 1 El. & El. 545; Poole v. Bishop of London (1861), 7 Jur. (N.s.) 347.

(i) Clerical Subscription Act, 1865, s. 6.

(k) Ibid. s. 8.

profits accruing during the vacancy; or, if that be not sufficient, it shall be made up by the successor, within fourteen days after he takes possession. And by the Pluralities Act, 1838, numerous provisions are made as to the appointment and payment of curates, among which are the following :-that in certain cases of non-residence by the incumbent, the bishop may, in his default, appoint a proper resident curate, with a stipend (); that where the bishop sees reason to believe that the duties of any benefice are inadequately performed, or where it is of a certain value or extent, he may (though in the first case only after referring the matter to certain commissioners appointed by him for that purpose) require the incumbent, whether actually resident or not, to nominate a proper curate with sufficient stipend, and on his default may himself make such appointment (m), which appointment the bishop may now, by the Benefices Act, 1898, make, without first requiring the incumbent to do so (n); and that the stipend of every curate appointed by the bishop shall be adjusted in proportion to the value and population of the benefice, the stipend not in any case falling short of 801. per annum, or of the whole annual value of the benefice, if it be under that amount (0); and in all cases of dispute between the incumbent and the curate as to his stipend, the bishop may summarily decide between them without appeal, and may enforce his sentence by monition and sequestration (p). Also, by the Pluralities Act, 1885, it is provided, that the bishop may assign to any curate or curates appointed and licensed by him such stipend as he may think fit, not exceeding by 701. the respective stipends allowed to curates by the Pluralities Act, 1838, s. 77, in the case of non-resident incum

(2) Sects. 76, 86.

(m) Sects. 77, 78.

(n) 61 & 62 Vict. (1898), c. 48,

s. 9.

(0) 1 & 2 Vict. (1838), c. 106, s. 85.

(p) Sect. 83; Daniel v. Morton (1850), 16 Q. B. 198.

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