The Church in Scotland. The Act of Union.-By the Act for the union of England and Scotland, passed in 1706, (x) the Presbyterian government of the Protestant Scotch Church by means of kirk sessions, presbyteries, provincial synods, and general assemblies (being the form of government ratified and confirmed by the 1 Will. & Mary, c. 5) was confirmed and made unalterable, and it was declared that this Presbyterian government was to be the only government of the Church in Scotland. (y) By the same Act the preservation of the established Church in England as settled by the 6 Anne, c. 8, and of the Protestant religion and Presbyterian Church in Scotland, are made essential conditions of the union. (z) Position of the Scotch Church.-The Scotch Church forms its own national branch of the early Episcopalian Church, and is entirely at one with the English Church on matters of religion, adopting as her standard faith the Thirty-nine Articles, and claiming the authority to change or abolish any ceremonies or rites of the Church ordained only by man's authority, allowed to every national church by Article 34. The difference then between the Scotch and English Churches is that each has its own distinct form of internal government, and that while the English Church is amply endowed and closely incorporated with the State, the Scotch Church is merely tolerated. by, and receives no support in spiritual matters from, the State. (a) The Scotch Church, however, looks to the civil power for peace and protection in the enjoyment of its rights and privileges, and acknowledges the king to be the only supreme governor within his dominions of clergy as well as laity, and she renounces the authority of any foreign prince, potentate, or prelate within the realm. (b) (x) 6 Anne, s. 11. (y) Ib. s. 2. (z) lb. s. 5. (a) See preface to the revision of the Scotch Canons, 1838, quoted in Phill., Eccl. Law, at p. 1763. (b) lb. There are now seven sees in Scotland, and in each diocese the bishop must appoint a dean chosen from the presbyters. The synod consists of two chambers, the bishops comprising the first, and the deans and a representative elected by the clergy from each diocese, the second. In addition, a Church Council was established in 1876, composed of bishops, clergy, and lay representatives. The Church in Wales. Disestablishment of the Church in Wales and Monmouthshire. By the Welsh Church Act, 1914, passed under the provisions of the Parliament Act, 1911, (c) (and which was to come into force on such day as might be fixed by Order in Council after the expiration of six months, or such extended period as might be fixed by the Order, not being more than twelve months after the 18th September, 1914, (d)) the Church of England in Wales and Monmouthshire is to cease to be established by law, and no person is, after the 18th September, 1914, to be appointed or nominated by the Crown or any person by virtue of any existing right of patronage, to any ecclesiastical office in the Church in Wales. (e) In consequence of the state of war existing with Germany the date of disestablishment of the Church in Wales has, however, been postponed by the Suspensory Act, 1914, (ƒ) so as not to take effect until the expiration of twelve months from the 18th September, 1914, or if the war with Germany is not then ended until such later date (not being later than the end of the war) as may be fixed by Order in Council. Effect of Disestablishment.-The effect of disestablishment on the Church in Wales is threefold, and relates to (1) the status and privileges of the clergy, (2) ecclesiastical courts and laws, and (3) the property of the Church. The Status of the Clergy.-The Act affects the status of the Welsh clergy in the following manner. (1) On the date of disestablishment all cathedrals and ecclesiastical (c) As to the procedure under this Act, see ante, p. 86. corporations sole or aggregate in the Church in Wales, are to be dissolved. As from the same date no Welsh bishop as such is to be summoned to, or qualified to sit or vote in the House of Lords; (g) apart from this provision bishops, deans, canons, archdeacons, and all holders of ecclesiastical offices in the Church in Wales are to continue to enjoy during life the same title and precedence as before the passing of the Act. (h) (2) As from the same date the bishops and clergy of the Church in Wales are to cease to be members of or represented in the Houses of Convocation of the Province of Canterbury. (i) (3) On and after the date of disestablishment no person is to be disqualified or liable to any penalty for sitting or voting in the House of Commons by reason of having been ordained priest or deacon if the ecclesiastical office he holds is an office in the Church in Wales, or, if he does not hold any ecclesiastical office, if the last such office which he held was an office in the Church in Wales. (j) Effect of the Act on Ecclesiastical Law. The general effect of the Act is to abolish the ecclesiastical courts in Wales, and the legal force of the ecclesiastical law of the Church in Wales, and to render the latter only binding in so far as it relates to property held on behalf of or by members of the Church, as though it were in trust to be held on behalf of persons bound by such law. Power is also afforded by the Act to the members of the Church in Wales to form a representative body and hold synods, with power to make regulations and constitutions. The general provisions are as follows: (1) Abolition of Ecclesiastical Law and Courts.—As from the date of disestablishment the jurisdiction of ecclesiastical courts and persons in Wales and Monmouthshire is abolished, and the ecclesiastical law of the Church in Wales is to cease to exist as law. (k) This is, however, subject to the following important modifications. (9) Bishops not disqualified by the Act from sitting in the House of Lords are to receive writs of summons as if the bishops so disqualified had vacated their sees. Welsh Church Act, 1914, 4 & 5 Geo. V. c. 91, s. 2 (3). (h) Ib. s. 2 (1) (2). (i) Ib. s. 3 (5). But nothing in the Act is to affect the powers of those Houses relating to matters outside Wales and Monmouthshire. (j) Ib. s. 2 (4). (k), Ib. s. 3 (1). (2) Power to Form Representative Body.-Notwithstanding any Act, law, or custom, the bishops, clergy, and laity of the Church in Wales may hold synods, or elect representatives thereto, and may frame constitutions and regulations either by themselves or their representatives elected as they may think fit. (1) If a body is so appointed to represent the Church and laity, and to hold property for their uses, the Crown is empowered by charter to incorporate such persons (termed " the representative body") with power to hold land without licence in mortmain. (m) The constitutions and regulations made by the body may provide for the following matters: (i) The general management and good government of the Church in Wales, and the property and affairs of the same, as a whole or according to dioceses. (ii) The future representation of members of the Church in a general synod or diocesan synods or otherwise. (n) (iii) The establishment for the Church in Wales of ecclesiastical courts, and (if the Archbishop of Canterbury consents) for appeals from any such courts being heard and determined by the provincial court of the Archbishop, but such courts may not exercise any coercive jurisdiction, and no appeal is to lie therefrom to the Privy Council. (0) (iv) Alterations and modifications in ecclesiastical law, including the law embodied in certain specified Acts, or any other Act. (p) Alterations in ecclesiastical law made under the above powers are not to be binding (except so far as they are necessary in consequence of the Welsh Church Act, 1914) on an ecclesiastical person having any existing interest saved by the Act so as to deprive him of that interest if he signifies his dissent to the representative body within a month after the making of the alteration. (q) (3) Enforcement of Ecclesiastical Law as to Property.—As from the date of disestablishment, the then existing ecclesiastical (1) 4 & 5 Geo. V. c. 91, s. 13 (1). (m) Ib. s. 13 (2). (n) Ib. s. 13 (1). (0) Ib. s. 3 (3). (p) Ib. s. 3 (4). The Acts specified are, the Church Discipline Act, 1840; Public Worship Regulation Act, 1874; Clergy Discipline Act, 1892; Ecclesiastical Dilapidations Acts, 1871 and 1872. (q) Ib. s. 3 (2). law, articles, doctrines, rites, rules, discipline, and ordinances of the Church of England (subject to any modification or alterations made under the provisions just mentioned) are to be binding on members of the Church in Wales as though they had mutually agreed to be so bound, and are to be capable of being enforced in the temporal courts in relation. to property held by virtue of the Act on behalf of the Church or any members of the same, as if such property had been expressly assured upon trust to be held on behalf of persons who should be so bound. (r) Provisions as to Church Property.-General Effect.-A body termed the "Welsh Commissioners" are constituted by the Act in whom, as from the date of disestablishment Church property in Wales (whether vested in the Ecclesiastical Commisssioners or otherwise) is in general to be vested. The property so vested is to be divided as to certain specified parts between the Church representative body previously mentioned, (s) and certain local bodies, the latter being either county, or borough, or urban district councils, or in some cases the parish meeting, or burial authority. The transfer of the various classes of property as specified is to be made by the Welsh Commissioners to the appropriate bodies, and provision is made for the preservation, compensation, or commutation of existing interests. The Welsh Commissioners are invested with certain plenary powers of deciding questions of law or fact necessary to be decided for the purposes of the Act; but in certain specified cases appeal from their decision lies to the Privy Council. The Welsh Commissioners.-The Welsh Commissioners, being three in number appointed by the Crown by warrant under the sign manual, (t) are to be a body corporate styled the "Commissioners of Church Temporalities in Wales,” with a common seal, and power to hold land for the purposes of the Act without licence in mortmain. (u) They may act by (r) 4 & 5 Geo. V. c. 91, s. 3 (2). (s) See p. 336, ante. (1) 4 & 5 Geo. 5, c. 91, s. 10 (1). Vacancies are to be filled in the same manner. (u) Ib. s. 10 (2). |