PARISH.

What, 392.

Parish boundaries, 394.

In what cases and how di- Parish property, 395. vided, 392. Sale of parish property, 395.

What.] In the ecclesiastical division of England, a parish is that portion of ground which is committed to the charge of one parson, vicar, or other minister, having the cure of souls therein (1 Bl. Com. 112); and the church of which has all parochial rights, namely, the right of burial, of baptism, and tithes. Seld. Tithe, 265, c. 9, s. 4.

There are places, however, not included in any such division, and are therefore termed extra-parochial.-These in some instances have had overseers appointed for them, under stat. 13 & 14 C. 2, c. 12, s. 21, and maintain their own poor; they are liable to be rated to the county rate, by stat. 55 G. 3, c. 51, s. 1; their tithes belong to the crown (2 Inst. 647); and where they consist of wastes or marsh lands, which have been improved and drained, they may be assessed to all parochial rates in the parish next adjoining. 17 G. 2, C. 37.

In what cases and how divided.] It shall be lawful for the commissioners, in the scheme for constituting any district, to specify some existing or intended church within the district as the parish church of such district, and immediately upon the issuing of the order of Her Majesty in council ratifying such scheme such district shall become and be a new parish, and such church, when consecrated, the church thereof, and the incumbent of such church the incumbent thereof, in the same manner, and to the same extent, to all intents and purposes, as is contemplated with respect to new parishes formed under the said Acts, and to the churches and incumbents thereof respectively; and the incumbent of such church shall be liable to the performance of all pastoral duties within the limits of such new parish. 19 & 20 Vict. c. 104, s. 2. Wheresoever or as soon as banns of matrimony and the solemnization of marriages, churchings, and baptisms according to the laws and canons in force in this realm are authorized to be published and performed in any consecrated church or chapel to which a district shall belong, such district not being at the time of the passing of this Act a separate and distinct parish for ecclesiastical purposes, and the incumbent of which is by

such authority entitled for his own benefit to the entire fees arising from the performance of such offices, without any reservation thereout, such district or place shall become and be a separate and distinct parish for ecclesiastical purposes, such as is contemplated in the fifteenth section of the firstrecited Act, and the church or chapel of such district shall be the church of such parish, and all and singular the provisions of the said firstly and secondly recited Acts (as amended by this Act) relative to new parishes, upon their becoming such, and to the matters and things consequent thereon, shall extend and apply to the said parish and church as fully and effectually as if the same had become a new parish under the provisions of the said last-mentioned Acts. Id. s. 14. The incumbent of every new parish created or hereafter to be created pursuant to the provisions of the said firstly and secondly recited Acts or of this Act shall, saving the rights of the bishop of the diocese, have sole and exclusive cure of souls and the exclusive right of performing all ecclesiastical offices within the limits of the same, for the resident inhabitants therein, who shall for all ecclesiastical purposes be parishioners thereof, and of no other parish, and such new parish shall, for the like purposes, have and possess all and the same rights and privileges, and be affected with such and the same liabilities, as are incident or belong to a distinct and separate parish, and to no other liabilities: provided always, that nothing herein contained shall be taken to affect the legal liabilities of any parish regulated by a local Act of Parliament, or the security for any loan of money legally borrowed under any Act of Parliament or otherwise. Id. s. 15. It shall be lawful for the commissioners, by the authority aforesaid, and subject to such consents as are herein-after mentioned, to divide any parish into two or more distinct and separate parishes for all ecclesiastical purposes whatsoever, and to fix and settle the respective proportion of tithes, glebe lands, and other endowments which shall arise, accrue, remain, and be within each of such respective divisions, according as by the like authority shall be deemed advisable; and the order made by Her Majesty in council, ratifying the scheme for such division, shall be good and valid in law for the purpose of effecting the same; and such scheme shall set forth the particular expediency of such division, and how far it may be necessary in consequence thereof to make any alteration in ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and how the changes consequent upon such division in respect of patronage, rights of pew holders, and other rights and privileges, glebe lands, tithes, rentcharges, and other ecclesiastical dues, oblations, offerings, rates, and payments, may be made with justice to all parties interested; and such scheme shall also contain such directions and regulations relative to the duties and character of the incumbents of the respective

divisions of such parish, and to the performance of the offices and services of the church in the respective churches thereof, and to the fees to be taken for the same respectively, and to any other matter or thing which may be necessary or expedient by reason or in consequence of such change: provided always, that such division shall be made in the following cases with the following consents only; that is to say, in the case of a benefice in the patronage of the crown, or in the chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster for the time being, or of the Duke of Cornwall, or of any archbishop or bishop, or of any lay or ecclesiastical corporation aggregate, or of a benefice in private patronage, with the consent of the patrons thereof respectively, with the consent of the bishop of the dioeese, such consents to be testified as aforesaid: and provided also, that no such provision shall take effect until after the first avoidance then next ensuing of the church of the parish to be so divided, unless with the consent in writing of the actual incumbent thereof. Id. s. 25.

Parish boundaries.] The boundaries of parishes depend entirely upon ancient and immemorial custom (3 Burn, Ecc. L. 62); and hence it is, that in cases where they are doubted or disputed, the question cannot be determined by the ecclesiastical court, for that court has no jurisdiction to try a prescription or custom, but it must be decided by the temporal courts. Duke of Rutland v. Bagshawe et al., 19 Law J. 234. And in order to preserve the evidence of such custom, by reputation, perambulations of the boundaries are very generally made in most of the parishes in England, in Rogation week in each year; and the parishioners may justify entering and going over a man's land for that purpose. Godday v. Michel, Cro. El. 441. By the General Inclosure Act, 41 G. 3, c. 109, s. 3, authority is given to the commissioner or commissioners acting under any inclosure Act, if the boundaries of the parish in which the land to be inclosed is situate, or of any adjoining parish, should appear not to be sufficiently ascertained and distinguished, to inquire into the same by the testimony of witnesses, and to ascertain, set out, determine, and fix the same; and the boundaries so ascertained and established, shall thenceforth be deemed the boundaries of such parish. See R. v. St. Mary in Bury St. Edmunds, 4 E. & A. 462. So, by stat. 2 & 3 Vict. c. 62, s. 34, the tithe commissioners are empowered, where the boundaries of a parish are in doubt or dispute before them, either to ascertain the old boundaries, or to set out and define a new boundary; "and the boundary line so ascertained or newly defined, shall thenceforward be the boundary line of the said parish." See R. v. Madeley, 19 Law J. 187, m. By the County Rate Act, 56 G. 3, c. 49, s. 2, the justices in quarter sessions are enabled to inquire into

and fix the boundaries of "counties, ridings, divisions, and parts of counties, and other places of distinct and separate jurisdiction; " but no authority is given to them to inquire into or fix the boundaries of parishes.

Parish property.] The goods of the parish church, we have seen (ante, p. 12), vest in the churchwardens and their successors in office.

But the property in all goods, furniture, provisions, clothes, linen, and wearing apparel, tools, utensils, materials, and things whatsoever, had, bought, procured or provided for the use of any parish, township, hamlet, or place, are vested in the overseers of such parish, &c., for the time being and their successors in office; who are empowered to bring any action, or prefer any bill of indictment, against any person who shall steal, take, buy, or receive the same. 55 G. 3, c. 137, s. 1. So goods provided by parish officers for the use of the poor, may, in any indictment, or in any information or complaint for a summons, conviction or order, be described as the goods of the churchwardens and overseers of the poor of the parish. 7 G. 4, c. 6, s. 16. 11 & 12 Vict. c. 43, s. 4. And all materials, and tools provided for the repair of highways, at the expense of parishes or other districts in which such highways may be situate, may in any such indictment, information, or complaint be described as the property of the surveyor or surveyors of such highways. 7 G. 4, c. 64, s. 16. 11 & 12 Vict. c. 43, s. 4.

So all workhouses or lands purchased by churchwardens and overseers of the poor, by authority of stat. 59 G. 3, c. 12, shall be conveyed to them and their successors, in trust for the parish; and they shall take and hold the same as a body corporate. 59 G. 3, c. 12, s. 17.

Sale of parish property.] By stat. 59 G. 3, c. 12, s. 9; 22 G. 3, c. 83, s. 43, and 1 & 2 G. 4, c. 56, workhouses and lands, &c., may be sold by the overseers, &c., and the feesimple therein conveyed to the purchaser. And by stat. 5 & 6 W. 4, c. 69, s. 3, the guardians of any parish or union, and the overseers of any parish not under the management of a board of guardians, are empowered to sell, exchange, let, or otherwise to dispose of workhouses, tenements, buildings, lands, effects, or other property belonging to any such parish or union, and to convey, assign, or transfer the same accordingly to the purchasers or parties exchanging, as they shall direct; and, in case of a sale, to apply the produce in manner therein mentioned; provided that no such sale or exchange, or letting, shall take place, except with the consent of a majority of the rate-payers of such parish, and of the owners of property therein, entitled to vote under stat. 4 & 5 W. 4, c. 76, assem

bled at a meeting to be duly convened and held for the purpose. See also stat. 5 & 6 Vict. c. 18.

The following are the necessary forms:

Notice of Meeting to consent to the Sale of Work

Notice is hereby given, that a meeting of the owners of property in this parish, legally entitled to vote, in person, or by proxy, and of the rate-payers therein, will be held at in this parish, on - the day of

at

in the forenoon, for the purpose of giving the consent of such meeting to the guardians of the union selling the following premises, that is to say,, under the provisions of an Act passed in the sixth year of the reign of His late Majesty King William the Fourth, intituled "An Act to facilitate the Conveyance of Workhouses and other Property of Parishes and of Incorporations or Unions of Parishes in England and Wales," in such manner, and subject to such rules, orders, and regulations, touching such sale, and the conveyance of such property, and the application of the produce arising therefrom, for the permanent advantage of this parish, as the poor law board shall in that behalf direct.

Request to the Guardians to apply to the Poor Law Board

to consent to Sale.

We, the undersigned majority of the parish officers, and we, the undersigned inhabitants of the parish of in the

union, in the count- of

request you, the

* The meeting cannot be legally held earlier than the Thursday after the Sunday on or before which the notice is given,-as three clear days must intervene between the Sunday on or before which the notice is given and the day of meeting.