The legal position of the clergy

Philip Vernon Smith

Sujets

• Canon law
• Wales
• England

Informations

• Publié par: les_archives_du_savoir
• Nombre de lectures: 7
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 10 Mo

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OOKS'FQR-fHE-CLERGY
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BR 45 .H362 v. 12
Smith, Philip Vernon, 1845
1929.
The oflegal position the
clergy
Hfdl9*n,J£>anObook0 fot t&e Clergp
EDITED BY
ARTHUR W. ROBINSON, B.D.
VICAR OF ALLHALLOWS BARKING
BY THE TOWER
THE LEGAL POSITION OF
THE CLERGYTHE LEGAL POSITION OF
THE CLERGY
BY
P. V. SMITH, LL.D.
CHANCELLOR OF THE DIOCESE OP MANCHESTER
AUTHOR OF "THE LAW OF CHURCHWARDENS AND SIDESMEN
IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY," ETC.
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON39
AND BOMBAYNEW YORK
1905
All rights reservedPTIEFACE
following pages an endeavour has beenIn the
legalmade to give a succinct sketch of the
Church ofposition of the parish clergy of the
spiritualities andEngland in respect both of
temporalities. The book, being intendedof
not touch upon the subjectfor their use, does
of ordination by which they acquired the status
of deacons or priests. Nor does it deal with the
except soepiscopate or the non-parochial clergy,
with thefar as these subjects are connected
parochial system.
Like all otherhuman arrangements, ourEnglish
Church law is, of course, far from being ideally
It may be safely affirmed hasperfect. that there
never been either a Church or a State in which the
law has actually been what it ideally ought to have
been. It is important to recognise the difference
between the two positions ; for there has some-
times been a disposition on the part of individuals
to confuse them, treat what considerand to they
to be the ideal law, as if it were the actual law,
and as if, as such, it demanded their loyal obedi-
ence. Such an attitude, whether in ecclesiasticalvi Preface
or civil matters, is anarchical in its tendency ; for
insteadit sets up private judgment of the con-
stituted authority as the criterion of what ought
It can only beor ought not to be done. justified
where the actual law is absolutely inconsistent
principleswith the fundamental of morality or
The ofof Christian truth. object the present
treatise is to state succinctly what the law is,—not
and no opinion iswhat it ought to be ; expressed
offered as points in whichor suggestion to amend-
ment would be proper or expedient.
Within the limited compass of the book it is
obviously impossible to enter into details ; and
the reader who desires information as to these
will find them in the authorities to which refer-
ence is made. It must also be borne in mind
that the general law on the subject of buildings,
property, and pecuniary rights is, in various
places, modified by special local enactments or
customs. These can only be ascertained on the
spot, or by consulting the Acts of Parliament
in which they are embodied or recorded.
One other word of caution is desirable. In
explaining the legal position parochialof the
clergy, it is, of course, necessary to indicate the
exact limits of their rights. If they venture
beyond these limits, they are manifestly in the
wrong. But no community, either ecclesiastical
or civil, could maintain its well-being, or even
its coherence, if every individual were on all