Ecclesiastical Court might proceed to punish the Offender who offered violence to a Priest the which de jure it might do by proceeding Ex Officio pro salute animae Dammages on an Action of Battery in the case reserved to the Common Law To conclude The Protestation which Bellamera the Canonist in the Proem to his Lecture on the Clementine Constitutions makes shall as to this Repertorium Canonicum Jurisve Anglico-Ecclesiastici Compendium be mine Id submittens correctioni determinationi tam Canonum Ecclesiasticorum quam Statutorum Jurumque Publice Forensium Secularium cujuslibet melius sentientis Protestans quod si in praesenti Opusculo de lapsu chalami aut inadvertentia vel forte ex ignorantia aliqua jam Scripsero id praeter intentionem scribere me contigerit Si etiam aliqua Scripsero quae errorem saperent aut male sonarent illa ex nunc Revoco volo haberi pro non Scriptis Determinationibusque Ecclesiae Anglicanae dicti Juris Forensis Oraculis semper in omnibus volo stare Et hanc Protestationem volo pro Repetita haberi in quolibet Dictorum meorum etiam condicendorum ut si reprobantur dicta Actor non propter hoc reprobetur The several CHAPTERS of the Ensuing Abridgment CHAP. PAGE 1. OF His Majesties Supremacy 1 2. Of Archbishops 12 3. Of Bishops and Ordinaries 22 4. Of Guardians of the Spiritualties 39 5. Of Congé d'Eslire Election and Confirmation 43 6. Of Consecration 46 7. Of Deans and Chapters 51 8. Of Archdeacons 60 9. Of Procurations Synodals and Pentecostals 67 10. Of Diocesan Chancellors Commissaries Officials as also of Consistories 80 11. Of Courts Ecclesiastical and their Jurisdiction 94 12. Of Churches Chappels and Church-yards 134 13. Of Churchwardens Questmen and Sidemen 159 14. Of Consolidation and Vnion of Churches 169 15. Of Dilapidations 173 16. Of Patrons and De jure Patronatus 178 17. Of Parsons and Parsonages 185 18. Of Vicars Vicarages and Benefices 196 19. Of Advowsons 220 20. Of Appropriations 220 21. Of Commendams 230 22. Of Lapse 242 23. Of Collation Presentation and Nomination 251 24. Of Examination Admission Institution and Induction 269 25. Of Avoidance and Next Avoidance also of Cession 282 26. Of Pluralities 291 27. Of Deprivation 305 28. Of Incumbents also of Residence and Non-Residence 316 29. Of Abbots and Abbies also of Chauntreys and of the Court of Augmentations 326 30. Of Annates or First-Fruits also of Aumone or Frank-Almoin 335 31. Of Altarage 339 32. Of Tithes with the Incidents thereof 344 33. Of Banns 465 34. Of Adultery 469 35. Of Bastards and Bastardy 477 36. Of Divorce also of Alimony 492 37. Of Defamation 514 38. Of Sacriledge 528 39. Of Simony 535 40. Of Blasphemy Heresie and Hereticks 559 41. Of Councils Synods and Convocations 584 42. Of Excommunication 623 43. Of the Statutes Articuli Cleri and Circumspecte agatis 639 44. Of several Writs at Common Law pertinent to this Subject 643 AN ABRIDGEMENT OF Ecclesiastical LAWS CHAP. I. Of the Kings Supremacy 1. A Description thereof or what it is 2. The Establishment thereof by Statute Laws 3. The Oath of the Kings Supremacy when first Enacted the Cause thereof 4. The King in his own Dominions Dei Vicarius 5. The King Supream Governour under God of the Church in England c. 6. Impugners of the Kings Supremacy how censured by the Canon 7. In matters Ecclesiastical the King hath here the same power de jure which the Pope formerly exercised by Usurpation 8. The Kings of this Realm anciently made their own Canons and Ecclesiastical Constitutions without the Popes Authority 9. The King is Lex viva in some cases may dispence with some Canons 10. Provisoes of some Statutes in right of the Kings Supremacy 11. No Canons or Ecclesiastical Constitutions to be made or to be of force to oblige the Subject without the Royal Assent 12. The Regal Supremacy asserted by the Ecclesiastical Injunctions of King Ed. 6. 13. The same further asserted by other Eccles Powers and Authorities 14. The Regal Supremacy asserted in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth 1. THis Ecclesiastical Abridgment begins with the Regal Supremacy a Point which cannot be touch'd with too much tenderness such of the Church of Rome as question the validity thereof may be presumed not to have consulted that Learned Canonist of their own Jo. Quintinus Hoedeus where he says That Nemini dubium quin in Primitiva Ecclesia de rebus Personis Ecclesiasticis Principes jus dixerint The Emperours were all Secular Princes who by those Laws which they established touching Persons and Things Ecclesiastical proclaimed to all the world their Supremacy therein The Thirteen first Titles of the First Book of the Emperour Justinian's Code being the Constitutions of divers Emperours do treat and judge of Things and Persons meerly Ecclesiastical yea the Emperours Areadius and Honorius ejected a Bishop as well out of his Title of Ecclesiastical Dignity as out of his Episcopal See and commanded him to be Banished for disturbing the publick Peace l. quicunque C. de Episc Cleric By this word Supremacy is here understood that undoubted Right and ancient Jurisdiction over the State Ecclesiastical within these his Majesties Realms and Dominions with the abolishing of all Forein and Usurped Power repugnant to the same which the Laws and Statutes have restored to the Crown of this Kingdom and now invested in the King as the Highest Power under God within these his Majesties Realms and Dominions unto whom all persons within the same in all Causes and Matters as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal do owe their Loyalty and Obedience before and above all other Powers and Potentates on Earth whatever 2. By the Injunctions of King Ed. 6. to the Clergy all persons Ecclesiastical having cure of Souls were Four times a year to preach in vindication of the Kings Supremacy and in opposition to the usurped power of the Bishop of Rome in this Kingdom There were divers Laws made in the time of King H. 8. for the extinguishment of all Forein Power and for the restoring unto the Crown of this Realm the Ancient Rights and Jurisdictions of the same which is the substance of the Preamble of the Statute of 1 Eliz. cap. 1. The express Letter and meaning whereof is as Sir Edward Coke observes to restore and unite to the Crown the Ancient Jurisdiction Spiritual or Ecclesiastical where as he says the First clause of the Body of the Act being to let in the Restitution of the Ancient Right and Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical within the Realm doth abolish all Forein Jurisdiction out of the Realm And then followeth the principal Clause of Restitution and Uniting of the ancient Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical being the main purpose of the Act in these words viz. Be it Enacted That such Jurisdiction Spiritual or Ecclesiastical as by any Spiritual Power or Authority hath heretofore been or lawfully may be exercised or used
the Convocations of the same Clergy are and always have been and ought to be assembled only by the Kings Writ The Convocation is under the power and Authority of the King 21 E. 3. 45. b. 12. After the Reign of King H. 8. this Supremacy in the Crown was signally exercised by King Ed. 6. styling himself Supream Head under Christ of the Church of England and Ireland in the Preface of his Injunctions given as well to all the Clergy as Laity of this Realm the Close whereof is as followeth viz. All which singular Injunctions the Kings Majesty ministreth unto his Clergy and their Successors and to all his loving Subjects straitly charging and commanding them to observe and keep the same upon pain of Deprivation Sequestration of Fruits or Benefices Suspension Excommunication and such other Coercion as to Ordinaries or others having Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction whom his Majesty hath appointed for the due execution of the same shall be seen convenient Charging and commanding them to see these Injunctions observed and kept of all persons being under their Jurisdiction as they will answer to his Majesty for the contrary And his Majesties pleasure is That every Justice of Peace being required shall assist the Ordinaries and every of them for the due execution of the said Injunctions 14. The Three first Articles to be enquired of at the Visitations within the Province of Canterbury in the second year of the Reign of the said King Edward the Sixth were as followeth viz. 1. Whether Parsons Vicars and Curates and every of them have purely and sincerely without colour or dissimulation four times in the year at the least preached against the Usurped power pretended Authority and Jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome 2. Whether they have preached and declared likewise four times in the year at least that the Kings Majesties power authority and preheminence within his Realms and Dominions is the highest power under God 3. Whether any person hath by writing cyphring preaching or teaching deed or act obstinately holden and stand with to extol set-forth maintain or defend the authority jurisdiction or power of the Bishop of Rome or of his See heretofore claimed and usurped or by any pretence obstinately or maliciously invented any thing for the extolling of the same or any part thereof Likewise by the Articles of Religion agreed on by the Convocation held in London and published An. 1553. by the Authority of King Ed. 6. it is declared That the King of England is Supream Head in Earth next under Christ of the Church of England c. and that the Bishop of Rome hath no Jurisdiction in this Realm The like you have in the Articles of Religion agreed on by the Archbishops and Bishops of both Provinces and the whole Clergy in the Convocation held in London An. 1562. and published by the Authority of Queen Elizabeth That the Queens Majesty hath the chief Power in this Realm of England and other her Dominions unto whom the chief Government of all Estates of this Realm whether they be Ecclesiastical or Civil in all Causes doth appertain and is not nor ought to be subject to any Forreign Jurisdiction Which Articles being the Articles of the Church of England were afterwards ratified and confirmed by his Majesty King CHARLES I. of ever Blessed Memory by his Royal Declaration thereunto prefixed in which Declaration you have as followeth viz. That we are Supream Governour of the Church of England and that if any difference rise about the External Policy concerning the Injunctions Canons or other Constitutions whatsoever thereto belonging the Clergy in their Convocation is to order and settle them having first obtained leave under our Broad Seal so to do and We approving their said Ordinances and Constitutions provided that none bâ— made contrary to the Laws and Customes of the Land Likewise in the first of the aforesaid Injunctions of King Ed. 6. as also in the first of the Injunctions given by Q. Elizabeth concerning both the Clergy and Laity of this Realm published Ann. 1559. being the first year of her Reign it is enjoyned That all Deans Archdeacons Parsons Vicars and all other Ecclesiastical persons shall faithfully keep and observe c. all and singular Laws and Statutes made for the restoring to the Crown the ancient Jurisdiction over the State Ecclesiastical and abolishing of all Forreign power repugnant to the same c. By the Statute of 25 H. 8. c. 19. Appeals to Rome are prohibited and it is Ordained that in default of Justice in any of the Courts of the Archbishops of this Realm it shall be lawful to appeal to the King in his Court of Chancery and thereupon a Commission shall be granted c. And by a Proviso towards the end of that Statute an Appeal is given to the King in Chancery upon Sentences in places exempt in the same manner as was before used to the See of Rome And as by the said Statute there may be an Appeal to the King in Chancery when the Suit is in the Archbishops Court or some Peculiar exempt so in some Cases the Appeal may be to the King generally as he is Supream Head of all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction within the Realm for by the Statutes made in the time of King Hen. 8. the Crown was only remitted and restored to its Ancient Jurisdiction which had been usurped by the Bishop of Rome 33 Ed. 3. Fitz. Aid del Roy 103. Reges sacro oleo uncti Spiritualis Jurisdictionis sunt capaces Rex est Mixta persona cum Sacerdote Et causa Spiritualis Committi potest Principi Laico Cassan in Catal. glo mund p. 5. Consid 24. The King of England c. is Persona Sacra mixta cum Sacerdote and at his Coronation by a solemn Consecration and Unction becomes a Spiritual person Sacred and Ecclesiastical and then hath tam Vestem Dalmaticam as an emblem of his Royal Priesthood quam Coronam Regni in respect of his Regal power in Temporals and is Supream Governour in all Causes and over all Persons as well Ecclesiastical as Civil The King is Supream Ordinary by the Ancient Common Law of England before the Statute of 24 H. 8. cap. 12. for a Resignation might be made to him he might make a Grant of a Church to a man to hold to his own proper use he might not only exempt any Ecclesiastical person out of the Jurisdiction of the Ordinary but also give him Episcopal Jurisdiction he might Present to Free Chappels in default of the Dean by Lapse and that as Ordinary and in respect of his Supream Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction he might dispense with one not lawfully born to be a Priest albeit the Ecclesiastical Laws allowed within this Realm do prohibite it but the reason is for that it is not Malum in se but Malum prohibitum In a word All that the Pope was wont to do in such cases within this Realm as
And the Judgment of Parliament expressed in the Preamble of that Statute of Faculties is very remarkable to this purpose where it is recited that the Bishop of Rome had deceived and abused the Subjects of the Crown of England pretendig and perswading them That he had full power to Dispence with all human Laws Vses and Customes of all Realms in all Causes which be called Spiritual which matter hath been usurped and practised by him and his Predecessors for many years to the great derogation of the Imperial Crown of England For whereas the said Realm of England recognizing no Superiour under God but the King hath been and yet is free from subjection to any mans Laws but only to such as have been devised made and Ordained within this Realm for the weal of the same or to such other as by sufferance of the King and his Progenitors the People of this Realm have taken at their free liberty and by their own consent to be used among them and have bound themselves by long use and custome to the observance of the same not as to the observance of the Laws of any Foreign Prince Potentate or Prelate but as to the accustomed and ancient Laws of this Realm originally established as Laws of the same by the said sufferance consent and custome and not otherwise it standeth with natural equity and good reason that all such human Laws made within this Realm or induced into this Realm by the said Sufferance Consent and Custome should be Dispenced with abrogated amplified or diminished by the King and his Parliament or by such persons as the King and Parliament should authorize c. Vid. 21 H. 7. 4. a. where it is said That certain Priests were deprived of their Benefices by Act of Parliament in the time of R. 2. whereby it hath been concluded that the King of England and not the Pope before the making of the said Statute of Faculties might de jure Dispence with the Ecclesiastical Law in that and other cases For although many of our Ecclesiastical Laws were first devised in the Court of Rome yet they being established and confirmed in this Realm by acceptance and usage are now become English Laws and shall no more be reputed Roman Canons or Constitutions As Rebuffus speaking De Regula Cancellariae Romanae de verisimili notitia Haec Regula says he ubique in Regno Franciae est recepta est Lex Regni effecta observatur tanquam Lex Regni non tanquam Papae Regula Papa eam revocare non potest The Kings of England from time to time in every Age before the time of H. 8. have used to grant Dispensations in Causes Ecclesiastical For whereas the Law of the Church is That every Spiritual person is Visitable by the Ordinary King William the Conqueror by his Charter Dispenced with the exempted the Abbey of Battell from the Visitation and Jurisdiction of the Ordinary in these express words Sitque dicta Ecclesia libera quieta in perpetuum ab omni subjectione Episcoporum quarumlibet personarum dominatione sicut Ecclesia Christi Cantuariensis c. whereby he Dispences with the Law of the Church in that Case Vid. libr. De vera differentia Regiae potestatis Ecclesiasticae Edit 1534. where that whole Charter is recited at large The like Charter was granted to the Abbey of Abingdon by King Kenulphus 1 H. 7. 23 25. and Cawdry's Case Co. par 5. fo 10. a. So likewise every Appropriation doth comprize in it a Dispensation to the Parson Imparsonee to have and retain the Benefice in perpetuity as appears in Grendon's Case Plow Com. 503. In which Act the King by the Common Law shall be always Actor not only as Supream Patron but also as Supream Ordinary as is also observed in Grendon's Case For the King alone without the Pope may make Appropriations 7 E. 3. Fitz. Quare Impedit 19. And in the Case of Malum prohibitum and Malum in se in 11 H. 7. 12. a. it is held That the King may dispence with a Priest to hold Two Benefices and with a Bastard that he may be a Priest notwithstanding the Ecclesiastical Laws which are to the contrary And as he may dispence with those Laws so he may pardon all Offences contrary to these Laws and his Pardon is a barr to all Suits pro salute Animae or reformatione morum and all Suits ex Officio in the Ecclesiastical Court Hall's Case Coke 5. par fo 51. In all Faculties or Dispensations for the holding of Two Benefices granted at the Court of Rome there was always a particular Derogation or Non obstante the right of Patronage of Lay-Patrons and of the right of the King by name express where the Patronage belonged to him otherwise the Faculty was void For by the Canon Law the Lay-Patrons ought to be called to give their Consents in all Cases of that nature And if such a particular Non obstante were not added in the Faculty then there was inserted another Clause viz. Dummodo Patronorum expressus accedat Consensus also by another Clause Authority was always given to the Official or Archdeacon or other Ecclesiastical Minister to put him to whom the Faculty is granted into possession of the Benefice cum acciderit And because by the Canon Law the Patron 's consent was ever requisite in a Commenda for that reason in every Faculty or License granted by the Pope to make a Permutation Union or Appropriation of Churches these words were ever added viz. Vocatis quorum interest which chiefly intends the Patron And which Union and Approbation shall not according to the Common Law be made without the Patron 's assent Vid. 11 H. 7. 8. 6 H. 7. 13. 46 Ass p. 50. Ed. 3. 26. 40 Ed. 3. 26. Grendon's Case Plow Com. 498. a. A Faculty or Dispensation is of such force that if a Clerk be presented to a Benefice with Cure and be Admitted Instituted and Inducted into the same so that the Church is full of him if afterwards he be presented to another Benefice Incompatible or elected to a Bishoprick and before he is Instituted to the second Benefice or be created Bishop he obtain a Faculty or Dispensation to retain the first Benefice Perpetuae Commendae titulo that is for his life that Faculty or Dispensation shall be of such effect that the former Benefice shall not be void by acceptance of the Second or by promotion to the Bishoprick but he shall remain full and perfect Incumbent of the first Benefice during his life In the time of H. 6. when Henry Beaufort Great Uncle to the King being Bishop of Winchester was made a Cardinal and after that purchased from the Pope a Bull Declaratory that notwithstanding he were made Cardinal yet his Bishoprick of Winchester should not be void but that he might retain the same as before yet it was held That the See of Winchester was void by assuming the Cardinalship which
and used in part by several Nations he compiled them into Volumes and called them Jus Canonicum and Ordained that they should be read and expounded in publick Schools and Universities as the Imperial Law was read and expounded and commanded that they should be observed and obeyed by all Christians on pain of Excommunication and often endeavoured to put them in execution by Coercive power and assumed to himself the power of interpreting abrogating and dispensing with those Laws in all the Realms of Christendom at his pleasure so that the Canonists ascribe to him this prerogative Papa in omnibus jure positivis in quibusdam ad jus divinum pertinentibus dispensare potest quia dicitur omnia Jura habere in Scrinio pectoris sui quantum ad interpretationem dispensationem Lib. 6. de Const cap. licet About the time of An. 25. Ed. 1. Simon a Monk of Walden began to read the Canon Law in the University of Cambridge vid. Stow and Walsingham in that year Also the Manusc libr. 6. Decretal in New-Colledge Library at Oxford hath this Inscription in the Front Anno Domini 1298. which was in the year 26 Ed. 1. 19. Novembr in Ecclesia Fratrum Praedicator Oxon. fuit facta publicatio lib. 6. Decretal whereby it appears when it was that the Canon Law was introduced into England But the Jurisdiction which the Pope by colour thereof claimed in England was a meer Usurpation to which the Kings of England from time to time made opposition even to the time of King H. 8. And therefore the Ecclesiastical Law which Ordained That when a man is created a Bishop all his Inferiour Benefices shall be void is often said in the Bishop of St. David's Case in 11 H. 4. to be the Ancient Law of England And 29 Ed. 3. 44. a. in the Case of the Prebend of Oxgate it is said That though the Constitution which ousts Pluralities began in the Court of Rome yet a Church was adjudged void in the Kings Bench for that cause or reason whereby it appears That after the said Constitution was received and allowed in England it became the Law of England Yet all the Ecclesiastical Laws of England were not derived from the Court of Rome for long before the Canon Law was authorized and published in England which was before the Norman Conquest the Ancient Kings of England viz. Edgaâ— Aethelstan Alfred Edward the Confessor and others have with the Advice of their Clergy within the Realm made divers Ordinances for the government of the Church of England and after the Conquest divers Provincial Synods have been held and many Constitutions have been made in both Realms of England and Ireland All which are part of our Ecclesiastical Laws at this day Vid. Le Charter de William le Conqueror Dat. An. Dom. 1066. irrot 2 R. 2. among the Charters in Archiv Turris Lond. pro Decano Capitulo Lincoln Willielmus Dei gratia Rex Anglorum c. Sciatis c. Quod Episcopales Leges quae non bene nec secundum Sanctorum Canonum praecepta usque ad mea tempora in Regno Angliae fuerunt Communi Concilio Episcoporum meorum caeterorum Episcoporum omnium Principum Regni mei emendandas judicavi c. See also Girald Cambrens lib. 2. cap. 34. in the time of King H. 2. a Synod of the Clergy of Ireland was held at the Castle wherein it was Ordained Quod omnia divina juxta quod Anglicana observat Ecclesia in omnibus partibus Hyberniae amodo tractentur Dignum enim justissimum est ut sicut Dominum Regem ex Anglia divinitus sortita est Hybernia sic etiam exinde vivendi formam accipiant meliorem But the distinction of Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Causes from Civil and Temporal Causes in point of Jurisdiction was not known or heard of in the Christian World for the space of 300 years after Christ For the causes of Testaments of Matrimony of Bastardy and Adultery and the rest which are called Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Causes were meerly Civil and determined by the Rules of the Civil Law and subject only to the Jurisdiction of the Civil Magistrate But after the Emperours had received the Christian Faith out of a zeal they had to honour the learned and godly Bishops of that time they singled out certain special Causes wherein they granted Jurisdiction unto the Bishops viz. in Causes of Tithes because they were paid to men of the Church in Causes of Matrimony because Marriages were for the most part solemnized in the Church in Causes Testamentary because Testaments were many times made in extremis when Church-men were present giving Spiritual comfort to the Testator and therefore were thought the fittest persons to take the Probats of such Testaments Howbeit these Bishops did not then proceed in these Causes according to the Canons and Decrees of the Church for the Canon Law was not then known but according to the Rules of the Imperial Law as the Civil Magistrate did proceed in other Causes so that the Primitive Jurisdiction in all these Causes was in the Supream Civil Magistate and though it be now derived from him yet it still remaineth in him as in the Fountain CHAP. XII Of Churches Chappels and Church-yards 1. Ecclesia what that word imports the several kinds thereof 2. Possessions of the Church protected by the Statute-Laws from Alienation the care of the Emperour Justinian in that point 3. To whom the Soyl and Freehold of the Church and Church-yard belong to whom the use of the Body of the Church to whom the disposal of the Pewes or Seats and charges of Repairs 4. The Common Law touching the Reparation of Churches and the disposal of the Seats therein 5. The same Law touching Isles Pictures Coats of Arms and Burials in Churches also of Assaults in Churches and Church-yard 6. The penalty of quarreling chiding brawling striking or drawing a Weapon in the Church or Church-yard 7. Where Prescription to a Seat in a Church is alledged the Common Law claims the cognizance thereof 8. The Immunities anciently of Church-Sanctuary as also of Abjuration now abrogated and taken away by Statute 9. The defacing of Tombs Sepulchres or Monuments in Churches punishable at the Common Law also of Right to Pewes and Seats in the Church 10. The Cognizance of Church-Reparations belongs to the Ecclesiastical Court 11. A Prohibition upon a surmize of a custome or usage for Contribution to repair a Church 12. Church-wardens are a Corporation for the Benefit not for the Prejudice of the Church 13. Inheritance cannot be charged with a Tax for Repairs of the Church nor may a perpetual charge be imposed upon Land for the same 14. When the use of Church-Books for Christnings first began 15. Chappel the several kinds thereof The Canonists Conceits touching the derivation of that word 16. Where two Parochial Churches are united the charge of Reparations shall be several as before 17. The Emperour Justinian's
Plurality of Benefices is there forbidden as a vice smelling of Avarice and Ambition dangerous and prejudicial to the People whose Souls are neglected by such Pastours One of the chiefest Reasons why the Law forbids Pluralities is because it enjoyns Residence both which are inconsistent in the same Incumbent Aquinas says That the having of Two Benefices is not intrinsecally evil or Malum in se nor that it is altogether indifferent but carries in it a species of Evil yet so as that upon due Circumstances it may be capable of a qualified lawfulness Aquin. quod-lib 9. art 15. To the many Inconveniencies which the Law doth specifically observe to follow upon Pluralities this may not impertinently be added That thereby the pious Intention of Founders is frustrated The Council of Trent hath these words of it Haec Pluralitas est perversio totius Ordinis Ecclesiastici Concil Trid. Sess 24. cap. 17. Pope Alexander the Third said That Pluralitas Beneficiorum certum continet animarum periculum c. Quia in tantum 7. de Praebend The Canonists speaking of this Subject in reference to Dispensations to salve the matter if possible and bring both ends together have found out a very prety distinction of Beneficia Incompatabilia primi generis and Incompatabilia secundi generis But we are not concern'd in that Distinction In that Council of Trent it was said by the Bishop of Bitonto That Plurality of Benefices unknown to the First Ages was not brought in by the Court of Rome but by Bishops and Princes before the Popes took upon them to regulate the matter of Benefices throughout all Christendom Yet the Author of the History of the said Council of Trent lib. 2. says That Clement the Seventh Commended to this Nephew Hippolitus Cardinal de Medicis in the year 1534. all the Benefices of the world Secular and Regular Dignities and Parsonages Simple and with Cure being vacant for Six months to begin from the first day of his possession with power to convert all the Profits thereof to his own use The waies whereby an Ecclesiastical Benefice may be acquired are not many but the Causes for which an Ecclesiastical person may thereof be Deprived are very many generally they may all be reduced to these Three Heads 1 By the Disposition of the Law 2 By the Sentence of the Judge or 3 By a free and voluntary Resignation which though it be not properly a Deprivation yet it is an amission of the Benefiee Deprivation by the disposition of the Law is either by reason of some Crime whereunto the penalty of Deprivation ipso facto is by the Law annexed or by reason of accepting another Benefice Incompatible The Pontifical Law adds Two more which do not concern us viz. Ingress into Religion and Matrimony The Crimes that incurr Deprivation are many but they must be proved for the Beneficed party is not bound sponte sua to quit his Benefice ante Sententiam Judicis Less de Benefic cap. 29. Dub. 8. And when a man is not Jure Privatus but only Privandus in that case his Benefice cannot be bestowed on another unless a Privative Sentence be first pronounced by the Judge If a person Beneficed be long absent and Non-resident from his Benefice the Benefice is not by reason of such long Absence void ipso Jure but the Law in that case also requires a Judicial Sentence of Deprivation and that only post trinae Citationis in eorum Ecclesiis publice Edictum Gloss in c. Quoniam ut lite non contestata c. One of the chiefest Reasons in Law why Pluralities are prohibited is for the prevention of Non-residence as appears by the Third Canon of the Lateran Council which Canon after it prohibits the having of divers Ecclesiastical Dignities or more Parochial Churches than one it makes provision against Non-Residence in these words viz. Cum igitur vel Ecclesia vel Ecclesiasticum Ministerium committi debuerit talis ad hoc persona quaeratur quae Residere in loco curam ejus per seipsum valeat exercere Quod si aliter Actum fuerit qui receperit quod contra Sacros Canones acceperit amittat qui dederit largiendi potestate privetur Likewise by the Thirteenth Canon of that great Council of One hundred and eighty Bishops Assembled at Rome by Pope Alexander the Third in the year of our Lord 1180. it was Ordained That such persons should be preferr'd to Ecclesiastical Dignities as shall be actually resident with their people and undertake the Cure of their Souls by doing the work of their Ministry in their own persons otherwise to deprive them of the Office and Benefice conferred on them and they who do conferr them without these Conditions let them lose the right of conferring Offices and Benefices By this appears how strict and exact the Law is against Non-Residence in the Romish Church One of the most famous Abbots and Monasteries in Britain anciently seems to be that of Bangor in Flintshire whereof Ranulphus Cestrensis says that Tradunt nonnulli Pelagium fuisse Abbatem apud Famosum illud Monasterium de Bangor This Monastery which Ranulphus speaks of is by our Beda called Bamornabyrig lingua Anglorum in quo says he tantus fertur fuisse numerus Monachorum ut cum in Septem portiones esset cum Praepositis sibi Rectoribus Monasterium divisum nulla harum portio minus quam Trecentos homines haberet qui omnes de labore manuum suarum vivere solebant But concerning Abbots having nothing to do with them nor they with us it being also well known what once they were in this Kingdom and what now they are where the Pope doth exercise his Jurisdiction it may here suffice only to observe That the word Abbates hath anciently had a wide and far different signification from what we now commonly understand thereby for in and among the Laws of King Aethelstan we find the words quatuor Abbates to be taken according to the Glossographist thereon for quatuor hebdomadas That Law directs how and in what manner the Hundred Court shall be held the words are Hoc est judicium qualiter HUNDREDUM teneri debeat In primis ut conveniant semper ad quatuor ABBATES faciat omnis homo Rectum alii which the Glossary calls Locum plane mendosum and by the quatuor Abbates will have quatuor hebdomadas to be understood which is the more probable by what appears in one of the Laws of King Edward Father of the said Aethelstan who began his Reign in An. 901. being the Son of King Alured the words of which Law are Volo ut omnis praepositus habeat GEMOTUM semper ad QUATUOR EBDOMODAS efficiat ut omnis homo rectum habeat omne placitum capiat terminum quando perveniat ad finem By the word Gemotum in that place is meant Conventus Publicus Concilium but chiefly Placitum as appears by the 107th Law
for the visitation of the Ecclesiastical State and Persons and for-Reformation Order and Correction of the same and of all manner of Errors Heresies Schisms Abuses Offences Contempts and Enormities shall for ever by Authority of this Parliament be united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm This Act by a former Clause thereof doth Repeal the Statute of 1 and 2 Ph. Ma. c. 8. whereby the Acts of 26 H. 8. c. 1. and 35 H. 8. c. 3. were repealed so that the Act of Repeal being repealed the said Acts of H. 8. were implicitely revived whereby it is declared and enacted That the King his Heirs and Successors should be taken and accepted the only Supream Head in Earth of the Church of England and should have and enjoy annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm as well the Title and style thereof as all Honours Dignities Prebeminencies Jurisdictions c. to the said dignity of Supream Head belonging c. By which Style Title and Dignity the King hath all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction whatever And by which Statute the Crown was but remitted and restored to its Ancient Jurisdiction which had been formerly usurped by the Bishop of Rome And this is that Supremacy which is here meant and intended 3. The said Statute of 1 Eliz. c. 1. doth not only repeal the said Stat. of 1 and 2 P. M. c. 8. but it is also a reviver of divers Acts asserting several branches of the Kings Supremacy and re-establishing the same it doth likewise not only abolish all Forreign Authority but also annex the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction to the Crown of this Realm with power to assign Commissioners for the exercise of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction And then further Enacts to this effect viz. That all Ecclesiastical persons of what degree soever and all and every Temporal Judge Justice Mayor or other Lay or Temporal Officer or Minister and every other person having Fees or wages from the Crown within this Realm or the Dominions thereof shall upon his Corporal Oath testifie and declare in his Conscience That the Kings Majesty is the only Supream Governour of this Realm and of all other his Majesties Dominions and Countries as well in all Spiritual or Ecclesiastical things or causes as Temporal And that no Forreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction power superiority preheminence or authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm And therefore doth utterly renounce and forsake all Forreign Jurisdictions powers superiorities and authorities and doth promise that from henceforth be shall bear Faith and true Allegiance to the Kings Majesty his Heirs and lawful Successors and to his power shall assist and defend all Jurisdictions priviledges preheminencies and authorities granted or belonging to the Kings Majesty his Heirs and Successors or united or annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm The practices of the Romanists in the 4th year of Queen Elizabeth and the danger thereby threatning both the Queen and State occasioned her to call a Parliament 12. Jan. An. 156 2 3 which passed an Act For assurance of the Queens Royal power over all Estates and Subjects within her Dominions By which Statute was enacted The Oath of Supremacy as also what persons were obliged to take it and who should have power to administer the same And this was both the original and the cause of that Oath By the said Statute of 1 El. c. 1. appears also what the penalty is for refusing to take the said Oath as also the penalty of maintaining a Forreign Authority as likewise what other persons than the fore-mentioned shall be obliged to take the said Oath which was afterwards again further ratified and established by the Statute of 5 Eliz. c. 1. 4. The King within his own Territories and Dominions is according to Bracton Dei Vicarius tam in Spiritualibus quam Temporalibus And in the Ecclesiastical Laws of Edward the Confessor the King is styled Vicarius summi Regis Reges regunt Ecclesiam Dei in immediate subordination to God Yea the Pope himself Eleutherius An. 169. styled King Lueius Dei Vicarius in Regno suo 5. The Supremacy which heretofore the Pope did usurp in this Kingdom was in the Crown originally to which it is now legally reverted The Kings Supremacy in and over all Persons and Causes Ecclesiastical within his own Dominions is essentially inherent in him so that all such Authority as the Pope here once usurped claiming as Supream Head did originally and legally belong to the Crown and is now re-united to it by several Statutes as aforesaid On this Supremacy of the King as Supream Head Sr. Edward Coke grounds the power of granting a Commission of Review after a Definitive Sentence in the Delegates for one Reason that he gives is because after a Definitive Sentence the Pope as Supream Head by the Canon Law used to grant a Commission Ad Revidendum And such Authority as the Pope had claiming as Supream Head doth of right belong to the Crown Quia sicut Fontes communicant aquas fluminibus cumulative non privitive sic Rex subditis suis Jurisdictionem communicat in Causis Ecclesiasticis vigore Statuti in hujusmodi Casu editi cumulative non privitive By the Second Canon of the Ecclesiastical Constitutions of the Church of England it is ordained That whoever shall affirm that the Kings Majesty hath not the same Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical that the godly Kings had among the Jews and Christian Emperors in the Primitive Church or impeach in any part his Regal Supremacy in the said Cases restored to the Crown and by the Laws of this Realm therein established shall be Excommunicated ipso facto and not be restored but only by the Archbishop after his repentance and publick revocation of those his wicked Errors 7. The King being next under God Supream Governour of the Church of England may Qua talis redress as he shall see cause in all matters of Spiritual and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction for the conservation of the Peace and Tranquillity of his Realms The Pope as appears by the Stat. of 25 H. 8. c. 21. claimed full power to dispense with all human Laws of all Realms in all Causes which he called Spiritual Now the King as Supream hath the same power in himself within his own Realms legally which the Pope claimed and exercised by Usurpation Eadem praesumitur mens Regis quae est Juris The Kings immediate personal ordinary inherent power which he executes or may execute Authoritate Regia suprema Ecclesiastica as King and Supream Governour of the Church of England is one of these Flowers qui faciunt Coronam Nor is the Kings immediate power restrained by such Statutes as authorize inferiour persons The Lord Chief Justice Hobart asserts That although the Stat. of 25 H. 8. 21. doth say That all Dispensations c. shall be granted in manner and
complaint thereof made to the Pope the Answer was That any man might be Cited to the Arches out of any Diocess in England Also That the Archbishop may hold his Consistory in any Diocess within his Jurisdiction and Province That the Archbishop hath concurrent Jurisdiction in the Diocess of every Bishop as well as the Archdeacon and That the Archbishop of Canterbury prescribes to hold Plea of all persons in England But as to his power of having a Consistory in the Diocess of every Bishop this was in this Case denied but only where he was the Popes Legate whereof there were Three sorts 1. Legates à Latere and these were Cardinals which were sent à Latere from the Pope 2. A Legate born and these were the Archbishops of Canterbury York and Mentz c. 3. A Legate given and these have Authority by special Commission from the Pope Likewise in the Case of Jones against Boyer C. B it was also said by Dr. Martyn That the Archbishop hath Ordinary Jurisdiction in all the Diocesses of his Province and that this is the cause that he may Visit 13. The Archbishop of Canterbury Anciently had Primacy as well over all Ireland as England from whom the Irish Bishops received their Consecration for Ireland had no other Archbishop until the year 1152. For which reason it was declared in the time of the Two first Norman Kings That Canterbury was the Metropolitan Church of England Scotland and Ireland and the Isles adjacent the Archbishop of Canterbury was therefore sometimes styled a Patriarch and Orbis Britannici Pontifex insomuch that Matters recorded in Ecclesiastical Affairs did run thus viz. Anno Pontificatus Nostri primo secundo c. He was also Legatus Natus that is he had a perpetual Legantine power annext to his Archbishoprick nigh a thousand years since And at General Councils he had the Precedency of all other Archbishops abroad and at home he had some special Marks of Royalty as to be the Patron of a Bishoprick as he was of Rochester to coyn Mony to make Knights and to have the Wardships of all those who held Lands of him Jure Hominii although they held in Capite other â—ands of the King as was formerly hinted He is said to be Inthroned when he is invested in the Archbishoprick And by the Stat. of 25 H 8. he hath power to grant Licenses and Dispensations in all Cases heretofore sued for in the Court of Rome not repugnant to the Law of God or the Kings Prerogative As also to allow a Clerk to hold a Benefice in Commendam or in Trust to allow a Clerk rightly qualified to hold Two Benefices with Cure of Souls to allow a Beneficed Clerk for some certain causes to be non-Resident for some time and to Dispense in several other Cases prohibited by the Letters of the Canon Law Likewise the Archbishop of Canterbury Consecrates other Bishops confirms the Election of Bishops within his Province calls Provincial Synods according to the Kings Writ to him ever directed is chief Moderator in the Synods and Convocations he Viâ—its the whole Province appoints a Guardian of the Spiritualties during the vacancy of any Bishoprick within his Province whereby all the Episcopal Ecclesiastical Rights of that Diocess for that time belong to him all Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions as Visitations Institutions c. He may retain and qualifie Eight Chaplains which is more by Two than any Duke is allowed by Statute to do and hath power to hold divers Courts of Judicature for the decision of Controversies pertaining to Ecclesiastical Cognizance CHAP. III. Of Bishops and Ordinaries 1. Bishop Why so called Not above One to be in one Diocess 2. Why called Ordinary and what the Pallium Episcopale is 3. Bishopricks originally Donative Kings of England the Founders thereof 4. The manner of Election of Bishops their Confirmation and Consecration 5. Their Seals of Office in what cases they may use their own Seals 6. What follows upon Election to make them Bishops compleat the grant of their Temporalties 7. The Conge d'eslire and what follows thereupon 8. Bishopricks were Donative till the time of King John 9. What the Interest and Authority is in his several capacities 10. Episcopal Authority derived from the Crown 11. The Vse and Office of Suffragan Bishops 12. Whether a Bishop may give Institution out of his own proper Diocess and under other Seal than his own Seal of Office 13. Several things incident to a Bishop qua talis 14. Ordinary what properly he is and why so called 15. In what cases the Ordinaries Jurisdiction is not meerly Local 16. The Ordinaries power de jure Patronatûs 17. Whether the Ordinary may cite a man out of his own Diocess Also his Right ad Synodalia 18. The Ordinaries power of Visitation 19. The Dignity and true Precedency of the Bishops in England 20. Temporal Jurisdiction anciently exercised by Bishops in this Realm the Statute of 17 Car. 1. against it Repealed and they Restored to it by the Stat. of 13 Car. 2. as formerly 21. The Act made in the Reign of Ed. 6. concerning the Election of Bishops the Endeavours thereby to take away Episcopal Jurisdiction the Nomination of all Bishops was Anciently Sole in the King 22. The Bishops of London are Deans of the Episcopal Colledge 23. A Case at Common Law touching a Lease made by one Bishop during the life of another of the same Diocess in Ireland 1. BISHOP Episcopus from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 supra and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intendere an Overseer or Superintendent so called from that watchfulness care charge and faithfulness which by his Place and Dignity he hath and oweth to the Church A word which all Antiquity hath appropriated to signifie the Chief in Superintendency over the whole Church within his Diocess wherein are divers inferiour Pastors This Oversight or Care the Hebrews call Pekudah Of this Office or Ecclesiastical Dignity there can be but one at a time in one and the same Diocess whence it is that Cornelius Bishop of Rome as Eusebius relates upbraided Novatius for his ignorance in that point when he could not but know there were no less than 46 Presbyters in that Church Oecumenius and St. Chrysostome affirming also as many at Philippi For in this restrained sense as the word Bishop is now taken it cannot be imagined that there should be more than one in one City or Diocess at the same time consonant whereunto the Synod of Nice prohibited Two or more Bishops to have their Seats at once in the same City This Novatius aforesaid was a Priest of Rome 254 years after Christ he abhorred Second Marriages and was condemned as an Heretick in a Synod at Rome the same year Every Bishop many Centuries after Christ was universal Incumbent of his Diocess received all the Profits which were but Offerings of Devotion out of which he paid the Salaries of such as Officiated under himâ—
17. is to that purpose 11. In former times many Bishops had their Suffragans who were also Consecrated as other Bishops were These in the absence of the Bishops upon Embassies or in multiplicity of business did supply their places in matter of Orders but not in Jurisdiction These were chiefly for the ease of the Bishops in the multiplicity of their Affairs ordained in the Primitive times called Chorepiscopi Suffragan or Subsidiary Bishops or Bishops Suffragans and were Titular Bishops Consecrated by the Archbishop of the Province and to execute such Power and Authority and receive such profits as were limited in their Commissions by the Bishops or Diocosans whose Suffragans they were What Towns or Places to be the Sees of Bishops Suffragans and how many to a Diocess and in what Diocesses appears by an Act of Parliament made in the Reign of King H. 8. Such Suffragan Bishops are made in case the Archbishop or some other Bishop desire the same In which case the Bishop presents Two able persons for any place allowed by the said Act of Parliament whereof his Majesty doth chuse one but at present there are no Suffragan Bishops in England They were no other than the Chorepiscopi of the Primitive Times Subsidiary Bishops ordained for easing the Diocesan of some part of his burthen as aforesaid by means whereof they were enabled to perform such Offices belonging to that Sacred Function not limited to time and place by the ancient Canons by which a Bishop was restrained in some certain Acts of Jurisdiction to his proper Diocess Of these there were twenty six in the Realm of England distinguished by the Names of such Principal Towns as were appointed for their Title and Denomination The Names and Number whereof together with the Jurisdiction and preheminences proportioned to them the Reader may peruse in the Act of Parliament made An. 26 H. 8. 12. According to the Temporal Laws of this Land if a Bishop grant Letters of Institution under any other Seal than his Seal of Office and albeit it be out of his Diocess yet it is good For in Cort's Case against the Bishop of St. Davids and others where the Plaintiff offered in evidence Letters of Institution which appeared to be sealed with the Seal of the Bishop of London because the Bishop of St. Davids had not his Seal of Office there and which Letters were made also out of the Diocess It was held That they were good enough albeit they were sealed with another Seal and made out of the Diocess for that the Seal is not material it being an Act made of the Institution And the writing and sealing is but a Testimonial thereof which may be under any Seal or in any place But of that point they would advise 13. A Bishop if he celebrate Divine Service in any Church of his Diocess may require the Offerings of that day He may sequester if the King present not and 12 H. 8. 8. by Pollard he must see the Cure served if the person fail at his own Costs He may commit Administration where Executors being called refuse to prove the Will He hath power of distribution and disposing of Seats and charges of Repairs of the Churches within his Diocess He may award his Jure Patronatus where a Church is Litigious between an Usurper and the other but if he will chuse the Clerk of either at his peril he ought at his peril to receive him that hath Right by the Statute He may License Physicians Chirurgions Schoolmasters and Midwives He may Collate by Lapse He may take competent time to examine the sufficiency and fitness of a Clerk He may give convenient time to persons interested to take notice of Avoidances He is discharged against the true Patron and quit of Disturbance to whom it cannot be imputed if he receive that Clerk that is in pursuance of a Verdict after Inquest in a Jure Patronatus He may have Six Chaplains and every Archbishop may have Eight Chaplains He may unite and consolidate small Parishes and assist the Civil Magistrate in execution of some Statutes concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs And by the Statute of 1 Eliz. cap. 2. any Bishop may at his pleasure joyn and associate himself to the Justices of Oyer and Terminer or to the Justices of Assize at the open and general Sessions to be holden at any place within his Diocess in Causes of the Church And the Statute made 17 Car. 1. c. 27. for the disinabling of persons in Holy Orders to exercise Temporal Jurisdiction or Authority is Repealed by the Statute of 13 Car. 2. cap. 2. whereby they are now enabled to exercise such Temporal Jurisdiction as formerly and is commonly styled the Ordinary of that Diocess where he doth exercise his Episcopal Authority and Jurisdiction In Parliament Bishops as Barons may be present and Vote at the Trial and Arraignment of a Peer only before Sentence of death or loss of Member be pronounced that they may have no hand in blood in any kind they have by Canon Law the Priviledge and Injunction to absent themselves and by Common Law to make Proxies to vote for them 14. ORDINARY according to the acceptation of the Common Law with us is usually taken for him that hath Ordinary Jurisdiction in Causes Ecclesiastical immediate to the King He is in Common understanding the Bishop of the Diocess who is the Supervisor and for the most part Visitor of all his Churches within his Diocess and hath Ordinary Jurisdiction in all the Causes aforesaid for the doing of Justice within his Diocess in jure proprio non per deputationem and therefore it is his care to see that the Church be provided of an able Curate Habet enim Curam Curarum and may execute the Laws of the Church by Ecclesiastical Censures and to him alone are made all Presentations to Churches vacant within his Diocess Ordinarius habet locum principaliter in Episcopo aliis Superioribus qui soli sunt Vniversales in suis Jurisdictionibus sed sunt sub eo alii Ordinarii hi videlicet quibus Competit Jurisdictio Ordinaria de jure privilegio vel consuetudine Lindw cap. Exterior tit de Constitutionib 15. The Jurisdiction of the Ordinary or Bishop as to the Examination of the Clerk or as to the Admission or Institution of him into a Benefice is not Local but it follows the person of the Ordinary or Bishop wheresoever he is And therefore if a Clerk be presented to the Bishop of Norwich to a Church which is void within the Diocess of Norwich who is then in London or if it be to a Bishop of Ireland who is then in England and in London the Ordinary may examine the Clerk or give him Admission or Institution in London And so it was adjudged 16. The Ordinary is not obliged upon a Vacancy to receive the Clerk of him that comes first for as he
next in precedency hath been a Count Palatine about six or seven hundred years and hath at this day the Earldom of Sadberg long since annexed to this Bishoprick by the King Note a President hath been shewed at Common Law That the Bishop of Durham imprisoned one for a lay-Lay-Cause and the Archbishop of York as his Sovereign cited him to appear before him to answer for that Imprisonment and the Archbishop was fined four thousand Marks Cro. par 1. The Bishop of Winchester was anciently reputed Earl of Southampton All the other Bishops take place according to the Seniority of their Consecration unless any Bishop happen to be made Lord Chancellor Treasurer Privy Seal or Secretary of State which anciently was very usual All the Bishops of England are Barons and Peers of the Realm have place in the Upper house of Parliament as also in the Upper house of Convocation The Bishopricks were erected into Baronies by William the Conqueror at his coming into England And as a special remark of Honour Three Kings viz. of England Scotland and South-Wales in the year 1200. did contribute their Royal shoulders for the conveyance of the deceased Corps of Hugh Bishop of Lincoln to his Grave And no wonder when Princes themselves and such as were of the Blood Royal were anciently Bishops in this Kingdom they have been not only of the best Nobility but divers of the Sons and Brothers of several English Kings since the Conquest and before have entred into Holy Orders and became Ecclesiasticks as at this day is practicable in the most of all other Monarchies throughout the whole Christian World Ethelwolph Son and Successor to Egbert first Sole King of England was in Holy Orders and Bishop of Winchester at his Fathers death Odo Brother to William the Conqueror was Bishop of Bayeux in Normandy Henry de Blois Brother to King Stephen was Bishop of Winchester Geofry Plantagenet Son to King Henry the Second was Bishop of Lincoln And Henry de Beauford Brother to King Henry the Fourth was Bishop also of Winchester 20. The Statute of 17 Car. 1. cap. 27. for disinabling persons in Holy Orders to exercise Temporal Jurisdiction or Authority being Repealed as aforesaid by the Statute of 13 Car. 2. cap. 2. they are thereby restored to the exercise of Temporal Jurisdiction as formerly which indeed is no more than what they ever Anciently exercised in this Kingdom For Ex Clero Rex semper sibi eligebat Primos à Consiliis Primos ad Officia Regni obeunda Primi igitur sedebant in omnibus Regni Comitiis Tribunalibus Episcopi in Regali quidem Palatio cum Regni Magnatibus in Comitatu una cum Comite in Turno cum Vice-comite in Hundredo cum Domino Hundredi sic ut in promovenda Justitia usquequaque gladii gladium adjuvaret nihil inconsulto Sacerdote vel Episcopo ageretur This Union of Persons Authority and Courts of Judicature Ecclesiastical and Civil as Mr. Selden proves continued above Four thousand years till Pope Nicholas the First about the Eighth Century to exclude the Emperour from medling in the Ecclesiastical Government began to exclude the Clergy from medling with the Civil And for the space of four or five hundred years during the Reign of the Saxon Kings in England the Ecclesiastical and Secular Magistrates sate joyntly together determining Ecclesiastical Affairs in the Morning and Secular or Civil Affairs in the Afternoon so that in those days as there was no clashing of Jurisdictions so no complaint touching Prohibitions but an unanimous harmony in a kind of Joynt-Jurisdiction in reference to all Ecclesiastical and Civil Affairs until William the Conqueror did put a distinction between Church and State in a more divided way than formerly had been practiced Also the excellent Laws made by King Ina King Athelstan King Edmund and St. Edward the Confessor from whom we have our Common Laws and our Priviledges mentioned in Magna Charta were all made by the perswasions and advice of Archbishops and Bishops named in our Histories 21. That which during the Reign of King Edw. 6. made the greatest alteration and threatned most danger to the State Ecclesiastical was the Act entituled An Act for Election and what Seals and Styles shall be used by Spiritual persons c. In which it was ordained That Bishops should be made by the Kings Letters Patents and not by the Election of the Deans and Chapters That all their Processes and Writings should be made in the Kings Name only with the Bishop's Teste added to it and sealed with no other Seal than the Kings or such as should be Authorized and Appointed by him In the compounding of which Act there was more danger as Dr. Heylin observes couched than at first appeared For by the last Branch thereof it was plain and evident says he that the intent of the Contrivers was by degrees to weaken the Authority of the Episcopal Order by forcing them from their strong hold of Divine Institution and making them no other than the Kings Ministers only or as it were his Ecclesiastical Sheriffs to execute his Will and disperse his Mandates And of this Act such use was made though possibly beyond the true intention of it that as the said Dr. Heylin observes the Bishops of those Times were not in a Capacity of conferring Orders but as they were thereunto impowred by special License The Tenour whereof if Sanders be to be believed was in these words following viz. The King to such a Bishop Greeting Whereas all and all manner of Jurisdiction as well Ecclesiastical as Civil flows from the King as from the Supream Head of all the Body c. We therefore give and grant to thee full power and License to continue during our good pleasure for holding Ordination within thy Diocess of N. and for promoting fit persons unto Holy Orders even to that of the Priesthood Which being looked on by Queen Mary not only as a dangerous diminution of the Episcopal Power but as an odious Innovation in the Church of Christ she caused this Act to be Repealed in the first year of her Reign leaving the Bishops to depend on their former claim and to act all things which belonged to their Jurisdiction in their own Names and under their own Seals as in former times In which estate they have continued without any Legal Interruption from that time to this But says the same Author in the First Branch there was somewhat more than what appeared at the first sight For though it seemed to aim at nothing but that the Bishops should depend wholly on the King for their preferment to those great and eminent places yet the true drift of the Design was to make Deans and Chapters useless for the time to come and thereby to prepare them for a Dissolution For had nothing else been intended in it but that the King should have the sole Nomination of all the Bishops in his Kingdoms it had
them offend in any of the Premisses the persons deputing them if they be Bishops shall upon Admonition of their Superiour discharge the persons exceeding the Number so limited as aforesaid But if they were deputed by Inferiour Ordinaries such Ordinaries shall be suspended from the execution of their Office until they have dismiss'd the supernumerary Apparitors by them so deputed and the parties themselves so deputed shall for ever be removed from the Office of Apparitors And in case being so dismiss'd and removed they do not desist from the execution of their said Offices they are by the first said Canon to be proceeded against and punished by Ecclesiastical Censures as persons contumacious to the Jurisdiction And finally if upon experience the number of the said Apparitors be too great in any one Diocess in the judgment of the Archbishop of Canterbury for the time being in that case he is by the said Canon impower'd to abridge them to such a number as to himself shall seem meet and expedient An Apparitor came to the Church of a Parson and said to him He is to pay Tenths to such a one at such a place four miles distant from the Church to whom the Parson did not pay them and thereupon the Bishop Certified That he refused to pay them according to the Statute of 26 H. 8. It was Resolved The Demand was not according to that Statute and the Summons to pay them not according to the Statute for the Demand ought to have been by one who hath authority to receive them which the Summoner had not And they held the Demand not good although the Bishop certified it was duly made And in the Case between the Queen and Blanch it was Resolved That the Certificate of the Bishop that the Incumbent refused to pay his Tenths is not Peremptory but Traversable and that the Demand of the Tenths must be at the house of the Incumbent and the Refusal there More 's Rep. 1225. In a Action upon the Case against the Defendant the Case was this A Summoner in the Ecclesiastical Court having a Citation against the Plaintiff Returned That he had Summoned the Plaintiff whereas in truth he never Summoned him for which the Plaintiff was Excommunicated to his great dammage It was adjudged that the Action did lie 13. By the Premisses it is manifest that the Canon is very strict and exact both in abridging the Number and redressing the Abuses incident to the Office of Apparitors which Canon in most Circumstances seems to run very parallel with that in the Provincial Constitutions Lindw Provin Constit de Censibus Procur cap. cum Apparitorum the light whereof did probably influence it into that Form wherein we now find it For by that Decree of the said Provincial Constitunions it is Ordained That a Bishop shall have unum Apparitorem Equitantem duntaxat where the Gloss well observes that by this non prohibetur Episcopo quin plures habeat pedites And every Archdeacon one in every Deanary non Equitantem sed peditem where the Bishop might also appoint Apparitors as also in Rural Deanaries Gloss ibid. verb. Duntaxat And in case more than these were Deputed or they found to offend in their Office the Penalty was as above-said Deputantes sint suspensi donec c. Deputatos ab Officio Apparitorum perpetuo suspendimus ipso facto Constit ibid. 14. Action upon the Case For that the Defendant being an Apparitor under the Bishop of Exeter maliciously and without colour or cause of suspicion of Incontinency of his own proper malice procured the Plaintiff Ex Officio upon pretence of Fame of Incontinency with one Edith whereas there was no such Fame not just cause of Suspicion to be cited to the Consistory Court of Exeter and there to be at great charges and vexation until he was cleared by Sentence which was to his great discredit and cause of great Expences and Losses for which c. upon Not guilty pleaded and found for the Plaintiff it was moved by Ashley Serjeant in Arrest of Judgment That in this Case an Action lies not For he did nothing but as an Informer and by virtue of his Office But all the Court absente Richardson held That the Action well lies For it is alledged That he falso malitiose caused him to be Cited upon pretence of Fame where there was no offence committed And avers That there was not any such Fame so as he did it maliciously and of his own head and caused him to be unjustly vexed which was to raise gain to himself whereupon they conceived That he being found guilty for it the Action well lies And therefore Rule was given to enter Judgment for the Plaintiff unless other cause was shewn And upon a second motion Richardson Ch. Justice being present Judgment was given for the Plaintiff The Consistory of the Bishop may in some Cases enjoyn Penance Where Penance is enjoyned there may be Commutation but there may not be Commutation for Penance where none is enjoyned Commutation for Penance agrees with the Customes used in the Ecclesiastical Law justified in the Common Law in the Statute of Circumspecte agatis in the time of Ed. 1. and Articuli Cleri in the time of Ed. 2. Vid. Mich. 21. Jac. B. R. Dr. Barker 's Case in Camera Stellata Roll's Rep. 15. Commissary Commissarius is a Title of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction adapted to such one as doth exercise the same in such remote places of the Diocess and at such distance from the Bishops chief Consistory as that his Chancellor cannot without too great a prejudice conveniently call the Subjects to the same The duty of such Commissary or Officialis Fâ—ranei is to officiate the Bishops Jurisdiction in the remoter parts of the Diocess or in such Parishes as are the Bishop's peculiar and exempt from the Archdeacon's Jurisdiction The Authority of the Commissaries of Bishops is only in some certain place of the Diocess and some certain causes of the Jurisdiction limited unto them by the Bishops for which reason the Law calls them Officiales Foraneos quasi Officiales astricti cuidam foro Dioeceseos tantum Gloss in Clem. de Rescript And by the Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiastical no person may be a Commissary or Official under the Age of 26 years being at least a Master of Arts or Bachelor of Law Yet in the Argument of Buries Case for a Divorce the 5 Rep. 98. there was cited 35 Eliz. B. R. rot 605. That if a Lay-man be made a Commissary by the Bishop it is good until it be undone by Sentence although that the Canon says That he ought to be a Doctor or a Bachelor of Divinity But 21 H. 8. hath limited That a Doctor of the Civil Law may be a Commissary 16. Where a Commissary citing many persons of several Parishes to appear at his Visitation-Court Excommunicated them for not Appearing a Prohibition was granted because the Ordinary hath not
the Bishoprick of Winchester contra novi Concilii statuta as the same Author reporteth And this because succeeding Popes had broken Pope Vrban's promise Touching the not sending of Legates into England unless the King should require it And in the time of the next succeeding King Stephen the Pope gained Appeals to the Court of Rome For in a Synod at London Conven'd by Hen. Bishop of Winchester the Pope's Legate it was Decreed That Appeals should be made from Provincial Councils to the Pope Before which time Appellationes in usu non erant saith a Monk of that time donec Henricus Winton Episcopus malo suo dum Legatus esset crudeliter intrusit Thus did the Pope usurp Three main points of Jurisdiction upon Three several Kings after the Conquest for of King William Rufus he could win nothing viz. upon the Conquerour the sending of Legates or Commissioners to hear and determine Ecclesiastical Causes Upon Hen. 1. the Donation and Investures of Bishopricks and other Benefices and upon King Stephen the Appeals to the Court of Rome And in the time of King H. 2. the Pope claimed exemption of Clerks from the Secular Power 2. The high Court of Convocation is called the Convocation of the Clergy and is the highest Court Ecclesiastical where the whole Clergy of both Provinces are either present in Person or by their Representatives They commonly meet and sit in Parliament-time consisting of Two parts viz. the Upper-house where the Archbishops and Bishops do sit and the Lower-house where the Inferiour Clergy do sit This Court hath the Legislative power of making Ecclesiastical Laws is commonly called a National Synod Conven'd by the King 's Writ directed to the Archbishop of each Province for summoning all Bishops Deans Archdeacons Cathedrals and Collegiate Churches assigning them the time and place in the said Writ But one Proctor sent for each Cathedral and Collegiate Church and two for the Body of the inferiour Clergy of each Diocess may suffice The higher House of Convocation or the House of Lords Spiritual for the Province of Canterbury consists of 22 Bishops whereof the Archbishop is President the Lower-house or House of Commons Spiritual consisting of all the Deans Archdeacons one Proctor for every Chapter and two for the Clergy of each Diocess in all 166 persons viz. 22 Deans 24 Prebendaries 54 Archdeacons and 44 Clerks representing the Diocesan Clergy Both Houses debate and transact only such matters as his Majesty by Commission alloweth concerning Religion and the Church All the Members of both Houses of Convocation have the same priviledges for themselves and Menial Servants as the Members of Parliament have The Archbishop of York at the same time and in the like manner holds a Convocation of all his Province at York constantly corresponding debating and concluding the same matters with the Provincial Synod of Canterbury The Antiquity of this Court of Convocation is very great for according to Beda St. Augustine An. 686. assembled in Council the Britain Bishops and held a great Synod The Clergy was never assembled or called together at a Convocation by other Authority than by the King 's Writ Vid. Parl. 18 E. 3. nu 1. Inter Leges Inae An. Dom. 727. A Convocation of the Clergy called Magna servorum Dei frequentia The Jurisdiction of the Convocation is only touching matters meerly Spiritual and Ecclesiastical wherein they proceed juxta Legem Divinam Canones Sanctae Ecclesiae The Lord Coke cites some Ancient Records to prove that the Court of Convocation did not meddle with any thing concerning the Kings Temporal Laws of the Land and thence inferrs That the Statute of 25 H. 8. cap. 19. whereby it is provided That no Canons Constitution or Ordinance should be made or put in execution within this Realm by Authority of the Convocation of the Clergy which were contrariant or repugnant to the King's Prerogative Royal or the Customes Laws and Statutes of this Realm is but declaratory of the old Common Law And by the said Act the Court of Convocation as to the making of new Canons is to have the King's License as also his Royal Assent for the putting the same in execution But towards the end of that Act there is an express Proviso that such Canons as were made before that Act which be not contrariant nor repugnant to the King's Prerogative the Laws Statutes or Customes of the Realm should be still used and executed as they were before the making of that Act. And if any Cause shall depend in contention in any Ecclesiastical Court which shall or may touch the King his Heirs or Successors the party grieved shall or may appeal to the Upper-house of Convocation within fifteen days after Sentence given Remarkable are the Constitutions of Claringdon in the time of King H. 2. occasioned by the Popes claiming Exemption of Clerks from the Secular power so contended for by Thomas Becket then Archbishop of Canterbury against the King as occasioned a convening a Common Council as well of the Bishops as of the Nobility at Claringdon in the time of H. 2. wherein they revived and re-established the Ancient Laws and Customes of the Kingdom for the Government of the Clergy and ordering of Causes Ecclesiastical The principal Heads or Articles whereof were these viz. 1 That no Bishop or Clerk should depart the Realm without the King's License and that such as obtained License should give Sureties That they should not procure any dammage to the King or Realm during their absence in Foreign parts 2 That all Bishopricks and Abbies being void should remain in the Kings hands as his own Demesns until he had chosen and appointed a Prelate thereunto and that every such Prelate should do his Homage to the King before he be admitted to the place 3 That Appeals should be made in Causes Ecclesiastical in this manner viz. From the Archdeacon to the Ordinary from the Ordinary to the Metropolitan from him to the King and no farther 4 That Peter-Pence should be paid no more to the Pope but to the King 5 That if any Clerk should commit Felony he should be hanged if Treason he should be drawn and quartered 6 That it should be adjudged High Treason to bring in Bulls of Excommunication whereby the Realm should be cursed 7 That no Decree should be brought from the Pope to be executed in England upon pain of Imprisonment and Confiscation of Goods 3. Arches or alma Curia de Arcubus so called of Bow-Church in London by reason of the Steeple or Clochier thereof raised at the top with Stone-pillars in fashion like a Bow-bent Arch-wise in which Church this Court was ever wont to be held being the chief and most Ancient Court and Consistory of the Jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury which Parish of Bow together with twelve others in London whereof Bow is the chief are within the Peculiar Jurisdiction of the said Archbishop in Spiritual Causes and
s. 6 d. to the Scribe for Registring the same or else the said Scribe to be at his liberty to refuse the said 2 s. 6 d. and to have for writing every ten Lines of the same Testament whereof every Line to contain ten inches one penny If the Executor desire that the Testament in paper may be transcribed in parchment he must agree with the party for the Transcribing but the Ordinary c. can take nothing for that nor for the Examination of the Transcript with the Original but only 2 s. 6 d. for the whole duty belonging to him Where the Goods of the deceased do not exceed five pound the Ordinary c. shall take nothing and the Scribe to have only for writing of the Probat six pence so the said Testament be exhibited in writing with Wax thereunto affixed ready to be sealed Where the Goods of the deceased do amount to above the value of five pound and do not exceed the sum of forty pound there shall be taken for the whole but 3 s. 6 d. whereof to the Ordinary c. 2 s. 6 d. and 12 d. to the Scribe for Registring the same Where by Custome less hath been taken in any of the Cases aforesaid there less is to be taken And where any person requires a Copy or Copies of the Testament so proved or Inventory so made the Ordinary c. shall take for the Search and making of the Copy of the Testament or Inventory if the Goods exceed not five pound six pence and if the Goods exceed five pound and exceed not forty pounds twelve pence And if the Goods exceed forty pounds then two shillings six pence or to take for every Ten lines thereof of the proportion before rehearsed a penny And when the party dies Intestate the Ordinary may dispose somewhat in pious uses notwithstanding the Act of 31 Ed. 3. but with these Cautions 1 That it be after the Administration granted and Inventory made so as the state of the Intestate may be known and thereby the sum may appear to be competent 2 The Administrator must be called to it 3 The use must be publick and godly 4 It must be expressed in particular And 5 There must be a Decree made of it and entred of Record 7. The Court of Audience Curia Audientiae Cantuariensis The Lord Coke touching the Jurisdiction of Courts taking notice of this of the Audience among other of the Ecclesiastical Courts says That this Court is kept by the Archbishop in his Palace and meddleth not with any matter between party and party of any contentious Jurisdiction but dealeth with matters pro forma and Confirmations of Bishops Elections Consecrations and the like and with matters of voluntary Jurisdiction as the granting of the Guardianship of the Spiritualties Sede vacante of Bishops Admissions and Institutions to Benefices dispensing with Banns of Matrimony and such like This Court did belong to the Archbishop of Canterbury and was in point of Authority equal with but in point of Dignity and Antiquity inferiour to the Court of Arches It seems that Anciently the Archbishop of Canterbury did hear divers Causes of Ecclesiastical cognizance Extra-judicially and at home in his own Palace wherein before he would come to any final determination his usage was to commit the discussion thereof to certain persons learned in the Laws Civil and Canon who thereupon were styled his Auditors whence in process of time it center'd in one particular person styled Causarum Negotiorumque Audientiae Cantuariensis Auditor seu Officialis And from hence the Original of this Court is properly derived With this office of the Auditor the Chancery of the Archbishop is said to have been heretofore commonly joyned not controverting any matters of contentious Jurisdiction in any decisions of Causes between Plaintiff and Defendant but such only as were Voluntariae Jurisdictionis ex Officio touching such things only as are fore-specified and such like By the Provincial Constitutions it is Ordained That for the ease of the People they may at times convenient to be assigned by the Bishop have access to their Diocesan Et quod Praelati persâ—â— liter Audiant quaerelas in his Cathedral or next Parochial Church vel in aliqua Maneriorum suorum Capella si talis fuerit Lindw de Offic. Jud. Ord. cap. Statuimus in gloss verb. in Publico It seems not altogether improbable but that from the practice hereof this Court of Audience anciently had its Original as aforesaid And although it be not now in use as heretofore yet considering the Subject-matter it only took cognizance of it was a good Expedient to prevent many Suits at Law in Foro Contentioso 8. Faculty or Court of Faculties in the sense here meant and intended must not be understood according to its original and genuine signification but as a term of Art according to a limited construction restrained under that peculiar notion and particular understanding which the Law hath of it in reference to a branch of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction And so it is understood and commonly used for that Priviledge or especial Power which is legally granted to a man by License favour indulgence and dispensation to have or do that which otherwise by the Canon Law he could not as to eat Flesh upon days prohibited to Marry without Banns first published to hold Two or more Ecclesiastical Benefices incompatible the Son to succeed the Father in his Benefice and such like A Faculty granted to one who is not Incumbent to take a void Benefice is void But a Faculty to one who is Incumbent of a Benefice to retain the same is good It is called Faculties in the Statute of 28 H. 8. cap. 16. Sir Ed. Coke makes mention of the Court of Faculties although it holds no Plea of Controversie It belongs to the Archbishop of Canterbury and his chief Officer thereof is called Magister ad Facultates whose power is to grant Dispensations to the ends and purposes aforesaid and so may every Diocesan as to that of Marriage and eating of Flesh on days prohibited Faculty according to Sir Ed. Coke in the place fore-cited signifies a Dispensation so that Facultates in this sense Dispensationes Indulta are Synonyma Who likewise there says that this Authority was raised and given to the Archbishop of Canterbury by the Statute of 25 H. 8. c. 21. whereby Authority is given to the said Archbishop and his Successors to grant Dispensations Faculties c. by himself or his sufficient and substantial Commissary or Deputy for any such matters commonly called the Master of the Faculties and of all such matters as whereof heretofore such Dispensations Faculties c. then had been accustomed to be had at the See of Rome or by Authority thereof For by the Stat. of 28 H. 8. c. 16. it appears the Bishop of Rome did grant Faculties and Dispensations to the Kings Subjects as Pluralities Unions Trialities Appropriations Commendams Exemptions
Bishop of Rome had assumed or tooken upon him to be the Spiritual Prince or Monarch of all the World he attempted also to give Laws to all Nations as one real Mark or Signal of his Monarchy but they well knowing Quod ubi non est condendi authoritas ibi non est parendi necessitas did not impose their Laws at first peremptorily on all Nations without distinction but offered them timide precario And therefore he caused certain Rules in the first place to be collected for the Government of the Clergy only which he called Decreta and not Leges vel Statuta These Decrees were published in An. 1150. which was during the Reign of King Stephen And therefore what the Lord Coke observes in the Preface to the Eighth part of his Reports Quod Rogerus Bacon frater ille perquam Eruditus in Libro De impedimentis Sapientiae dicit Rex quidem Stephanus allatis Legibus Italiae in Angliam Publico Edicto prohibuit ne in aliquo detinerentur may probably be conjectured to be meant and intended of those Decrees which were then newly compiled and published Yet these Decrees being received and observed by the Clergy of the Western Churches only for the Eastern Church never received any of these Rules or Canons Kelw. Rep. 7 H. 8. fo 184 the Bishop of Rome attempted also to draw the Laity by degrees into obedience to these Ordinances and to that purpose in the first place he propounds certain Rules or Ordinances for Abstinence or days of Fasting to be observed as well by the Laity as the Clergy which were upon the first Institution thereof called by the mild and gentle name of Regationes as Marsilius Pat. lib. Defensor Pacis par 2. cap. 23. hath observed and thence it seems the Week of Abstinence a little before the Feast of Pentecost was called the Rogation-week that time of Abstinence being appointed at the beginning by that Ordinance which was called Rogatio and not Praeceptum vel Statutum Now when the Laity out of their devotion had received and obeyed these Ordinances of Abstinence then the Bishop of Rome proceeds further De una praesumptione ad aliam transivit Romanus Pontifex as Marsil Pat. there says and made many Rescripts and Orders per Nomen Decretalium which were published in the year 1230. which was in the Fourteenth year of King H. 3. or thereabout Vid. Matth. Par. Hist mag 403. and these were made to bind all the Laity and Sovereign Princes as well as their Subjects in such things as concerned their Civil and Temporal Estates As that no Lay-man should have the Donation of an Ecclesiastical Benefice That no Lay-man should marry within certain Degrees out of the degrees limited by the Levitical Law That all Infants born before Marriage should be adjudged after Marriage Legitimate and capable of Temporal Inheritance That all Clerks should be exempt from the Secular power and others of the like nature But these Decretals being published they were not entirely and absolutely received and obeyed in any part of Christendom but only in the Pope's Temporal Territory which by the Canonists is called Patria obedientiae But on the other hand many of those Canons were utterly rejected and disobeyed in France and England and other Christian Realms which are called Patriae Consuetudinariae As the Canon which prohibited the Donation of Benefices per manum Laicam was ever disobeyed in England France the Kingdom of Naples and divers other Countries and Common-wealths And the Canon to make Infants Legitimate that were born before Marriage was specially rejected in England when in the Parliament held at Merton omnes Comites Barones una voce responderunt Nolumus Leges Angliae mutari quae hucusque usitatae sunt c. And the Canon which exempts Clerks from the Secular power was never fully observed in any part of Christendom Kelw. 7 H. 8. 181. b. which is one infallible Argument That these Ordinances had not their force by any Authority that the Court of Rome had to impose Laws on all Nations without their consent but by the approbation of the people which received and used them For by the same reason whereby they might reject one Canon they might reject all the other Vid. Bodin lib. 1. de Rep. cap. 8. where he saith That the Kings of France on the erection of all Universities there have declared in their Charters that they would receive the Profession of the Civil and Canons to use them at their discretion and not to be obliged by these Laws But as to those Canons which have been received accepted and used in any Christian Realm or Common-wealth they by such acceptation and usage have obtained the force of Laws in such particular Realm or State and are become part of the Ecclesiastical Laws of that Nation And so those which have been embraced allowed and used in England are made by such allowance and usage part of the Ecclesiastical Laws of England By which the interpretation dispensation or execution of these Canons being become Laws of England doth appertain sole to the King of England and his Magistrates within his Dominions and he and his Magistrates have the sole Jurisdiction in such cases and the Bishop of Rome hath nothing to do in the interpretation dispensation or execution of those Laws in England although they were first devised in the Court of Rome No more than the Chief Magistrate of Athens or Lacedemon might claim Jurisdiction in the Ancient City of Rome for that the Laws of the XII Tables were thither carried and imported from those Cities of Greece and no more than the Master of New-Colledge in Oxford shall have Command or Jurisdiction in Kings-Colledge of Cambridge for that the private Statutes whereby Kings-Colledge is governed were for the most part borrowed and taken out of the Foundation-Book of New-Colledge in Oxford And by the same reason the Emperour may claim Jurisdiction in Maritime causes within the Dominions of the King of England for that we have now for a long time received and admitted the Imperial Law for the determination of such Causes Vid. Cawdries Case Co. par 5. and Kelw. Rep. 184. a. Now when the Bishop of Rome perceived that many of his Canons were received and used by divers Nations of Christendom he under colour thereof claimed to have Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in every Realm and State where these Canons were received and sent his Legates with several Commissions into divers Kingdoms to hear and determine Causes according to these Canons which Canons although neither the Pope nor his Ministers at the first venting and uttering thereof dared to call Laws Ne committerent crimen Laesae Majestatis in Principes as Marâ—il Pat. lib. Defensor pacis par 2. cap. 23. observes who also says That these Canons being made by the Pope Neque sunt humanae Leges neque divinae sed documenta quaedam Narrationes yet when he perceived that these Canons were received allowed
consent of Five others of the said Commissioners his Companions and namely which Deprived him It was not sound that the Commissioners were the Natural born Subjects of the Queen as the Statute Enacts that they should be And it was moved That the Deprivation was void 1 Because that whereas the Commission is to them or any Three of them of which the said Bishop to be one amongst others it ought to have been the Sentence of them all according to the Authority given to them which is equal and not of one with the assent of the other 2 Because it is not found that the Commissioners are the Natural born Subjects of the Queen as by the words of the Statute they should be 3. Because the punishment which the Statute provides for those of the Ministry which deprave this Book is to lose the profits of all their Spiritual promotions but for a year and to be Imprisoned by the space of Six months and not to be Deprived till the Second offence after that he had been once committed and therefore to deprive him for the First offence was wrongful and contrary to the Statute But the whole Court for the Form of the Deprivation it is that which is used in the Ecclesiastical Courts which alwaies names the chief in Commission that are present at the beginning of the Sentence and for the other they mention them only as here but of their assent and consent to it and in such cases we ought to give credit to their Form and therefore it is not to be compared to an Authority given at Common Law by Commission And it is to be intended that the Commissioners were the Natural born Subjects of the Queen unless the contrary appear But here at the beginning it is found That the Queen Secundum tenorem effectum Actus praedict had granted her Commission to them in causis Ecclesiasticis and therefore it appeareth sufficiently that they were such as the Statute wills them to be And for the Deprivation they all agreed that it was good being done by Authority of the Commission for the Statute is to be understood where they prosecute upon the Statute by way of Indictment and not to restrain the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction being also but in the Affirmative And further by the Act and their Commission they may proceed according to their discretion to punish the Offence proved or confessed before them and so are the words of their Commission warranted by the Clause of the Act. And further the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction is saved in the Act. And all the Bishops and Popish Priests were deprived by virtue of a Commission warranted by this Clause in the Act. Vid. Hill 33 Eliz. Rot. 315. 10. Before many Noble-men Archbishops and Bishops and the Justices and Barons of the Exchequer 1 agreed That the Deprivation of Minsters for Non-conformity to the last Canons was lawful by the High Commissioners For by the Common Law the King hath such a power in Causes Ecclesiastical and it is not a thing de novo given by the First of Eliz. For that is Declaratory only c. and the King may delegate it to Commissioners And the King without a Parliament may make Constitutions for the Government of the Clergy and that such a Deprivation ex officio without Libel is good 2. That the Statute of 5 H. 5. c. 4. is to be intended when they proceed upon Libel and not when ex officio Read the Statute 3. When their Petition is Subscribed by a great number with intimation That if the King denies their Suit that many thousands of his Subjects shall be discontented That this is an Offence Finable at discretion and is near to Treason by raising Sedition by Discontent c. Vid. More 's Rep. Trin. 2 Jac. in the Star-Chamber 11. By the Statute of 13 Eliz. cap. 12. it is Enacted That every person c. to be Admitted to a Benefice with Cure except that within Two months after his Induction he publickly Read the said Articles in the same Church whereof he shall have Cure in the time of Common Prayer there with declaration of his unfeigned assent thereto c. shall be upon every such default ipso facto immediately deprived Then follows afterwards a Proviso relating to this clause viz. Provided alwaies That no Title to conferr or Present by Lapse shall accrue upon any Deprivation ipso facto but after Six months after Notice of such Deprivation given by the Ordinary to the Patron Thus the Patron immediately upon such Deprivation may Present if he please and his Clerk ought to be Admitted and Instituted but if he doth not no Lapse incurrs until after Six months after Notice of the Deprivation given to the Patron by the Ordinary who it seems is to supply the Cure until the Patron Present In the last Case of the Lord Dyer 23 El. it was Resolved That where a man having a Living with Cure under value accepted another under value also having no Qualification or Dispensation and was Admitted Instituted and Inducted into the Second but never Subscribed the Articles before the Ordinary as the Statute of 13 of El. requires Upon Question whether the First Living vacavit per mortem of him or not the Court Resolved That the First Living became vacant by his death and not by accepting the Second because he was never Incumbent of the Second for not Subscribing the Articles before the Ordinary whereby his Admission Institution and Induction into the Second Living became void as if they had never been This differs from the Case of not Reading the Articles within Two months after Induction For the not Subscribing the Articles makes that he never was Incumbent of the Second Living and consequently no cause of losing the First but the not Reading the Articles within Two months after Induction doth cause a deprivation of that whereof he was Incumbent For as an Incumbent that without qualification or dispensation doth take a Second Living doth thereby lose the First so the same Incumbent for not Reading the Articles within Two months after his Induction into the Second may lose the Second and thereby lose both viz. the First by taking a Second without qualification or dispensation and the Second for not Reading the Articles as aforesaid whereof he was Compleat Incumbent by Admission Institution and Induction of the Second Living full Two months before he lost it for not Reading the Articles 12. Parker being Parson of a Church was deprived by the High Commissioners for Drunkenness and moved for a Prohibition but it was not granted and he was directed to have Action for the Tithe and upon that the validity of the Sentence shall be drawn in question If a man be Admitted Instituted and Inducted to a Church and afterwards is deprived for that he was Instituted contrary to the course of the Ecclesiastical Law such Sentence of deprivation is void at the Common Law for that it is
whether sufficient Notice thereof were given or not are examinable only in the Ecclesiastical Court and when the Licence is sufficient and the Provisoes well and duly observed and Notice thereof and This be refused or rejected in the Ecclesiastical Court yet no Prohibition lies but the Party grieved must have his Remedy by way of Appeal and not otherwise 4 That where power is given by Act of Parliament to the Archbishop to grant Licence either de novo or in Confirmation of his Authority yet the form of the Dispensation and the observation of the Provisoes and Conditions thereof and whether sufficient Notice were given or not are examinable in the Ecclesiastical Court and if they there adjudg in that case irregularly no Prohibition lies but the Remedy is only by way of Appeal But if it come into question in the Ecclesiastical Court whether the words of the Act of 25. H. 8. do give sufficient power to the Archbishop to grant a Licence there if the Ecclesiastical Court doth judge against the power a Prohibition lies and not otherwise but if they allow the Licence in point of power and only insist upon the Form and Notice and other Circumstances in such case a Prohibition doth not lie For though a power to grant Licences be by Act of Parliament which is a Temporal thing yet the Licence it self remains an Ecclesiastical thing and the examination of all these things saving the Power remains to the Ecclesiastical Court as it was before CHAP. XXXIIII Of Adultery 1. What Adultery is why so called and in what Court Cognizable 2. The Punishment of Adultery under the Levitical Law and what it was anciently by the Civil Law 3. The several Punishments thereof anciently according to the Quality of the Offenders respectively 4. Adulterers compared to Idolaters strange Punishments of Adultery among the ancient Pagans 5. The Severity of certain Ecclesiastical Laws in ancient times against Adultery 6. The Customs among the Arabians Mahumetans Tartars Indians Pagans in punishing Adulterers 7. The Civil Law touching Jealousie and second Marriage the former Husband then living 8. Adultery what in sensu largo how the punishment thereof is now mitigated at the Civil Law to what it was anciently and how punished at the Canon Law 9. The diversity of punishments inflicted on Adulterers according to the divers Customs of Nations respectively 10. In what respect the Temporal Laws may take some Cognizance of Adultery 11. What the Saxons of old in this Kingdom called the Punishment of Adultery the remarkable Case of Sr. Jo. de Camois 11. Adultery fals under a Threefold Consideration of Law the History of the Adulterous Stork 1. ADULTERY or Adulterium quasi ad alterius thorum where the Rights of lawful Matrimony are violated Lindwood's Const de Offic. Archipresb verb. tertium mandat is the Incontinencie of Married persons or of persons whereof the one at least is under the Conjugal Vow This is properly cognizable within the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction the Conviction whereof is by Examination and other Legal proof requisite by the Law of the Church which if committed by any of the Clergy duely convicted thereof he was punishable by Imprisonment at the discretion of the Bishop or Ordinary of that Diocess wherein he resides 2. By the Levitical Law Adultery was punished with Death in both Sexes yea Stoned to death By the Civil Law also which cals it the Violating of another mans Bed the Punishment anciently was Death both in the Man and in the woman But afterwards the Punishment was mitigated by that Law as to the Woman she being first whipt and then shut up in a Monasterie but by the Canons other Laws are inflicted 3. At the Synod in Ireland held by St. Patrick and other Bishops an 456. by the 19 th Canon thereof the Adulterers were to be excommunicated At the Council held at Berghamstead by Bertwald Archbishop of Canterbury the Bishop of Hereford and others in the fifth year of Withred King of Kent an 697. several Laws were made against Adultery according to the several qualities and conditions of the Persons offending respectively beside Excommunication against all such if the Adulterer were an Alien he was to depart the Land and to take his Sins and his Estate away with him If a Soldier then to be fin'd five pounds If a Rustick or Countrey Husbandman known in the Law by Paganus then to pay fifty shillings If a Priest then to be inhibited from administring the Sacrament of Baptism 4. Boniface Archbishop of Mentz when he was the Popes Legate in Germany an 745. in his Epistle to AEthelbald King of Mercia compares Adulterers to Idolaters and moreover says that the Greeks and Romans Compar'd Adultery to Blasphemy when committed by or with one of religious Orders and adds that among the Pagans in the time of the old Saxons the very pactice was that if a Virgin Adulterously defil'd her Fathers Family or a Married woman plaid the whore they were enforced to be their own Executioners and by their own hands to reduce themselves by Strangling to dead Corps which being after burnt the Adulterer was hangd over the Ashes thereof and at other times the Adulteresses were by those of their own Sex out of their Zeal to Chastity whipt from Village to Village till they were whipt to death In Antiqua Saxonia ubi nulla est Christi cognitio si Virgo in paterna domo maritata sub Conjuge fuerit adulterata manu propria strangulatam cremant supra fossam sepultae corruptorem suspendunt aut cingulo tenus vestibus abscisis flagellant eam castae matronae cultellis pungunt de Villa in Villam inter se occurrunt novae flagellatrices donec interimant By the Laws of William the Conqueror the Adulterer was to be put to death Si Pater deprehenderit Filiam in Adulterio in domo sua seu in domo Generi sui bene licebit ei oure lege forsan occire occidere Adulterium 5. In the Ecclesiastical Laws of Keneth King of Scots an 840. By the 14 th and 15. Canon thereof it is ordained That he who deflowrs a Virgin shall dye for it unless she desires him for her Husband and that he who Adulterates another mans Wife not dissenting Both shall suffer the severest punishment unless she were under a force in which case she shall be acquitted By the Ecclesiastical Laws of Hoel Dak King of Wales an 940. it was a sufficient cause of Divorce if a Woman did but kiss any other man than her Husband l. 18. Yea she must lose her Dower and all her Rights by that Law and only for a kiss and by the same Law Adultery in the Man was held as a kind of Hostility In the time of the latter Saxons by the Ecclesiastical Laws of King Edmund an 944. Adulterers and Murderers had one and the same punishment and both alike denied Christian Burial After him by the Ecclesiastical Laws
the question of Bastardy or Legitimacy ought to be first moved in the Kings Temporal Court and thereon Issue ought to be joyned there and then it ought to be transmitted by the Kings Writ to the Ecclesiastical Court to be examined and tried there and thereupon the Bishop shall make his Certificate to the King's Court to which Certificate being made in due form of Law such credit is given that the whole World shall be bound and stopt thereby But on the other side if any Suit to prove Bastardy or Legitimacy be first commenced in the Ecclesiastical Court before any Question of that matter hath been moved in he Kings Temporal Court in that Case Prohibition lies to restrain such Suit To this purpose was Corbet's Case cited 22 Ed. 4. Fitz. Consultation 6. Sir Robert Corbet had Issue two Sons Robert and Roger Robert the eldest Son being within the age of fourteen years took to Wife Matild with whom he cohabited till he came of full Age and they publickly known and reputed for Husband and Wife yet afterwards Robert the eldest Son doth dismiss the said Matild and she living doth Marry one Lettice and having Issue a Son by the said Lettice dies after his death Lettice doth publish and declare openly that she is the lawful Wife of Robert and that his Son was a Mulier and legitimate Whereupon Roger the younger Son of Sir Robert Corbet doth commence a Suit in the Ecclesiastical Court to reverse the Marriage between Lettice and Robert and to put Lettice to silence c. wherefore Lettice doth purchase a prohibition Whereupon Roger sets forth the whole matter and prays a consultation which was denied him and for this reason chiefly viz. for that the Suit in the Ecclesiastical Court was to Bastardize the Issue between Lettice and Robert and to prove Roger to be Heir to Robert and the Original Action of Bastardy shall not be first moved in the Ecclesiastical Court but in the Temporal Court c. And to make this point yet the more clear two Cases put by Bracton lib. 5. tit de exceptionib c. 6. were remembred 1 B. having Issue of the Body of a Feme-Inheretrix born before Marriage under colour whereof he claimed to be Tenant by the Courtesie but being for that cause barr'd in an Assize brought by him against A. he obtain'd the Popes Bull and by authority thereof commenced his Suit in the Ecclesiastical Court to prove his Issue legitimate quod facere non debuit as Bracton there saith and therefore prohibition was granted to stay the Suit shewing the whole matter Et quod praedictus B. ad deceptionem Curiae nostrae ad infirmandum judicium in curia nostra factum trahit-ipsum A. in placitum coram vobis in Curia Christianitatis authoritate Literarum domini Papae ad praedictum puerum legitimandum c. Et cum non possint Judices aliqui de legitimatione cognoscere nisi fuerit loquela prius in curia nostra incepta per breve ibi Bastardia objecta postea ad Curiam Christianitatis transmissa vobis prohibemus quod in placito illo ulterius non procedatis c. And in the same Chapter Bracton hath the form of another Prohibition which makes the difference before put more evident Rex talibus judicibus c. Ostensum est nobis ex parte A. c. quod in causa successionis haereditatis petitione debet prius moveri placitum in curia nostra cum ibi objecta fuit Bastardia tunc deinde transmitti debet recordum loquelae cognitio Bastardia ad curiam Christianitatis ut ibi ad mandatum nostrum de legitimitate inquiratur quod quidem in hac parte non est observatum Et cum hoc sit manifeste contra Consuetudinem Regni nostri c. vobis prohibemus c. whereby it is very evident that if the Ecclesiastical Court proceed to the examination of Bastardy or Legitimation without direction of the Temporal Court it is to be restrained by a Prohibition 3. As the Ecclesiastical Judge may not enquire of Bastardy or Legitimation without special direction or command of the King so when he hath received the Kings Writ to make such Inquisition he ought not to surcease for any Appeal or Inhibition but ought to proceed until he hath certified it into the Kings Court and this also appears by Bracton in the forecited place c. 14. Cum autem Judex Ecclesiasticus Inquisitionem fecerit non erit ab eo appellandum nec à petente nec à tenente à petente non quia talem Jurisdictionem talem judicem elegit à tenente non qui sic posset causam in infinitum protrahere de judice in judicem usque ad Papam sic posset Papa de Laico feodo indirecte cognoscere See also to this purpose 39 E. 3. 20. a. in a Writ of Dower where Ne unques occouple en loyal Matrimony was pleaded and Issue thereupon joyn'd the Writ issued to the Bishop to certifie who certified that he could do nothing by reason of an Inhibition which came to him out of the Arches This return was held insufficient for it was there said that he ought not to surcease from doing the Kings command by reason of any Inhibition 4. Lastly it was said that the very cause and reason why the Ecclesiastical Judge may not enquire of Legitimation or Bastardy before that he hath received direction or a mandate out of the Kings Temporal Court doth consist in this that the Ecclesiastical Court never hath Jurisdiction or power to intermeddle with Temporal Inheritance directly or indirectly It being observed that Christ himself refused to meddle with a Cause of that nature when upon request made to him Luke 12. Magister dic fratri meo ut dividat mecum haereditatem he answer'd Quis me constituit judicem aut divisorem super vos And therefore in the time of King H. 3. when the usurped Jurisdiction of the Pope was elevated much higher than ever before or since in the Dominions of the King of England Pope Alex. the third having granted a Commission to the Bishops of Winchester and Exon to enquire de Legitima nativitate of one Agatha the Mother of one Robert de Ardenna and if she were found legitimate then to restore to the said Robert the possession of certain Lands whereof he was dispossess'd being informed that the King of England was greatly offended at the said commission he revoked and countermanded it in the point of the restitution of possession knowing and confessing that the establishment of Possessions belonged to the King and not to the Church Which Case is reported in the Canon Law Decretal Antiq. Collect. 1. lib. 4. tit Qui filii sunt legitimi cap. 4. and cap. 7. where in the 4 th Chapt. the Commission and in the seventh Chapt. the revocation or countermand appears in express terms CHAP. XXXVI Of Divorce as also of Alimony 1. What Divorce
of Pope Julius the Third An. 1551. which had only Three Sessions by reason of Wars happening in Germany At this Second Meeting the French King protested against this Council The Third Meeting whereof was Nine years after the Second it being appointed by Pope Pius the Fourth there having been in this interval since the Second Meeting when Julius the Third was Pope two other Popes viz. Marcellus and Paulus the Fourth At this Third and last Meeting there were Nine Sessions the Last whereof began the Third of December An. 1563. The chief Points treated of at this Council were concerning the Scriptures Original Sin Justification the Sacraments in General Baptism the removing of the Council the Eucharist Repentance Extream Unction Communion of Lay-persons under one kind the Sacrifice of Masse the Sacrament of Order Matrimony Purgatory Worshipping of Reliques Invocation of Saints Worshipping of Images Indulgencies the choice of Meats Fastings and Festivals The History of this Council of Trent is extant Of National Councils there have been many more than what are before mentioned as here in Britain and in Italy Spain France Germany the Eastern and African In Italy it is said that there are to be found 115 such Synods as it were National which go under the Name of Roman Councils But such as are of the most Remark in each of these Countreys and the principal things they determined you may find a touch of and no more in the Learned Bishop Prideaux his Synopsis of Councils in the Eighth Chapter Edit 5. Oxon. 1672. CHAP. XLII Of Excommunication 1. What Excommunication is It is Twofold 2. By what Appellations the Greater and Lesser Excommunication are known and distinguished their respective derivations and significations and the nature of each 3. Ecclesiastical Censures in the general may be Threefold 4. What the Law intends by Excommunication ipso facto 5. What the Excommunicate is not debarr'd of by Law 6. Legal Requisites to the due pronunciation of the Sentence of Excommunication 7. What course the Law takes with an Excommunicate after Forty days so perisisting obstinate 8. The several Causes of Excommunication ipso facto enumerated by Lindwood 9. The Causes of Excommunication ipso facto by the Canons now in force in the Church of England 10. The several Writs at Law touching persons Excommunicate and the Causes to be contained in a Significavit whereon the Excommunication proceeded 11. What the Writs de Excommunicato Deliberando also de Excommunicato Recipiendo do signifie in Law 12. A sufficient and lawful Addition to be in the Significavit and in the Excom Capiend Vid. Sect. 10. 13. Several Statutes touching Persons Excommunicated 14. Excommunication for striking in the Church 15. Whether a Bishop hath Jurisdiction or may Cite a man out of his Diocese 16. What are the Requisites of a Certificate of Excommunication for stay of Actions and how it ought to be qualified 17. A Significavit of Excommunication for not Answering Articles not shewing what they were not good 18. By whom an Excommunication may be Certified and how 19. In what case the Significavit of an Excommunication ought to express one of the Causes mentioned in the Statute 20. Whether a General Pardon doth discharge an Excommunication for Contempt precedent to the Pardon or shall discharge the Costs of Court thereon 21. A man taken upon an Excom Cap. and discharged because the Significavit did not express the party to be Commorant within the Bishops Diocess at the time of the Excommunicat 22. Where a man is twice Excommunicated whether an Absolution for the latter shall purge the first Excommunication 23. Whether a Prohibition lies to the Ecclesiastical Court upon Costs there given not in an Action at the Suit of the party but upon an Information there exhibited 24. What Remedy in Law for a party wrong fully Excommunicated and so remaining Forty daies without suing a Prohibition 25. Whether a Person taken by a Capias de Excom Capiend be Bailable or not And whether the Bishop may take Bond of the Excommunicate to perform Submission for their Absolution 1. EXcommunication commonly termed in the Common Law in the Law-French thereof Excommengement is a Censure of the Church pronounced and inflicted by the Canon or some Ecclesiastical Judge lawfully Constituted whereby the party against whom it is so pronounced is pro tempore deprived of the lawful participation and Communion of the Sacraments And is also sometimes as to Offenders a deprivation of their Communion and sequestration of their persons from the Converse and Society of the Faithful And therefore it is distinguish'd into the Greater and Lesser Excommunication the Greater comprizing as well the latter as the former part of the abovesaid definition or description the Lesser comprizing only the former part thereof de Except c. a nobis Lindw de Cohab. Cler. gl in verb. Sacramenta Excommunicatio quasi extra Communionem For Excommunication is Extra Communionem Ecclesiae separatio vel Censura Ecclesiastica excludens aliquem à Communione Fidelium This Ecclesiastical Censure when it is Just is not by any means to be despised or opposed for Christ himself is the Author thereof Anciently among the Hebrews such persons as were Excommunicated were termed Aposynagogi as being quasi Synagoga exacti and to be shun'd or avoided of all men until they repented That of our Saviour in Matth. 18. 17. Let him be unto thee as an Heathen man and a Publican seems to referr to some such Excommunication the power whereof by way of Judicature being then in the Jewish Sanhedrim or Colledge of Elders 2. This Ecclesiastical Censure when limited or restrained only to the Lesser Excommunication the Theologists will have to be understood by the Greek word Anathema Accursed or Separated and when it extends to the Greater Excommunication then to be understood by the Syriack word Maran-atha or Our Lord cometh Anathema Maran atha Anathema Let him be Accursed quasi Devoted to the Devil and separated from Christ and his Churches Communion Maran-atha Some take this for a Syriack word Others not so well satisfied with that Judgment will have it to be a Chaldee word yet used in the Hebrew and familiarly known among the Greeks Maran-atha viz. Our Lord cometh for Maran is our Lord and atha cometh or rather three words more properly viz. Mara-na-atha Our Lord cometh Being a word used in the greatest Excommunication among the Christians intimating or implying That they summoned the person Excommunicated before the dreadful Tribunal at the last coming of the Son of God or that such as were under this Censure of the Church were given up and reserved to the Lords coming to be judged by him and mean while without Repentance and Absolution are to expect nothing but the Terrible coming of Christ to take Vengeance of them To which that Prophesie of Enoch seems to allude Behold the Lord cometh with Ten thousands of his Saints to execute Judgment upon all
being made Ministers and do not reform after a months suspension Also by all such persons as refuse the Sacraments at the hands of Unpreaching Ministers after a months obstinacy being first suspended Also by all such Ministers as without their Ordinaries License under his Hand and Seal appoint or keep any Solemn Fasts either publickly or in private Houses having been formerly suspended for the same fault and finally by all Ministers who hold any private Conventicles to Consult on any thing tending to the impeaching or depraving of the Doctrine of the Church of England or of the Book of Common Prayer or of any part of the Government and Discipline now established in the Church of England which by the Seventy third Canon is Excommunication ipso facto 10. Touching persons thus Excommunicated persisting Forty daies in their obstinacy there are Three several Writs at the Law issuing from the Secular power viz. Excommunicato Capiendo Excommunicato Deliberando Excommunicato Recipiendo The Excommunicato Capiendo is a Writ issuing out of Chancery directed to the Sheriff for the apprehending and imprisoning of him who hath obstinately stood Excommunicated Forty daies for the Contempt to the Ecclesiastical Laws of such not in the interim obtaining their Absolution being by the Ordinary certified or signified into Chancery the said Writ thence issues for the apprehending and imprisoning them without Bail or Mainprize until they Conform Which Writ as by the Statute of 5 Eliz c. 23. is to be awarded out of the high Court of Chancery so it is to issue thence only in Term time and Returnable in the Kings Bench the Term next after the Teste thereof and to contain at least Twenty daies between the Teste and the Return thereof And in case the Offender against whom such Writ shall be awarded shall not therein have a sufficient and lawful Addition according to the form of the Statute of 1 H. 5. Or if in the Significavit it be not contained That the Excommunication doth proceed upon some cause of Contempt or some Original matter of Heresie or refusing to have their Children Baptized or to receive the Holy Communion as it is now used in the Church of England or to come to divine Service now commonly used in the said Church or Error in matters of Religion or Doctrine now received and allowed in the said Church Incontinency Usury Simony Perjury in the Ecclesiastical Court or Idolatry That then all pains and Forfeitures limited against such persons Excommunicate by the said Statute of 5 Eliz. 23. by reason of such Writ of Excom Capiend wanting sufficient Addition or of such Significavit wanting all the Causes aforesaid are void in Law 11. The Excommunicato Deliberando is a Writ to the Under-Sheriff for the releasing and delivery of the Excommunicate person out of Prison upon Certificate from the Ordinary into the Chancery of his Submission Satisfaction or conformity to the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction And the Excommunicato Recipiendo is a Writ whereby Excommunicated persons who by reason of their Obstinacy having been committed to Prison and thence unduly delivered before they had given sufficient Caution or Security to obey the Authority of the Church are to be sought for and committed again to Prison This Sentence of Excommunication by the 65 th Canon pronounced against any and not absolved within Three months next after is every Sixth month ensuing as well in the Parish Church as in the Cathedral of the Diocess wherein they remain by the Minister openly in time of Divine Service upon some Sunday to be denounced and declared Excommunicate and where by the 68 th Canon Ministers are enjoyned not to Refuse to Bury it is with an exception to such persons Deceased as were denounced Excommunicated Majori Excommunicatione for some grievous and notorious Crime and of whose repentance no man is able to testifie 12. A Sentence was given in the Chancellors Court at Oxford at the Suit of B. against H. and thereupon H. was Excommunicated and taken in London upon the Writ of Excom Capiendo And it came into the Kings Bench where he pleaded That there was no Addition in the Significavit according to the Statute of 5 Eliz. and thereupon prayed to be discharged And the Opinion of the Court was That by the Statute of 5 Eliz. the Penalties mentioned in the said Statute are discharged but not the Imprisonment nor the Excommunication 13. By the Statute of 9 Ed. 2. 12. the Writ de Excom Capiendo may be awarded to take a Clerk Excommunicate for Contumacy after Forty daies And by the Statute of 9 Ed. 2. 7. the Kings Letters may not be sent to an Ordinary to Absolve an Excommunicate but where the Kings Liberty is prejudiced By the Statute of 5 6 Ed. 6. cap. 4. striking or laying of violent hands upon any person in a Church or Church-yard is Excommunication And by the Statute of 2 Ed. 6. 13. it is Excommunication to disobey the Sentence of an Ecclesiastical Judge in Causes of Tithes By the Statute of 3 Jac. 4. the Sheriff may apprehend a Popish Recusant standing Excommunicate and by the Statute of 3 Jac. 5. a Popish Recusant convicted shall stand as a person Excommunicate And by the Statute of 3 Ed. 1. 15. he that is Excommunicated shall be debarred of Mainprize 14. V. against E. in the Ecclesiastical Court where the Suit was for Striking in the Church which by the Second Branch of the Statute of 5 Ed. 6. cap. 4. is Excommunication ipso facto By which he surmized him incidisse in poenam Excommunicationis And being granted if c. And Ashley shewed cause why it should not issue viz. There ought to be a Declaration in the Ecclesiastical Court of the Excommunication before any may prohibit him the Church Richardson said That the Proceedings are not contrary to the Statute but stood with the Statute And it was said by Yelverton It seems there ought to be a Declaration in the Ecclesiastical Court But the difference is where it is Officium Judicis or Ad instantiam paris they will give Costs which ought not to be Hutton and Richardson If the party will not prosecute it none will take notice of it and they proceed to give Costs then a Prohibition may be granted And if he be a Minister he ought to be suspended for an offence against the Statute And it ought to be first declared and so to Excommunication and that cannot be pleaded if it be not under Seal Dyer 275. And after all these were agreed by the Court and no Prohibition was granted 15. B. was sued in the Ecclesiastical Court in a cause of Defamation in another Diocess than that wherein he lived and being Cited was for Non-appearance Excommunicated and upon Significavit the Writ de Excommunicato Capiendo was awarded Serjeant Finch Recorder prayed a Supersedeas for two Reasons 1. Upon the Statute of 23 H. 8. because he was Sued out of the
The causes thereof p. 206 207. Sect. 2. Where cognizable p. 122. Sect. 21. Whether a Bar to Tithes due before p. 398. Whether the Church be void pending the Appeal from a Sentence of Deprivation p. 314. Sect. 17. Delegates-Court how Constituted p. 117. Sect. 13. Whether they may Excommunicate or grant Letters of Administration p. ibid. Dilapidation what p. 173. Sect. 1 2 3. The remedies in Law against it and how many ways it may happen ibid. Whether it be a sufficient cause of Deprivation p. 175. Sect. 5 9. and p. 315. Sect. 19. Diocess whence that word derived p. 101. Sect. 3. What it properly signifies p. 275. Sect. 8. Discharge of Tithes how many ways it may be p. 398. In what Cases it may be or not p. 358. Sect. 12. p. 368. Sect. 38. Dispensation the true definition thereof p. 112. Sect. 9. By whom Dispensations may be granted and in what Cases p. 107 c. Sect. 8. Anciently had from the Court of Rome ibid. It may be without the word Dispensamus p. 302. Sect. 18. They are grantable by the King qua talis p. 5. Sect. 7. p. 109. Sect. 8. The granting thereof is eminently in the Crown p. 6. Sect. 9. The Archbishop of Canterbury may be Statute grant them ibid. p. 19. Sect. 11. The difference between such granted by the Pope formerly and those granted by the King now p. 293. Sect. 2. In what Case grantable by the Guardian of the Spiritualties p. 40. Sect. 3. What remedy in Law in Case he refuse so to do ibid. Divorce what 493. Sect. 1. The Causes thereof ibid. Whether if for Adultery it dissolves the Marriage à vinculo p. 495. Sect. 3 c. Donative Churches what p. 202. Sect. 16. The Original thereof p. ibid. By whom visitable p. 34. Sect. 18. The Law concerning Donatives p. 262. Sect. 18. How they cease to be such and become Presentative p. 201. Sect. 16. and p. 263. Sect. 21. Whether a Donative in the Kings gift may be with Cure of Souls p. 218. Sect. 23. Dotards whether Tithable p. 405. Doves in a Dove-house what Tithes they pay p. ibid. Druids their Idol-Temples when first abolished in England p. 16. Sect. 4. Drunkard whether actionable to call one so p. 516. Sect. 3. p. 521. Sect. 14. Dubritius Archbishop of Carlegion in Wales p. 17. Sect. 6. Duplex Querela what p. 275. Sect. 8. E. ECclesia whence that word derived p. 136. Sect. 1. Ecclesiastical Laws of England the Antiquity thereof p. 129 c. Sect. 44. Edgar King his Zeal for the Church in his Oration to the Clergy of England p. 97. Sect. 1. Eggs how when and in what Case Tithable p. 405. Election of Bishops how and by whom to be made p. 43. Sect. 2. Eleutherius Pope what style be gave K. Lucius p. 4. Sect. 4. p. 111. s 8. Elopement what it signifies p. 508. Sect. 13. Episcopal Authority derived from the Crown p. 30. Sect. 10. Episcopal Jurisdiction endeavoured to be taken away p. 36 37. Sect. 2. Episcopocide in a Clerk Petty Treason p. 35. Sect. 19. Estovers burnt in a house whether Tithable p. 372. Sect. 46. p. 392. Ethelbert King of Kent by whom Canterbury was given to St. Austin for his See p. 13. Sect. 1. p. 17. Sect. 5. Whether he built St. Pauls Church in London p. 17. Sect. 7. Ethelwolph Son and Successor to Egbert the first sole King of England he was Bishop of Winchester p. 36. Sect. 19. And the first that enriched the Church of England with Tithes p. 348. Sect. 1. Euginus whether he were the first that styled himself Pope the first that consecrated Churches and the first that decreed Godfathers and Godmothers in Baptism p. 49. Sect. 7. Examination when and by whom to be performed p. 270 Sect. 1 3. Excommunication what p. 624. Sect. 1 2. Twofold ibid. What intended by Excommunication ipso facto p. 626. Sect. 4. What the causes in Law of That Excommunication p. 628. Sect. 8. In what manner Excommunication is to be pronounced p. 626. Sect. 6. By whom it is to be certified and how p. 635. Sect. 18. Whether the Ordinary may take Bond of an Excommunicate for his submission in order to absolution p. 637. s 25. whether Excommunication in a Patron be sufficient cause for a Bishop to refuse the Clerk presented by such Patron p. 266. Sect. 32. F. FAculty or Court of Faculties or Faculty Office what p. 107. Sect. 8. The Archbishop of Canterbury impower'd by the Statute to grant Faculties ibid. and p. 19. Sect. 11. The force and efficacy thereof to Commendams or two Benefices p. 107 109 110. Sect. 8. The difference between a Faculty to Take and a Faculty to Retain a Benefice p. 110. Sect. 8. Fallow-grounds whether Tithable p. 405. Fees for Probate of Testaments what due by Statute p. 105 106. Sect. 6. Fâ—nny-Lands drain'd whether they pay Tithes presently p. 406. Ferae naturae Creatures of that kind whether Tithable p. 405. First-fruits by and to whom payable p. 337. Sect. 2. vid. Annates Fith taken in the Sea or in a River Pond or Piscary whether Tithable and how p. 406. and p. 367. Sect. 36. p. 379. Sect. 68. p. 375. Sect. 53. Flamins how many anciently in England p. 16. Sect. 4. Flax what Tithes it pays and when p. 407. Forest-Lands whether Tithable or not and by whom p. 407 408. Not scituate in any Parish to whom the Tithes shall be paid p. 408. Whether Priviledg'd from Tithes whilst in the Kings hands otherwise in the Subjects p. 369. Sect. 41. Whether they are Priviledged from Tithes if in the hands of the Kings Patentee or Grantee p. 399. 401. Fowl taken in what Case Tithable or not p. 408. Fraud in setting forth Tithes whether treble dammages in that Case p. 380. Sect. 72. p. 381. Sect. 76. Freehold f the Church or Chancel in whom it is p. 137. Sect. 3. p. 83. Sect. 4. p. 139. Sect. 5. p. 142. Sect. 9. p. 150. Sect. 22. p. 151. Sect. 25. p. 155. Sect. 38. Frigidity in the Man pleaded by the Woman how the Civil Law proceeds thereon p. 493. Sect. 1. Fruit-Trees what Tithes they pay and when p. 408. Fuise whether Tithable p. ibid. G. GArba or Decima Garbarum what it signifies p. 381. Sect. 78. Gardens how Tithable p. 409. p. 371. Sect. 43. Geoffry Plantaginet Son to King H. 2. was Bishop of Lincolne p. 36. Sect. 19. Glass-windows Painted in the Isle of a Chappel if pulled down whether Actionable p. 138. Sect. 5. Gleab what p. 409. The Law concerning the Tithes thereof ibid. p. 410. Gleab of a Parsonage Impropriate and Leased whether Tithable ibid. p. 368. sect 38. Whether Gleab in Lease pays Tithe p. 362 363. s 26. Whether the Freehold of the Gleab during a Vacancy be in the Patron or not p. 183. s 9. Gleab manured and sowed by an Incumbent that dies before Harvest who shall have the Corn p. 318. s 3. Godfathers
Constance there being a Contest about Precedency between the English and French Embassadours the English have these words viz. Domus Regalis Angliae Sanctam Helenam cum suo filio Constantino Magno Imperatore nato in urbe Regia Eboracensi educere comperta est The Royal House of England it is known for certain brought forth Helena with her Son Constantine the Great Emperour Born in the Royal City Eboracum Likewise the English at Basil opposing the Precedency of Castile say thus viz. Constantium illum Magnum qui Primus Imperator Christianus so are their words Licentiam dedit per universum Orbem Ecclesias constituere immensa ad hoc Conferens bona Peternae natum in Eboracensi Civitate That Constantine who being the first Christian Emperour gave leave to build Churches throughout the World was Born at Peterne in the City of York By this they mean Bederne a Colledge of Vicars there sometime serving the Quire which as also Christchurch called in Ancient Charters Ecclesia Sanctae Trinitatis in Curia Regis is verily thought to have been part of the Imperial Palace in old time which seems the more probable by what Herodian writes viz. That Severus the Emperour and his eldest Son Antoninus sate at York about Private and Common affairs and gave their Judgment in ordinary Causes as in that of Coecilia about recovery of Right of Possession The Rescript or Law of which matter is to this day preserved in the Code whereon the Learned Cuiacius of Great Britain hath made very remarkable Observations This was that Septimius Severus Emperour of Rome and Master of the World who in this Isle breathed his last and who when he saw there was nothing to be expected but Death called for the Vrn wherein he had appointed his Ashes after the Ossilegium should be put and viewing it very exactly Thou shalt hold said he the Man whom the World could not contain No wonder then that this City of so great Renown and Antiquity was adorned with an Archiepiscopal Seat above a Thousand years since as aforesaid yet it never had those high Priviledges or Pterogatives which were and are peculiar to the Archiepiscopal See of Canterbury whereof the Power next under the Crown of convening Councils and Synods is not the least Gervasius in his Chronicle de Tempore H. 2. tells us That RICHARDUS CANTUARIENSIS Archiepiscopus totius ANGLIAE Primas Apostolicae Sedis Legatus Convocato Clero ANGLIAE celebravit Concilium in Ecclesia Beati PETRI ad WESTMONASTERIUM 15. kal. Junii Dominica ante Ascentionem Domini An. 1175. In hoc Concilio ad dextram Primatis sedit Episcopus LONDONIENSIS quia inter Episcopos CANTUARIENSIS Ecclesiae Suffraganeos DECONATVS praeminet dignitate Ad sinistram sedit Episcopus WINTONIENSIS quia CANTORIS officio praecellit The Church when Disdiocesan'd by Death Translation or otherwise or quasi viduata whilst the Bishop is employed about Transmarine Negotiations in the Service of the King or Kingdom the Law takes care to provide it a Guardian quoad Jurisdictionem Spiritualem during such vacancy of the See or remote absence of the Bishop to whom Presentations may be made and by whom Institutions Admissions c. may be given and this is that Ecclesiastical Officer whether he be the Archbishop or his Vicar General or Deans and Chapters in whomsoever the Office resides him we commonly call the Guardian of the Spiritualties The Power and Jurisdiction of this Office in the Church is very Ancient and was in use before the time of King Edward the First it doth cease and determine so soon as a new Bishop is Consecrated to that See that was vacant or otherwise Translated who needs no new Consecration This Ecclesiastical Office is in being immediately upon the vacancy of an Archiepiscopal See as well as when a Bishoprick happens to be vacant Beside the Presentations Admissions Institutions c. aforesaid that this Officer is legally qualified for he may also by force of the Act of Parliament made in the Five and twentieth year of King Henry the Eighth grant Licenses Dispensations Faculties c. which together with such Instruments Rescripts and other Writings as may be granted by virtue of the said Statute may be had made done and granted under the Name and Seal of the Guardian of the Spiritualties And in case he shall refuse to give the same an effectual dispatch where by Law it may and ought to be granted in every such case the Lord Chancellor of England or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal upon Petition and Complaint thereof to him made may issue his Majesties Writ directed to such Guardian of the Spiritualties requiring him by virtue of the said Writ under a certain penalty therein limited by the said Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper to grant the same in due form of Law otherwise and no just and reasonable cause shewed for such refusal the said penalty may be incurr'd to his Majesty and a Commission under the Great Seal issued to two such Prelates or Spiritual persons as shall be nominated by his Majesty impowring them by virtue of the said Act to grant such Licenses c. as were so refused to be granted by the Guardian c. as aforesaid The first thing in order to the Election of a Bishop in the Vacancy of any Episcopal See is and ever hath been since the time of King John the Royal Congé d'Eslire which being obtain'd the Dean and Chapter proceeds to Election It cannot legally be doubted but that the consent of the Dean is not only requisite but also necessary to the Election of a Bishop as appears by an Ancient Contest above five hundred years since between the Dean and Canons of London touching the Election of Anselme Soon after King Stephen came to the Crown he conven'd a Council at Westminster vocati sunt ad Concilium says an Historian WILLIELMVS DECANVS LVNDONIAE siuml Canonici Cum autem haberetur Tractatus de Concilio Lundoniensis Ecclesiae tunc vacantis nec in aliquem possent unanimiter convenire recesserunt à Decano Canoni corum multi citra conscientiam ejus ANSELMUM Abbatem in Episcopum Eligentes Canonici vero quos Decanus habebat secum in Mensa diebus singulis Appellaverunt nec Regis occurrerunt offensam Canonici quidem alii quia quod fecerant tam Regi quam toto Concilio videbatur iniquum Regis indignationem plurimam meruerunt quorum aliqui bonis suis spoliati sunt The Pope afterwards having on this occasion a solemn Conference with his Cardinals Albericus Hostiensis Episcopus quod sequitur pronunciavit in Publicum Quoniam Electio Canonicorum Lundoniensium citra conscientiam Assensum Decani facta fuit cujus est Officium in Eligendo Pastore suo de jure primam vocem habere Nos eam auctoritate beati Petri devocamus in irritum So that according to this Ancient President the Election
Consistory Among the many Learned Ecclesiedicts who have supplied that Ecclesiastical place William Lindwood who finished his industrious and useful work of the Provincial Constitutions about the year 1433. in the time of K. Henry the Sixth seems to be of the highest Renown his Education was in the University of Cambridge first Scholar of Gonvil then Fellow of Pembrook-hall his younger years he employed in the study of the Imperial and Canon Laws afterwards became Keeper of the Privy Seal unto King Henry the Fifth by whom he was honoured with an Embassie to the Crowns of Spain and Portugal After the Kings death he reassum'd his Officials place of Canterbury and then collected the Constitutions of the Fourteen later Archbishops of Canterbury from Stephen Langton unto Henry Chichley unto whom he dedicated that highly to be esteemed Work his Gloss thereon being in it self as a Canonical Magazine or the Key which opens the Magazine of the whole Canon Law It was printed at Paris An. 1505. at the cost and charges of William Bretton Merchant of London revised by the care of Wolfangus Hippolitus and Prefaced unto by Jodocus Badius This Famous Lindwood was afterwards made Bishop of St. Davids By the Grant of William the Conqueror the Bishops originally had an entire Jurisdiction to judge all Causes relating to Religion for before that time the Sheriff and Bishop kept their Court together He granted also to the Clergy Tithes of Calves Colts Lambs Woods Mills c. So that before the Conquest there were no such Courts in England as we now call Courts Ecclesiastical or Spiritual for Anciently the Bishops sate in Judgment together with the Secular Judges and Sheriffs on the same Tribunal specially about Easter and Michalmass which appears by Mr. Selden in his Notes on Eadmerus pag. 167. as also by the Laws of King Aethelstane Debent Episcopi cum Seculi Judicibus interesse Judiciis ne permittant si possint ut illinc aliqua pravitatum germina pullulaverint Sacerdotibus pertinet in sua Diocoesi ut ad rectum sedulo quemcunque juvent nec patiantur si possint ut Christianus aliquis alii noceat c. Chron. Jo. Bromton de Leg. Aethelst Reg. And in the Preamble to the Laws of that King you will find these words viz. Debet etiam Episcopus sedulo pacem concordiam operari cum Seculi Judicibus Yea long after the Conquest in the Reign of H. 2. An. 1164. by his Laws made at Clarendon the Bishops might interest themselves with the Kings Secular Judges where the matter in Judgment extended not to diminution of Members or were Capital An. 1164. Congregati sunt Praesules Proceres Anglicani regni apud Clarendoniam Rex igitur Henricus c. Then it follows in Lege undecima viz. Archiepiscopi Episcopi c. sicut Barones caeteri debent interesse Judiciis Curiae Regis cum Baronibus usque perveniatur in Judicio ad diminutionem Membrorum vel ad mortem Notwithstanding at the same time the Bishops Ecclesiastical Courts as also the Archdeacons Courts were established in this Kingdom and further ratified and confirmed by these very Laws of King H. 2. made at Clarendon as appears by the Tenth Law and that immediately foregoing the Premisses in haec verba viz. Qui de Civitate vel Castello vel Burgo vel dominico manerio Domini Regis fuerit si ab Archidiacono vel Episcopo de aliquo delicto Citatus fuerit unde debeat eis Respondere ad Citationes eorum noluerit satisfacere bene licet eum sub Interdicto ponere sed non debet c. exinde poterit Episcopus ipsum Accusatum Ecclesiastica Justitia coercere Chron. Gervas de Temp. H. 2. In those daies there was no occasion for that just Complaint which a Learned Pen as a Modern Author observes makes viz. That Courts which should distribute Peace do themselves practice Duells whilst it is counted the part of a Resolute Judge to enlarge the Priviledge of his Court Lord Bacon in his Advanc of Learn p. 463. Aphor. 96. It was with more moderation expressed by him who said It was sad when Courts that are Judges become Plaintiffs and Defendants touching the Bounds of their Jurisdiction In the first Parliament of King Edward the Sixth's Reign it was Enacted That all Process out of the Ecclesiastical Courts should from thenceforth be issued in the Kings Name only and under the Kings Seal of Arms contrary to the usage of former Times But this Statute being Repealed by Queen Mary and not Revived by Queen Elizabeth the Bishops and their Chancellors Commissaries and Officials have ever since exercised all manner of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in their own Names and under the distinct Seals of their several Offices respectively Also by the Statute of 25 H. 8. c. 19. it being Enacted That all former Canons and Constitutions not contrary to the Word of God the Kings Prerogative or the Laws and Statutes of this Realm should remain in force until they were review'd by Thirty two Commissioners to be appointed by the King and that Review being never made in that Kings time nor any thing done therein by King Ed. 6. though he had also an Act of Parliament to the same effect the said Ancient Canons and Constitutions remain'd in force as before they were whereby all Causes Testamentary Matrimonial Tithes Incontinency Notorious Crimes of Publick Scandal Wilful absence from Divine Service Irreverence and other Misdemeanours in or relating to the Church c. not punishable by the Temporal Laws of this Realm were still reserved unto the Ecclesiastical Courts as a standing Rule whereby they were to proceed and regulate the Exercise of their Jurisdiction Vid. Heyl. ubi supr p. 2 3. Touching the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and what Matters and Causes should be cognizable in the Ecclesiastical Courts of Normandy in the Reign of King Richard the First upon occasion of a Contest inter Ecclesiam ROTHOMAGENSEM WILLIELMUM Filium RADULFI Steward of Normandy it was nigh Five hundred years since finally Accorded Published inter alia Declared by all the Clergy That all Perjuries and Breach of Faith except in case of National Leagues all Controversies relating to Dowries and Donations propter Nuptias quoad Mobilia should be heard and determined in the Ecclesiastical Court it was then also so many hundred years since further Resolved in haec verba viz. Quod distributio eorum quae in Testamento relinquuntur auctoritate Ecclesiae fiet nec Decima pars ut olim subtrahetur It was likewise at the same time and so long since further Resolved That Si quis subitanea morte vel quolibet alio Fortuito Casu praeoccupatus fuerit ut de rebus suis disponere non possit Distributio Bonorum ejus Ecclesiastica auctoritate fiet Radulph de Diceto Hist de Temp. Rich. 1. Regis Of all the Churches in Great Britain that of Saint Pauls London is of the largest structure
form following and not otherwise yet the King is not thereby restrained but his power remains full and perfect as before and he may still grant them as King for that all Acts of Grace and Justice flow from him By the Eighth Canon Concilii Calchuthensis held under Pope Adrian the First An. 787. the Pope had power to grant what Immunities and Priviledges he pleased in Church-matters and they were by the said Canon to be duly observed Whatever Authority the Pope pretended to in this Kingdom in such matters by way of Usurpation the same may the King as Supream Governour of the Church next under God in his own Dominions use and lawfully exercise by his Regal Authority ex justa plenitudine Potestatis suae Likewise Pope Agathon An. 680. in Concilio Romano-Britannico exercised his Papal Authority in the time of Lotharius King of Kent not only touching the Reformation of Errors and Heresies then in this Church but also as to the composure of differences and dissentions that then were among the Clergy of this Realm Such Presidents of the usurped power of the Papal See exercised in this Kingdom are now of no further use than to illustrate or exemplifie the Legal power inherent in the Kings of this Realm in such matters of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction for the most High and Sacred Order of Kings being of Divine Right it follows that all persons of what estate soever and all Causes of what quality soever whether Ecclesiastical or Civil within his Majesties Realms and Dominions are subordinated to the Power and Authority of the King as Supream It is not only acknowledged but also constituted by way of an Ecclesiastical Canon That the power of Calling and Dissolving Councils both National and Provincial is the true Right of all Christian Kings within their own Realms and Territories 8. The Ecclesiastical Legislative power was ever in the Kings of this Realm within their own Dominions That in Ancient times they made their own Ecclesiastical Laws Canons and Constitutions appears by several Presidents and Records of very great Antiquity which were received and observed within their own Territories without any Ratification from any Forreign power One instance among many may be given of the Ecclesiastical Laws of Alured Mag. Regis Anglorum An. 887. This they did de jure by virtue of their own inherent Supremacy And therefore when Pope Nicholas the Second An. 1066. in the Bull wherein he ordained Westminster to be the place for the Consecration of Kings gave power to Edward the Confessor and his Successors to constitute such Laws in the Church as he should think fit he gave him therein no more than was his own before For the Kings of England might ordain or repeal what Canons they thought fit within their own Dominions in right of their Regal Supremacy the same being inherent in them Jure Divino non Papali For we find that in King AEtheldreds days An. 1009. in Concilio AEnhamensi Generali the Canons then made and afterwards caused by King Kanutus to be Transcribed were called the Kings Canons not the Bishops En hujus Concilii Canones quos in suas Leges passim transcripsit Rex Canutus Malmsburius AEtheldredo Regi non Episcopis tribuit And the Peers of this Realm per Synodum Landavensem were unexcommunicable nisi prius Consulto Rege aut ejus praecepto Which is a plain demonstration That the Kings of England Anciently had the Supremacy and superintendent Ecclesiastical power and Jurisdiction inherent in themselves exclusively to all other either home or Forreign powers whatever 9. It is by good Authority asserted That the King as Supream is himself instead of the whole Law yea that he is the Law it self and the only chief Interpreter thereof as in whose Breast resides the whole knowledge of the same And that his Majesty by communicating his Authority to his Judge to expound the Laws doth not thereby abdicate the same from himself but that he may assume it again unto him when and as oft as he pleases Dr. Ridl View p. 2. c. 1. Sect. 7. Consonant whereunto is that which Borellus hath Principum Placita Legis habent vigorem eatenus vim Legis obtinebunt quatenus fuerint cum honestate conjuncta Borel de Magist Edict l. 2. c. 4. Roland à Val. Cons 91. nu 54. vo 2. And Suarez tells us That Princeps est Lex viva reipsa praecipit ut Lex per scripturam Of which Opinion also is Alexander Imola and many others Suar. Alleg. 9. nu 13. The grant of Dispensations is a peculiar and very considerable part of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction the which is eminently in the Crown and by the Stat. of 25 H. 8. the Archbishop of Canterbury may grant Dispensations Archiepiscopus possit dispensare contra Statutum Provinciale per se editum Et qui potest jus condere potest illud tollere Lindw de Cler. Conju c. 2. gl ult Extr. de Elect. c. Significasti c. Intonuit And in another place Episcopus in quibusdam Casibus Dispensare potest contra Canones Const Otho de Concu Cler. gl ver Meritis 10. The Laws and Statutes of this Realm have been tender of the Kings Supremacy ever since the Forreign power over the State Ecclesiastical was abolished In the Statute of 13 Car. 2. cap. 12. there is a Proviso That nothing in the said Act shall extend to abridge or diminish the Kings Majesties Supremacy in Ecclesiastical matters and affairs And in the Stat. of 22 Car. 2. cap. 1. there is a Proviso That not any thing therein contained shall extend to invalidate or avoid his Majesties Supremacy in Ecclesiastical affairs but that his Majesty his Heirs and Successors may from time to time and at all times hereafter exercise and enjoy all Powers and Authority in Ecclesiastical affairs as fully and amply as any of his Predecessors have or might have done 11. As no Convocations for Ecclesiastical Constitutions or for correction or reformation of Abuses in the Church can be Conven'd without his Majesties Writ for that end and purpose so being Conven'd no Canons or Constitutions that shall then be agreed on can have any effect in Law or be in force to oblige any of his Majesties Subjects until his consent thereunto be first had and obtained and until they shall have the power of Ecclesiastical Laws by being ratified and confirmed by the Supream Authority Therefore the Archbishop of Canterbury may not hold a Council for his Province without the Kings leave for when such Council was held by Hubert Archbishop of Canterbury it was prohibited by Fitz-Peter Chief Justice for that he had not the Kings License therein but he would not obey And 13 E. 3. Rot. Parl. M. 1. there was a Writ for a Convocation of the Clergy of the Province of Canterbury and Pauls And another for the other of York vid. Stat. 25 H. 8. c. 19. where the Clergy of England acknowledge that
Secular who within that Province whereof he is Archbishop hath next and immediately under the King Supream power Authority and Jurisdiction in all causes and things Ecclesiastical Of such there are only Two in England one of the Province of Canterbury styled Metropolitanus Primas Totius Angliae the other of York styled Primas Metropolitanus Angliae Under the two Archbishops are twenty six Bishopricks whereof twenty two in the Province of Canterbury and four in the Province of York so that besides the two Archbishops there are twenty four Bishops The Christian Religion in England took root first in the See of Canterbury St. Austin who first preached the Gospel to the one was the first Archbishop of the other Canterbury once the Royal City of the Kings of Kent was by King Ethelbert on his Conversion bestowed on St. Augustine the Archbishop and his Successors for ever and so the Chair thereof became originally fixed in that City of Canterbury Cantuarienses Archiepiscopi Dorovernenses antiquitus dicti sunt quia totius Anglicanae Ecclesiae Primates Metropolitani fuerunt The Archbishop whereof being styled Primate and Metropolitan of all England is the first Peer of the Realm and hath Precedency not only before all the Clergy of the Kingdom of England but also next and immediately after the Blood Royal before all the Nobility of the Realm Sr. Edward Cokâ— says more and lets us to understand That in Ancient time they had great Precedency even before the Brother of the King as appears by the Parliament Roll of 18 E. 1. and many others which continued until it was altered by Ordinance in Parliament in the Reign of H. 6. as appears by a Roll of Parliament of that Kings Reign entred in the Back of the Parliament Roll. The Precedency in Parliament and other Places of Council at this day is That the two Archbishops have the Precedency of all the Lords Temporal and every other Bishop in respect of his Barony hath place of all the Barons of the Realm and under the estate of the Viscount and other Superiour Dignities And at this day in all Acts Ordinances and Judgments c. of Parliament it is said The Lords Spiritual and Temporal The Bishops among themselves have this Precedency 1. The Bishop of London 2. The Bishop of Duresme 3. The Bishop of Winchester The Archbishop of Canterbury as he hath the Precedency of all the Nobility so also of all the great Officers of State He writes himself Divina Providentia whereas other Bishops only use Divina Permissione The Coronation of the Kings of England belongs to the Archbishop of Canterbury and it hath been formerly resolved that wheresoever the Court was the King and Queen were Speciales Domestici Parochiani Domini Archiepiscopi He had also heretofore this Priviledge of special remark That such as held â—ands of him were liable for Wardship to him and to compound with him for the same albeit they held other Lands in chief of our Sovereign Lord the King All the Bishopricks in England except Duresme Carlisle Chester and the Isle of Man which are of the Province of York are within the Province of Canterbury The Archbishop whereof hath also a peculiar Jurisdiction in thirteen Parishes within the City of London and in other Diocesses c. Having also an Ancient Priviledge That wherever any Mannors or Advowsons do belong to his See they forthwith become exempt from the Ordinary and are reputed Peculiars and of his Diocess of Canterbury If you consider Canterbury as the Seat of the Metropolitan it hath under it twenty one Suffragan Bishops whereof seventeen in England and four in Wales But if you consider it as the Seat of a Diocesan so it comprehends only some part of Kent viz. 257 Parishes the residue being in the Diocess of Rochester together with some other Parishes dispersedly scituate in several Diocesses it being as aforesaid an Ancient Priviledge of this See that the places where the Archbishop hath any Mannors or Advowsons are thereby exempted from the Ordinary and are become Peculiars of the Diocess of Canterbury properly belonging to the Jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury whose Provincial Dean is the Bishop of London whose Chancellour is the Bishop of Winchester whose Vice-Chancellour anciently was the Bishop of Lincoln whose Precentor the Bishop of Salisbury whose Chaplain the Bishop of Worcester and the Bishop of Rochester when time was carried the Cross before him Lind. Const de Poenis gl ibid. c. 1. ver tanquam 2. The Metropolitan See of York had its Original at the first reception of the Gospel in England when King Lucius established Sampson the first Archbishop thereof Not long after the Conversion of the Saxons Paulinus by Pope Gregory's appointment was made Archbishop thereof An. 622. This Province of York anciently claimed and had a Metropolitan Jurisdiction over all the Bishops of Scotland whence they had their Consecration and to which they swore Canonical Obedience The Archbishop of York styles himself Primate and Metropolitan of England as the Archbishop of Canterbury Primate and Metropolitan of All England About two hundred years since viz. An. 1466. when George Nevil was Archbishop of York the Bishops of Scotland withdrew themselves from their obedience to him and had Archbishops of their own The Archbishop of York hath precedency before all Dukes not being of the Blood Royal as also before all the Great Officers of State except the Lord Chancellour Of this Province of York are the Bishopricks of Duresme Chester Carlisle and the Isle of Man who write themselves Eboracenses or Eborum The Diocess belonging to this See of York contains the two Counties of York and Notingham and in them 581 Parishes whereof 336 are Impropriations 3. It hath been question'd whether there be any difference between Archbishop and Metropolitan the DD. herein seem to be divided some conceiving that there is some difference between them others affirming that they are both one the Canon Law seems in a sense to favour each of these Opinions saying in one place that the Archbishop as President hath the charge and oversight of the Metropolitans and other Bishops 21. Dist Cleros In another place That Archbishop and Metropolitan are but one and the same in deed and in truth although they differ in Name Wilhel in Clem. ult de Privileg verb. Archiepiscopo vers fin Metropolitanus Archiepiscopus idem sunt Sed Metropolitanus nomen trahit à numero Ecclesiarum viz. à metro mensura polis Civitas Otho glo in verb. Archiepiscopus De Offic. Archiepisc He is called Archiepiscopus quasi Princeps Episcoporum in respect of the other Bishops whereof he is chief and Metropolitanus in respect of the number of the Cities or Cathedral Churches where the Bishopricks are Lindw ubi supr gl ib. ver Metropolitanum For the word Civitas doth signifie with us as it doth in other Kingdoms such a Town
tempore Pentecost oblata dicto nuper Prioratui beatae Mariae Wigorn. modo dissolut dudum spectan pertinen c. Ex Archivis Decani Capit. Wigorn. But in Glocester it seems it is otherwise for there the Bishop and the Archdeacon only receive them nor can the Dean and Prebendaries that now are of the Cathedral make any just claim to them For before the Suppression these Pentecostals were inter alia valued to the Archdeacon in the Kings Books as part of the Revenue of the Archdeaconry And as for Procurations aforesaid although they are as Dr. Cosen says ratione Visitationis plerumque praestandae yet not solummodo so and thence it is held that they are in some places payable to the Archdeacon jure Consuetudinario even in the Bishops Triennial year sine Visitatione on the Archdeacons part 11. To this purpose Remarkable is that Case of Proxies which Sir John Davis the Kings Attorney General in Ireland reports to have been there Resolved and Adjudged The Case was this The Bishop of Meth before the dissolution of Monasteries had a Proxy of fifteen shillings four pence payable yearly out of the Commandry of Kells in the County of Meth parcel of the Possessions of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in Ireland and one other Proxy of twenty shillings payable yearly out of the Impropriate Rectory of Trevet in the same County parcel of the possessions of the Abbey of Thomascourt in the County of Dublin In the thirty third year of King H. 8. the said Hospital and Abbey were suppressed and dissolved and all the possessions of both the said Houses were vested in the actual possession of the Crown by Act of Parliament But in the said Act there is an Express Saving the Proxies to all Bishops and their Successors Afterwards the Bishop of Meth and his Clergy for that Bishoprick hath not any Dean and Chapter by Deed Inrolled Dated 16 March 36 H. 8. granted to the said Proxies inter alia to King H. 8. his Heirs and Successors the King being at the time of the Grant and after in the actual possession of the said Commandry and Rectory out of which the said Proxies were payable Afterwards Queen Elizabeth by her Letters Patent dated Primo Novemb. in the thirty third year of her Reign demised the said Commandry and Rectory to Dr. Forth And now whether he shall be charged with these Proxies and the Arrearages thereof after the commencement of the Lease was the Question And it was Adjudged that he should be charged therewith In the Argument of this Case there were Three points moved and debated 1 Whether the Proxies were wholly extinct by the suppression and dissolution of the said Religious houses notwithstanding the said Saving in the Act of Dissolution 2 Whether the Bishop could grant the Proxies to the King 3 Whether the Proxies in the hands of the King were extinct by the Unity of Possession For the First point it was Objected by Sir Ambrose Forth 's Counsel That the Proxies were extinct by the suppression and dissolution of the Religious houses For that the Visitation of the Religious houses were the sole cause of the payment of the Proxies Et cessante causa cessat effectus For the Religious houses being gone and dispersed they shall not be afterwards subject to Visitation and then when the Visitation doth cease the Proxies being only Exhibition given to the Visitor for his Travelling charges shall cease also For Procuratio as the Canonists define it est Exhibitio sumptuum necessariorum facta Praelatis qui Dioeceses peragrando Ecclesias subject as Visitant Yet it was agreed That the Visitation doth not cease immediately upon the Surrender or by the Act of Parliament which gives the Religious houses and their Possessions to the Crown for by that their Corporations are not dissolved as was held in the Case of the Dean and Chapter of Norwich Co. par 3. 15 Ass p. 8. 32 H. 8. Br. Corporations 78. But when the Religious persons were dispersed and had relinquished their Habit Rule and Order for which they were Visitable then their Corporation was utterly dissolved and thereupon the Visitation ceases And in this case they resembled a Proxie due for Visitation to an Annuity for Counsel or some other Service to be done if the Counsel or the Service be withdrawn the Annuity determines So if a Rent-charge be granted for a Way stop the Way and the Rent-charge shall be stopt also 9 Ed. 4. 19. 15 Ed. 4. 2. 21 Ed. 3. 7. So where a Corodie is granted for certain Service to be done the omission of the Service determines the Corody 20 Ed. 4. fo ult It was also said That the duty is not Annual but Contingent and payable only upon every Visitation And for the Saving they said it was a Flattering Saving which could not preserve the Proxies in being which the Law had extinguished as was held 14 Eliz. Dyer 313. That the tenures of the Obit or Chauntry-Lands held of the Subjects are extinct by the Act of 1 Ed. 6. notwithstanding the Saving in the said Act propter absurditatem So the Proxies in this Case shall be extinct propter absurditatem For as it is absurd that the King should be subject to Attendance in respect of a Tenure so it is absurd that the King should be subject to Visitation or to any duty in respect thereof Of the same nature there are many Savings put in Walsingham's Case Plow Com. 563. which are there called Flattering Savings As to the Second point it was objected That the Bishop could not grant these Proxies to the King for two Reasons the one drawn from the person of the King the other from the person of the Bishop 1 For the King Admit that he were capable of such a Spiritual Office as to be a Visitor of Religious persons yet he shall not have Proxies by reason of the Inconveniency and Indecency and also for the Impossibility thereof For it is neither Convenient nor Decent that the poor Religious persons should bear the Charges of the King And it is also Impossible for by the Canon Law Procuratio exhibenda est secundum qualitatem personae Visitantis and the Majesty of the person of the King and the grandure of his Train such that by presumption of Law no private person can bear his necessary charges or make him entertainment answerable to the quality of his person 2 For the Bishop Although he may grant his Temporal possessions with the assent of his Chapter or Clergy yet those duties which he hath by the prerogative of his Episcopal Chair or as incident to his Spiritual Function he may not grant And they by the Rule of the Canon Law are of Three sorts viz. 1 Subsidium Cathedrarium which is a duty of Prerogative and Superiority 2 Quarta Episcopalis which was given to him for Reparation of Churches 3 Procurationes for his Visitation as aforesaid which is a perquisite
The Case of Tithes is parallel to the Case of Proxies and agrees therewith in all points For as Instruction was the cause of the payment of Tithes So Visitation which is ever accompanied with Instruction Littl. ca. de Frankalmoigne 30. b. was the cause of the Proxies And as Tithes are now due and payable to lay-Lay-persons which have purchased Impropriate Rectories although they do not give any Instruction So Proxies are due and payable to Ordinaries out of the Impropriations and Religious houses dissolved although their Visitation ceases And as none can prescribe de non decimando as is commonly held in the Common Law So the Canon Law hath a Rule Quod nulla est adversus Procurationem praescriptio Inst Jur. Canon lib. 2. cap. de Censibus Also Proxies which resemble Tithes in other points may be well compared to them in this point viz That they shall not be subject to extinguishment by unity of possession CHAP. X. Of Diocesan Chancellors Commissaries Officials and Consistories 1. A Description of the Office of such Chancellors and how they differ from the Bishops Commissaries 2. The Antiquity and necessary use of such Chancellors 3. What the Canons Ecclesiastical require touching their Office 4. Whether a Divine that is not a Civilian may be a Chancellour 5. Where and before whom the Bishops Consistories are held 6. What is meant or intended by the word Consistory 7. The great Antiquity of the Bishops Consistories 8. That Antiquity further confirmed and proved 9. The difference between Consistorium and Tribunal 10. Incidents to the Chancellors Office as he is Oculus Episcopi 11. A short digression touching Administrators 12. The Laws and Canons touching Summoners 13. The Constitutions Provincial what provision there touching this Office of Summoners 14. A Judgment at Common Law in Action on the Case against an Apparitor or Summoner for Citing a man wrongfully into the Ecclesiastical Court 15. What a Commissary is how to be qualified with the Precincts of his Jurisdiction 16. Whether a Commissary may Cite persons of several Parishes to appear at his Visitation-Court 17. A Case at Common Law touching a Commissary made by a Dean 18. Whether a meer Lay-person may be a Commissary or Official Other points in Law touching that Office and the Grant thereof 19. Sufficiency or Insufficiency or other defects in Chancellors Commissaries c. properly cognizable not in the Temporal but Ecclesiastical Courts 20. The Office of Chancellorship as to the Right of it is held to be of Temporal but as to the Exercise thereof of Ecclesiastical cognizance 21. Whether the Offices of Chancellor Register c. in Ecclesiastical Courts be within the Statute of 5 Ed. 6. 1. THe Chancellor of a Diocess is a Church-Lawyer or the Bishops-Lawyer or that person who is Commissionated to be aiding and assisting to the Bishop in his Jurisdiction not confined to any one place of the Diocess nor limited as the Bishops Commissaries are only to some certain causes of the Jurisdiction but every where throughout the whole Diocess supplying the Bishops absence in all matters and causes Ecclesiastical within his Diocess By the Statute of 37 H. 8. c. 17. a Doctor of the Civil Law lawfully deputed may exercise all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and the Censures thereof By this Chancellor the Bishop within his Diocess keeps his Court according to the Ecclesiastical Laws in all matters pertaining to his Jurisdiction or otherwise relating more immediately to the Church or Government of the Clergy As Bishops in their Episcopal audience have had in all Ages the cognizance of all matters Ecclesiastical as well Civil as Criminal within the Jurisdiction of their Diocess so they have ever had to that end their Chancellors whom the Law calls Ecclesiecdici or Episcoporum Ecdici persons experienced in the Civil and Canon Laws to assist them in matters of Judgment and those whom we now call the Bishops Chancellours are the very self same persons in Office that anciently did exercise Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction under Bishops and were called Ecclesiecdici Papias per Gothofred in L. omnem C. de Episc Cler. in § praeterea ibid. Dr. Ridl View par 2. cap. 2. sect 3. Who forasmuch as they have with them the Bishops Authority every where within the Diocess for matters of Jurisdiction and in that the Bishops and They make but one Consistory are called the Bishop's Vicars General both in respect of their Authority which extendeth throughout the whole Diocess as also to distinguish them from the Commissaries of Bishops whose Authority as it is restrained only to some certain place of the Diocess so also to some certain causes of the Jurisdiction limited unto them by the Bishops for which reason the Law calls them Officiales Foraneos quasi Officiales astricti cuidam foro Dioeceseos tantum Dr. Ridl ibid. 2. Dr. Ridley in his View of the Civil and Ecclesiastical Law says that Chancellors of Diocesses are nigh of as great Antiquity as Bishops themselves and are such necessary Officers to Bishops that every Bishop must of necessity have a Chancellor and that if any Bishop should seem to be so compleat within himself as not to need a Chancellor yet the Archbishop of the Province in case of refusal may put a Chancellor on him in that the Law presumes the Government of a whole Diocess a matter of more weight than can be well sustained by one person alone and that although the Nomination of the Chancellour is in the Bishop yet his Authority is derived from the Law Hostiens Sum. de Offic. Vicar nu 2. For which reason the Law understands him as an Ordinary as well as the Bishop Hostiens ibid. It is most probable that the multiplicity and variety of Ecclesiastical Causes introduced the use and Office of Chancellors originally for after that Princes had granted to Ecclesiastical persons their Causes and their Consistories and Circumstances varying these Causes into a more numerous multiplication than were capable of being defined by like former Presidents necessity call'd for new Decisions and they for such Judges as were experienced in such Laws as were adapted to matters of an Ecclesiastical Cognizance which would have been too prejudicial an Avocation of Bishops from the exercise of their more Divine Function had not the office of the Chancellor in determining such matters been an expedient to prevent the said prejudice or inconvenience 3. By the Constitutions and Canons Ecclesiastical it is Ordered That upon the days of the Visitation every Chancellor Archdeacon Commissary and Official as also at the ordinary time when Church-wardens are Sworn shall deliver them such Books of Articles as whereon to ground their Presentments Also that they shall not suffer any to be cited into Ecclesiastical Courts by any General process of Quorum Nomina nor the same person to be cited into several Ecclesiastical Courts for one and the same Crime for which end the Chancellour and Archdeacon are within one month next after the
the Bishop of London Willielmus Dei gratia Rex Anglorum R. Bainardo S. de magna Villa P. de Vabines caeterisque meis Fidelibus de Essex de Hertfordshire de Middlesex Salutem Sciatis vos omnes c. In which Charter the Tenor of the foresaid Charter is recited word by word in English The like Charter he also there says is in the Book of Charters of the Archbishop of Canterbury Whereby it is most evident that the Bishops Consistories are of great Antiquity and that they were erected when Causes Ecclesiastical were removed from the Tourne which is a Court of Record holden before the Sheriff to the Consistory So that this Law made by the Conqueror seems as Mr. Blount in his Nomo-Lexiâ—on on this word well observes to give the Original of the Bishops Consistory as it now sits with us distinct and divided from the Hundred or County-Court wherewith it seems probable in the time of the Saxons to have been joyn'd 9. Lindwood in the Provincial Constitutions upon this word Consistorium quoad Episcopos puts this difference between Consistorium and Tribunal Tribunal says he est Locus in quo sedet Ordinarius inferior but Consistorium est Locus in quo sedet princeps ad Judicandum Lindw de foro Competent c. excussis in ver Consistoria Albeit according to the vulgar acceptation of these words we refer Tribunal to any place of Judicature but Consistorium to that only which is of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction 10. This Chancellor of a Diocess as he is Oculus Episcopi ought to have an eye into all parts of the Diocess and hath immediately under the Ordinary Jurisdiction of all matters Ecclesiastical within the same not only for reformation of Manners and punishment of Enormities of a Spiritual nature by Ecclesiastical Censures but also in Causes Matrimonial and Testamentary as to the Probat of Wills and granting Letters of Administration of the Goods of a person dying Intestate where there are not Bona Notabilia In which case the Will shall be proved or Administration granted by the Prerogative of the Archbishop And wherever there is an Administration duly granted there the Administrator doth almost in all points represent the person of the Intestate as legally as any Executor can the person of his Testator Testamentarily For this Administrator in construction of the Common Law is that person to whose trust care conduct and management the Goods and Chattels Real and Personal of the Intestate are committed by the Ordinary or such other as under him is duly Authorized to grant the same But under this Notion or Appellation of Administrator neither the Civil nor the Canon Law knows any such Officer only they take notice of Administrators as Governours of Persons Places or Things Decret Can. 23. q. 5. cap. 26. Extra Com. cap. 11. And it is most probable that the Common Law might as some conceive take its light as to this Officer under this notion as now practicable with us from the Constitution of the Emperour Leo. I. 28. nulli licere C. de Episc Cler. whereby it is Ordained That the Bishop shall take care to see such Legacies duly performed as are bequeathed for the Redemption of Captives in case the Testator appoint not one to execute his Will in that particular This power given to the Ordinary of making Administrators in case of Intestation and of Authorizing them to act as Executors is very ancient by the Statute-Law And if any Ordinary Chancellor c. having power by the Act of 21 H. 8. to grant the Administration of the goods of him that dieth Intestate to the Widow or next of Kin shall take any Reward for the preferring any person before another to the Administration it is Bribery 11. A lawful Administrator may render his own Goods liable to the Intestates Debts either by a Devastavit or by a False Plea Judicially and his Executor or Administrator shall not succeed him in the Administration to his Intestate unless qualified to require Administration of both Intestates but the Administration of the first Intestates goods is de novo to be committed to his next of Kin as de bonis non Adm. And if a Stranger by any Act make himself Executor de son tort the Creditors and Legataries may not sue him as Administrator albeit it be an Administration in Fact but must sue him as Executor in his own wrong who notwithstanding is not any further liable than to the value of the Deceased's Goods as Assets in his hands But in case the Ordinary shall without granting any Letters of Administration make his Letters Ad Colligendum in that case he makes himself liable to Actions pro tanto as if himself were actually possessed of the Goods of the deceased And here Note That Funeral expences according to the degree and quality of the Deceased are to be allowed of his Goods before any debt or duty whatsoever for that is Opus pium or Charitativum 12. And as in these Consistories there is a great variety of Ecclesiastical Causes heard and determined so also the Officers belonging thereto are many and of various qualities and degrees whereof some seem to be magis principales others minus principales but others in the popular account as meer Animalia tantum Rationalia by whom they understand Apparitors who in truth are Summoners and whose Character in Law is this viz. He is that person whose employment is to serve such Processes as issue out of the Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Courts and as a Messenger to Cite Offenders and others to make their appearance therein as occasion shall require By the Statute of 21 H. 8. c. 5. as also by the 138th Canon of the Ecclesiastical Constitutions Apparitors are called Summoners or Sumners by which Canon the Abuses aud Grievances pretended to be practiced by such Summoners or Apparitors are sufficiently redressed For as the multitude of them is thereby abridged and restrained by Decreeing and Ordaining That no Bishop or Archdeacon or their Vicars or Officials or other inferiour Ordinaries shall depute or have more Apparitors to serve their Jurisdictions respectively than either they or their Predecessors were accustomed to have Thirty years before the publishing the said Ecclesiastical Constitutions So it is likewise provided by the said Canon That the said Apparitors shall by themselves faithfully execute their Offices and not by any colour or pretence whatsoever cause or suffer their Mandats to be executed by any Messengers or Substitutes unless upon some good cause to be first allowed and approved by the Ordinary of the place It is also further Provided by the said Canon That they shall not take upon them the Office of Promoters or Informers for the Court nor shall exact more or greater Fees than are prescribed by the 135th Canon of the said Ecclesiastical Constitutions And in case either the number of Apparitors deputed shall exceed the aforesaid Limitation or any of
exempted out of the Bishop of London's Jurisdiction The Judge of this Court of Arches is styled the Dean of the Arches or the Official of the Arches-Court unto whose Deanary or Officialty to the Archbishop of Canterbury in all matters and causes Spiritual is annexed the Peculiar Jurisdiction of the thirteen Parishes as aforesaid Having also all Ordinary Jurisdiction in Spiritual causes of the first Instance with power of Appeal as the superiour Ecclesiastical Consistory through the whole Province of Canterbury yet the Lord Coke says his power to call any person for any Cause out of any part of his Province within the Diocess of any other Bishop except it be upon Appeal is restrained by the Stat. of 23 H. 8. c. 9. Yet his Jurisdiction is Ordinary and extends it self through the whole Province of Canterbury insomuch that upon any Appeal made to him from any Diocess within the said Province he may forthwith without further examination at that time of the Cause issue forth his Citation to be served on the Appealee with his Inhibition to the Judge à quo In Mich. 6 Jac. C. B. there was a Case between Porter and Rochester The Case was this Lewis and Rochester who dwelt in Essex in the Diocess of London were sued for subtraction of Tithes growing in B. in the said County of Essex by Porter in the Court of Arches of the Archbishop of Canterbury in London where the Archbishop hath a peculiar Jurisdiction of thirteen Parishes called a Deanary exempt from the Authority of the Bishop of London whereof the Parish of S. Mary de Arcubus is the chief And a great Question was moved Whether in the said Court of Arches holden in London he might cite any dwelling in Essex for subtraction of Tithes growing in Essex or whether he be prohibited by the Statute of 23 H 8. c. 9 Which after debate at Bar by Council and also by Dr. Ferrard Dr. James and others in open Court and lastly by all the Justices of the Common Pleas A Prohibition was granted to the high Court of Arches And in this case divers points were resolved by the Court 1 That all Acts of Parliament are parcel of the Laws of England and therefore shall be expounded by the Judges of the Laws of England and not by the Civilians and Canonists although the Acts concern Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction 2 Resolved by Coke Chief Justice Warburton Daniel and Foster Justices That the Archbishop of Canterbury is restrained by the 23 H. 8. cap. 9. to cite any one out of his own Diocess For Diaecesis dicitur distinctio c. quae divisa vel diversa est ab Ecclesia alterius Episcopatus Commissa gubernatio unius c. And is derived a Di Duo Electio quia separat duas Jurisdictiones And because the Archbishop of Canterbury hath a peculiar Jurisdiction in London for this cause it is fitly said in the Title Preamble and body of the Act that when the Archbishop sitting in his Exempt peculiar in London cites one dwelling in Essex he cites him out of the Bishop of London's Diocess Therefore out of the Diocess And in the clause of the penalty of 10 l. it is said Out of the Diocess c. where the party dwelleth which agrees with the signification of Diocess before 2. The body of the Act is No person shall be henceforth cited before any Ordinary c. out of the Diocess or peculiar Jurisdiction where the person shall be dwelling and if so then à Fortiori the Court of Arches which sits in a Peculiar may not cite others out of another Diocess And the words out of the Diocess are meant of the Diocess or Jurisdiction of the Ordinary where he dwelleth And from the Preamble of the Act the Lord Coke observes and inferrs That the intention of the Act was to reduce the Archbishop to his proper Diocess unless in these five Cases viz. 1 For any Spiritual offence or cause committed or omitted contrary to Right and Duty by the Bishop c. which word omitted proves there ought to be a default in the Ordinary 2 Except it be in Case of Appeal and other lawful cause where the party shall find himself grieved by the Ordinary after the matter there first begun Therefore it ought to be first begun before the Ordinary 3 In case the Bishop or Ordinary c. dare not or will not Convent the party to be sued before him 4 In case the Bishop or Judge of the place within whose Jurisdiction or before whom the Suit by this Act should be begun and prosecuted be party directly or indirectly to the matter or cause of the same Suit 5 In case any Bishop or other inferiour Judge under him c. make Request to the Archbishop Bishop or other inferiour Ordinary or Judge and that to be done in Cases only where the Law Civil or Common doth affirm c. The Lord Coke takes notice also of Two Provisoes in that Act which do likewise explain it viz. That it shall be lawful for every Archbishop to cite any person inhabiting in any Bishops Diocess in his Province for matter of Heresie By which says he it appears That for all causes not excepted he is prohibited by the Act. 2 There is a Saving for the Archbishop calling any person out of the Diocess where he shall be dwelling to the probat of any Testament Which Proviso should be vain if notwithstanding that Act he should have concurrent Jurisdiction with every Ordinary throughout his whole Province Wherefore it was concluded That the Archbishop out of his Diocess unless in the Cases excepted is prohibited by the 23 H. 8. c 9. to cite any man out of any other Diocess which Act is but a Law declaratory of the Ancient Canons and a true Exposition thereof as appears by the Canon Cap. Romana in Sext. de Appellat c. de Competenti in Sext. And as the Lord Coke observes the Act is so expounded by all the Clergy of England at a Convocation at London An. 1 Jac. 1603. Can. 94. who gives us further to understand in this Case between Porter and Rochester That the Archbishop of this Realm before that Act had power Legantine from the Pope By which they had Authority not only over all but concurrent Authority with every Ordinary c. not as Archbishop of Canterbury c. but by his Power and Authority Legantine Et tria sunt genera Legatorum 1 Quidam de Latere Dom. Papae mittuntur c. 2 Dativi qui simpliciter in Legatione mittuntur c. 3 Nati seu Nativi qui suarum Ecclesiarum praetextu Legatione funguntur sunt Quatuor viz. Archiepiscopus Cantuariensis Eboracensis Remanensis Pisanis Which Authority Legantine is now taken away and utterly abolished 4. It is supposed that the Judge of this Court was originally styled the Dean of the Arches by reason of his substitution to the Archbishop's Official when
he was employed abroad in Foreign Embassies whereby both these Names or styles became at last in common understanding as it were Synonymâ—us For the Official of this Court and the Dean of the Arches by such Substitution had both the same Juridical Authority though with distinct styles in several persons as appears by that which comes next to the Preface to the Ancient Statutes of that Court ordained by Robert Winchelsey Archbishop of Canterbury in that Stat. touching the Form of the Judges Oath where the words are tam Officalis dictae Curiae quam Decanus de Arcubus suus Commissarius Generalis c. For he that was the Archbishops Official in this Court was heretofore obliged to Constitute the Dean of the Arches as his Commissary General in his absence as also appears by another of those Statutes or Constitutions of that Court Ordained by John Whitgift Archbishop of Canterbury the Title of which Statute is De Decano Ecclesiae Beatae Mariae de Arcubus Lond. wherein we find viz. Statuimus quod Officialis dictae Curiae teneatur Decanum Ecclesiae suum Constituere in ipsius absentia Commissarium Also by the Statutes and Constitutions of this Court made by Matthew Parker Archbishop of Canterbury it is expresly Ordained That neither the Dean or Official of the Court of Arches nor the Auditor of matters and Causes in the Court of Audience of Cant. nor the Judge of the Prerogative Court shall exercise the Function or Profession of an Advocate in any Court belonging to the Jurisdiction of the said Archbishop on pain of Excommunication and Suspension In this Court of the Arches the Proctors thereof do wear such Hoods as Bachelors of Arts use to wear in the Vniversities which Habit or Formality was first enjoyned by Henry Chichley Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 1435. The style of this Court is Alma Curia Cant. de Arcubus Lond. And the Appeal from it doth lie to the King in Chancery 5. This Court of the Arches anciently holden in Bow-Church of London is of very great Antiquity the Lord Coke in the forecited place lets us to understand that he meets with it in a very Ancient Record of a Prohibition In Curia Christianitatis cotam Decano de Arcubus London The Statutes and Ordinances of which Court are very Ancient and to which Those ordained by Robert Winchelsey Archbishop of Canterbury above 380 years since do referr Robertus Winchelse Archiepiscopus Cantuariensis descripsit Judicibus Advocatis Procuratoribus aliisque ministris Almae suae Curiae de Arcubus jura quaedam Statuta quae ipse in Templo Arcuato sedens pro Tribunali legit atque obligavit Quinto Idus Novemb. Anno 1295. William de Sardinia being then his Official and Henry de Nassington Dean of the Arches the said Officials Commissary General By which Statutes it was Ordained That the Advocates belonging to the said Consistory should not exceed the number of Sixteen nor the Proctors above the number of Ten nor should any of them without the special License of the President of that Consistory absent themselves thence by any attendance on any other Consistory at such times wherein Causes were to be heard in the Arches And for the dispatch of the Causes of poor and indigent persons the Judge may by the said Statutes assign them Advocates and Proctors to prosecute for them Gratis Charitative and that nothing be paid for the Process Acts of Court Examinations Sentence or other Court-Fees in such Cases In which Court the Senior Advocates by the same Statutes are to take their places opposite to the Judge the others on each side of him nigher to or remoter from him according to their Seniority the like Order in Court to be observed also by the Proctors And such was the devotion of those days in that Consistory That in order to an imploring of the Divine assistance on their proceedings in Judgment it was further Ordained That Divine Service should be celebrated in Bow-Church immediately before the first and after the last Cession of every Term the Judge Advocates Proctors and other Officers of the Court to be present thereat 6. The Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury is that Court wherein all Testaments are proved and Administrations granted of the Goods and Chattels of such persons as dying within his Province had at the time of their death Bona Notabilia in some other Diocess than that wherein they dyed which Bona Notabilia regularly must amount to the value of Five pounds save in the Diocess of London where it is Ten pounds by Composition The Probat of every Bishops Testament and the granting of the Administration of his Goods and Chattels albeit he hath not Goods but within his own Jurisdiction doth belong to the Archbishop The like Court hath the Archbishop of York From this Court lies the Appeal to the King in Chancery If one make two Executors one of seventeen years of Age and the other under Administration during the Minority is void because he of seventeen years old may execute the Will if Administration during the Minority in such case be granted And if the Administrator brings his Action the Executor may well release the Debt One was cited to appear in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury which lived out of the Diocess of Canterbury and upon that he prayed Prohibition upon the Statute of 23 H. 8. c. 9. which willeth that none shall be cited to appear out of his Diocess without assent of the Bishop and Prohibition was granted And yet it was said that in the time of H. 8. and Q. Ma. that the Archbishop of Canterbury had used to cite any man dwelling out of his Diocess and within any Diocess within his Province to appear before him in the Prerogative-Court and this without the assent of the Ordinary of the Diocess But it was Resolved by the Court that this was by force of the power Legatine of the Archbishop that as Lindwood saith ought to be expressed in the Prohibition for the Archbishop of Canterbury York Pisa and Reymes were Legati nati and others but Legati à latere The Lord Coke in his Institutes par 3. cap. 69. gives us the Resolutions upon the Statute of 21 H. 8. cap. 5. That if a man makes his Testament in paper and dieth possessed of Goods and Chattels above the value of 40 l. and the Executor causeth the Testament to be transcribed in parchment and bringeth both to the Ordinary c. to be proved It is at the Election of the Ordinary whether he will put the Seal and Probat to the Original in paper or the Transcript in parchment but whether he put them to the one or to the other there can be taken of the Executor c. in the whole but 5 s. and not above viz. 2 s. 6 d. to the Ordinary c. and his Ministers and 2
1 Eliz. And it is not within the Statute and although it be within the Commission yet they have not Jurisdiction The words of the Statute are That such Jurisdictions and Priviledges c. as by any Ecclesiastical power have heretofore been or lawfully may be exercised for the Visitation of Ecclesiastical State and Persons and for reformation of the same and for all manner of Errors Heresies Schisms Abuses Offences Contempts and Enormities c. These words extend only to men who stir up Dissentions in the Church as Schisimaticks and new-sangled Men who offend in that kind Henden Serjeant The Suit is there for reformation of Manners and before the new amendment of the Commissions Prohibitions were granted if they meddled with Adultery or in Case of Defamations but now by express words they have power of these matters And that matter is punishable by the Commissioners for two Causes 1 There is within the Act of Parliament by the words annexed all Jurisdictions Ecclesiastical c. 2 It gives power to the Commissioners to exercise that And that is meerly Ecclesiastical being only pro reformatione morum c. The King by his Prerogative having Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction may grant Commissions to determine such things 5 Rep. Ecclesiastical Cases fol. 8. And Richardson said The Statute de Articulis Cleri gave cognizance to the Ordinary for laying violent hands on a Clerk But you affirm That all is given to the Commissioners and thereby they should take all power from the Ordinary But by the Court the Commissioners cannot meddle for a stroke in Church-Land nor pro subtractione Decimarum And yet they have express Authority by their Commission for by that course all the Ordinaries in England should be to no purpose And so upon much debate a Prohibition was granted On an Arrest on Christmas-day it was said by Richardson Chief Justice That upon Arresting a man upon Christmas-day going to Church in the Church-yard He who made the Arrest may be censured in the Star-Chamber for such an Offence Quod Nota. It was also said by Richardson that if a man submit himself out of the Diocess to any Suit he can never have a Prohibition because the Suit was not according to the Statute 23 H. 8. commenced within the proper Diocâ—ss as it was Adjudged Quod Nota It the Ecclesiastical Court proceed in a matter that is meer Spiritual and pertinent to their Court according to the Civil Law although their proceedings are against the Rules of the Common Law yet a Prohibition does not lie As if they refuse a single Witness to prove a Will for the cognizance of that belongs to them And Agreed also That if a man makes a Will but appoints no Executor that that is no Will but void But if the Ordinary commits the Administration with that annexed the Legatary to whom any Legacy is devised by such Will may sue the Administrator for their Legacies in the Ecclesiastical Court Note P. 4. Jac. B. R. Peep's Case a Prohibition was denied where they in the Ecclesiastical Court refused a single Witness in proof of payment of a Legacy After Prohibition if the Temporal Judge shall upon sight of the Libel conceive that the Spiritual Court ought to determine the cause he is to award a Consultation And by the Staâ— of 50 E. 3. c. 4. the Ecclesiastical Judge may proceed by vertue of the Consultation once granted notwithstanding any other Prohibition afterwards if the matter in the Libel be not enlarged or changed B. Administrator of A. makes C. his Executor and dies C. is sued in the Ecclesiastical Court to make an Account of the goods of A. the first Intestate And C. now moves for a Prohibition and had it for an Executor shall not be compel'd to an Account But an Administrator shall be compel'd to Account before the Ordinary Resolved by the Court That a Prohibition shall not be awarded to the Admiral or Ecclesiastical Courts after Sentence Also that a Plea was there pleaded and refused which was Triable at Common Law Note A Prohibition was awarded upon the Statute of 23 H. 8. because the party was sued out of the Diocâ—ss And now a Consultation was prayed because the Interiour Court had remitted that Cause to the Arches and their Jurisdiction also yet a Consultation was denied A Suit was in the Ecclesiastical Court and Sentence passed for one with Costs and nine months after the Costs are Assest and Taxed and then comes a Pardon of 21 Jac. which relates before the taxing of the Costs But afterwards the Sentence and that Pardon was pleaded and allowed in discharge of the Costs Then W. who had recovered sues an Appeal and P. brought a Prohibition and well and no Consultation shall be awarded because by the Court that Pardon relating before the Taxation of Cost had discharged them As 5. Rep. 51. Hall's Case B. and Two others sue upon three several Libels in the Ecclesiastical Court and they joyn in a Prohibition And by the Court that is not good But they ought to have had three several Prohibitions and therefore a Consultation was granted Mich. 26 27 Eliz. C. B. If A. Libels against B. for Three things by one Libel B. may have One or Three Prohibitions Note Dyor 171. 13. By the Statute of 25 H. 8. cap. 19. Appeals to Rome being prohibited it is Ordained That for default of Justice in any of the Courts of the Archbishops of this Realm c. it shall be lawful to Appeal to the King in his High Court of Chancery and thereupon a Commission shall be granted c. And by a Proviso towards the end of that Statute an Appeal is granted to the King in Chancery on Sentences in places exempt in such manner as was used before to the See of Rome So that this Court grounded on the said Commission is properly as well as vulgarly called The Court of Delegates for that the Judges thereof are Delegated to fit by virtue of the Kings said Commission under his Great Seal upon an Appeal to him in Chancery and that specially in Three Causes 1 When a Sentence is given in any Ecclesiastical Cause by the Archbishop or his Official 2 When any Sentence is given in any Ecclesiastical Cause in places exempt 3 When a Sentence is given in the high Court of Admiralty in Suits or Actions Civil and Maritime according to the Civil Law That this Court of Delegates may Excommunicate was Resolved by all the Judges in the Archbishop of Canterbury's Case They may also commit or grant Letters of Administration This Court of Delegates is the highest Court for Civil Affairs that concern the Church for the Jurisdiction whereof it was provided 25 H. 8. That it shall be lawful for any Subject of England in case of defect of Justice in the Courts of the Archbishop of Canterbury to Appeal to the King's Majesty in his Court of Chancery and
that upon such Appeal a Commission under the Great Seal shall be directed to certain persons particularly designed for that business so that from the highest Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury there lies an Appeal to this Court of Delegates Of this Subject of Appeals the Lord Coke says That an Appeal is a Natural defence which cannot be taken away by any Prince or power and in every Case generally when Sentence is given and Appeal made to the Superiour the Judge that did give the Sentence is obliged to obey the Appeal and proceed no further until the Superiour hath examined and determined the cause of Appeal Nevertheless where this Clause Appellatione remota is in the Commission the Judge that gave Sentence is not bound to obey the Appeal but may execute his Sentence and proceed further until the Appeal be received by the Superiour and an Inhibition be sent unto him For that Clause Appellatione remota hath Three notable effects 1 That the Jurisdiction of the Judge à quo is not by the Appeal suspended or stopped for he may proceed the same notwithstanding 2 That for proceeding to Execution or further process he is not punishable 3 That these things that are done by the said Judge after such Appeal cannot be said void for they cannot be reversed per viam Nullitatis But if the Appeal be just and lawful the Superiour Judge ought of right and equity to receive and admit the same and in that case he ought to reverse and revoke all mean Acts done after the said Appeal in prejudice of the Appellant At the Parliament held at Clarendon An. 10 H. 2. cap. 8. the Forms of Appeals in Causes Ecclesiastical are set down within the Realm and none to be made out of the Realm Ne quis appellat ad dominum Papam c. so that the first Article of the Statute of 25 H. 8. concerning the prohibiting of Appeals to Rome is declaratory of the ancient Law of the Realm And it is to be observed says the Lord Coke that the first attempt of any Appeal to the See of Rome out of England was by Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury in the Reign of William Rufus and yet it took no effect Touching the power and Jurisdiction of the Court of Delegates Vid. le Case Stevenson versus Wood. Trin. 10 Jac. B. R. Rot. 1491. in Bulstr Rep. par 2. wherein these Three points are specially argued 1 Whether the Judges Delegates may grant Letters of Administration 2 Whether in their person the King be represented 3 Whether the Court of Delegates may pronounce Sentence of Excommunication or not 14. The High Commission-Court in Causes Ecclesiastical was by Letters Patents and that by force and virtue of the Statute of 1 Eliz. cap. 1. the Title whereof is An Act restoring to the Crown the Ancient Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical c. the High Commissioners might if they were competent that is if they were Spiritual persons proceed to Sentence of Excommunication What the power of this Court was and whether they might in Causes Ecclesiastical proceed to Fine and Imprisonment is at large examined by the Lord Coke in the Fourth part of his Institutes where he reports the Judgment and Resolutions of the whole Court of Common Pleas thereon Pasch 9 Jac. Reg. upon frequent Conferences and mature deliberation set down in writing by the order and command of King James Likewise whom and in what Cases the Ecclesiastical Courts may examine one upon Oath or not there being a penal Law in the Case and whether the saying Quod nemo tenetur seipsum prodere be applicable thereunto Vid. Trin. 13 Jac. B. R. Burroughs Cox c. against the High Commissioners Bulstr par 3. 15. The Statutes of 24 H. 8. and 25 H. 8. do Ordain That upon certain Appeals the Sentence given shall be definitive as to any further Appeal notwithstanding which the King as Supream Governour may after such definitive Sentence grant a Commission of Review or Ad Revidendum c. Sir Ed. Coke gives two Reasons thereof 1 Because it is not restrained by the Statute 2 For that after a definitive Sentence the Pope as Supream Head by the Canon Law used to grant a Commision Ad Revidendum and what Authority the Pope here exercised claiming as Supream Head doth of right belong to the Crown and by the Statutes of 26 H. 8. cap. 1. and 1 Eliz. cap. 1. is annexed to the same Which accordingly was Resolved Trin. 39 Eliz. B. R. Hollingworth's Case In which Case Presidents to this purpose were cited in Michelot's Case 29 Eliz. in Goodman's Case and in Huet's Case 29 Eliz. Also vid. Stat. 8 Eliz. cap. 5. In the Case between Halliwell and Jervoice where a Parson sued before the Ordinary for Tithes and thence he appeals to the Audience where the Sentence is affirmed then the party appeals to the Delegates and there both Sentences are Repealed It was agreed That in such case a Commission Ad Revidendum the Sentences may issue forth but then such a Reviewing shall be final without further Appeal But if the Commissioners do not proceed to the Examination according to the Common Law they shall be restrained by a Prohibition 16. The Court of Peculiars is that which dealeth in certain Parishes lying in several Diocesses which Parishes are exempt from the Jurisdiction of the Bishops of those Diocesses and are peculiarly belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury Within whose Province there are fifty seven such Peculiars for there are certain peculiar Jurisdictions belonging to some certain Parishes the Inhabitants whereof are exempt sometimes from the Archdeacons and sometimes from the Bishops Jurisdiction 17. If a Suit be in the Ecclesiastical Court for a Modus Decimandi if the Desendant plead payment it shall be tryed there and no Prohibition may be granted for that the Original Suit was there well commenced So if payment be pleaded in a Suit depending in the Ecclesiastical Court for any thing whereof they have the original cognizance But if a man sue for Tithes in the Ecclesiastical Court against J. S. and makes Title to them by a Lease made to him by the Parson and J. S. there also makes Title to them by a former Lease made to him by the same Parson so that the Question there is which of the said Leases shall be preferred In this case a Prohibition shall be granted for they shall not try which of the said Leases shall be preferr'd although they have cognizance of the Original for the Leases are Temporal If a man having a Parsonage Impropriate make a Lease for years of part of the Tithes by Deed and the Deed be denied in the Ecclesiastical Court and Issue taken thereon a Prohibition shall be granted If a Parson compound with his Parishioner for his Tithes and by his Deed grant them to him for a certain Sum for one year according to Agreement and after he
And it was said That the Excommunication was only for his Contempt And it is lawful for the Bishop to grant such an Inhibition for the peace of the Church And Doderidge agreed That if the Bishop did Inhibit any from making a disturbance in the Church it was good and therefore would not grant a Prohibition for well-doing Crew Jones c. but here he had not done well Doderidge è contra Then it was said That here the Bishop had Inhibited till the matter were determined before himself And the whole Court agreed That a Seat in a Church claimed by Prescription and the priority therein likewise claimed by Prescription is Triable in this Court by an Action upon the Case and not in the Spiritual Court And at last it was agreed by the parties that H. should remain in possession till the matter were tried by Prohibition And a Prohibition was awarded in the Case Note That a Prohibition may not be granted after a Consultation And as it seems by the course of Proceedings in the Court of the King's Bench a Prohibition shall not be granted the last day of a Term and such a Motion ought not then to be made but upon a motion there may be a Rule to stay proceedings till the next Term 19. It was moved in the King's Bench for a Prohibition to the Ecclesiastical Court at Worcester and shewed for cause 1 That the Suit there was for Money which by the assent of the greater part of the Parishioners of D. was Assessed upon the Plaintiff for the Reparation viz. for the Re-casting of their Bells The truth is That the charge was for the making of new Bells where there were Four before whereby it appears that it is meerly matter of curiosity and not of necessity for which the Parishioners shall not be liable to such Taxations and herein it was relied upon 44 E. 3. 19. by Finchden 2 The party there is overcharged of which the Common Law shall judge 3 The party hath alledged that he and all those who have an Estate in such a Tenement have used to pay but Eleven shillings for any Reparation of the Church But the Prohibition was denied and by Doderidge in the Book of 44 E. 3. there was a By-law in the Case to distrain which is a thing meerly Temporal for which the Prohibition was granted per Curiam in this case the Assessment by the major part of the Parishioners binds the party albeit he assented not to it And the Court seemed to be of opinion That the Custome was not reasonable because it laid a burden upon the rest of the Parish Littleton of Counsel of the other side Suppose the Church falls shall he pay but Eleven shillings Whitlock If the Church falls the Parishioners are not bound to build it up again which was not denied by Justice Jones 20. Roberts and others of East-Greenwich were cited in the Ecclesiastical Court to pay money that the Church-wardens had expended in Reparation of the Church and the Inhabitants alledged That the Tax was made by the Church-wardens themselves without calling the Freeholders and also that the Moneys were expending in the Re-edifying Seats of the Churches which belonged to their several houses And they never assented that they should be pulled down And now the Allegation was not allowed in the Ecclesiastical Court but Sentence was given against them And then they Appealed to the Arches where this Allegation was also rejected and for that he prayed a Prohibition And the Court agreed That the Tax cannot be made by the Church-wardens but by the greater number of the Inhabitants it may and a Prohibition was granted But by Yelverton if they be cited by Ex Officio a Prohibition will not lie for so it was Ex insinuatione c. For the Wardens came and pray'd a Citation c. But by Richardson Harvey and Crook privately a Prohibition will lie in both Cases 21. E. Libels in the Ecclesiastical Court against A. pretending that a Seat that the other claimed alwaies in the Church belonged to his House and Sentence in that Court was given against E. and Costs pro falso clamore And he Appealed to the Arches and there when they were ready to affirm the Sentence he prayed a Prohibition And it was moved by Davenport that it might be granted and he cited one Tresham's Case 33 Eliz. where in such a case a Prohibition was granted after an Appeal Richardson There is no cause for any Prohibition but in respect of the costs Hutton said it was a double vexation and the party shall not have Costs for that Hitcham said they came too late to have a Prohibition for the Costs Richardson That is not like to the Probat of a Will where a thing may fall out Triable at the Common Law But there the Principal was tried at the Common Law for they had it as in right Hutton Seats in the generality are in the power of the Ordinary to dispose It is the Prescription which makes that triable at the Common Law and if Prescription be made there and it be found then he shall pay Costs Richardson All Disturbances appertain also to them if it be not upon the Statute of 5 Ed. 6. But if a Title be made there by Prescription it is meerly coram non Judice and if they cannot meddle with the Principal it is not reason that they should tax Costs And a Prohibition was granted 22. H. Farmer of a Mannor A. and other Church-wardens Libel against him in the Ecclesiastical Court for a Tax for the reparation of the Church Henden moved for a Prohibition because that first the Libel was upon a custome That the Lands should be charged for Reparations which Customes ought to be tried at the Common Law And secondly Because the custome of that place is that Houses and Arable Lands should only be taxed for the Reparations of the Church and Meadow and Pasture should be charged with other Taxes But the whole Court on the contrary First although that a Libel is by a Custome yet the other Lands shall be dischargeable by the Common Law but the usage is to alledge a Custome and also that Houses are chargeable to the Reparations of the Church as well as Land And thirdly that a custome to discharge some Lands is not good Wherefore a Prohibition was granted Note that where a man sued in the Ecclesiastical Court prescribing to have a Seat in a Church ratione Messuagii where he inhabited upon the motion of Serjeant Henden a Prohibition was granted for it is a Temporal thing Note By Coke Chief Justice That the keeping of a Church-Book for the age of those which should be born and christned in the Parish began in the 30th year of Henry the Eighth by the instigation of the Lord Cromwel A man was indicted upon the Statute of Ed. 6. That in the Church-yard such
Otho's Constitutions and whatever other causes of Consolidation are asserted by the DD. may be all referr'd to one or other of the foresaid Reasons Likewise there are certain Solemnities required by the Canon Law to be used and observed in the consolidation and union of Churches and Ecclesiastical Benefices the impracticability whereof in this Realm having otherwise provided in such cases can have no such malign influence in Law as to invalidate the thing for want of some Circumstantials so long as there is a retention of the Essentials according to the Laws and Constitutions of this Kingdom Vnio facta ab Episcopo debet intervenire Consensus Capituli sui Clem. si Vna de reb Eccl. non aliend Item requiritur Consensus Patroni Clem. in agro § ad haec de Stat. Mona Item Nullum habet effectum vivente Beneficiato Card. Zab. in dict Clem. Si una c. Item Verus valor Beneficiorum Exprimi debet c. 4. In all Consolidations regularly there ought to be Causa Necessitatis vel Vtilitatis Also the just and true value of the Benefices ought to be known as well of that which is to be united as of that to which the other is unitable in order whereunto there ought to issue a Commission of Enquiry touching the said cause and value at which all persons pretending Interest are to be or may be present upon Summons or Notice thereof timely given them to that end for no Consolidation or Union of that kind ought to be made non vocatis vocandis Rebuff Resp 195. 5. This Form touching Consolidations and union of Churches and Ecclesiastical Benefices is practiced in France which though there appears nothing therein but what seems consonant to Reason yet the Statute-Laws of this Realm have herein made other provision in this matter And that which we now commonly call Consolidation the Canon Law which is best and most properly acquainted with this matter calls Vnion Touching which there are in use and practice many things in divers Nations and Countries which were Incognita to the Interpreters of that Law and not in all things consonant to each other thereby rendring this Subject the more perplexed by reason of the several modes of practice diversified according to the various Constitutions of several Nations respectively for which reason the Interpreters of the Canon Law are the less positive in reducing the state of this matter to such a point of certainty as may be said Infallible in Law only they all agree in some certain Essentials to an Union as also for the most part in this Definition thereof viz. That Vnio est Beneficiorum seu Ecclesiarum ab Episcopo vel ab alio Superiore facta annexio To which this also may be added by way of description though not by way of definition That quando fit unio Ecclesia in proprietatem concedi solet Cap. in cura de jur Patronat and it must be Vnio Beneficiorum for there cannot be an Union unless there be plura Beneficia in the case L. 1. per totum ff de Optio Legat. Also it is Beneficiorum seu Ecclesiarum because the word Benefice is in it self a general term comprehending all Benefices great and small Regular and Secular Dignities and Offices C. 1. de reg jur in 6. c. extirpandae § qui vero de Praebend So that Bishopricks as well as other Benefices may be united and annexed But a Bishoprick which the Law calls culmen Dignitatis doth not regularly fall under the name or notion of Benefice c. pen. de Praebend and yet two Bishopricks may be united c. Decimas seq 16. q. 1. Rebuff de Vnion Benefic nu 4 5. 6. This Consolidation or Union at the Canon Law is either Perpetual or Temporal if Perpetual then it must be so expressed in the Union that in perpetuum univimus c. exposuisti de Praeb if Temporal then it is only for his life in whose favour the Vnion is made c. 1. ne Sede vacante and at his death it expires c. quoniam Abbas de Offic. Delegat But the Practice with us knows nothing of the Temporal Member of this distinction nor is the practice thereof at this day received in France Rebuff ubi supr nu 9. such Temporal Unions being only in contemplatione personae non Ecclesiae whereas the Law is Ecclesiae magis favendum est quam personae Dic. c. 1. c. requisisti de Testa Oldr. Consil 257. And where two Parochial Churches are consolidated or united that Church to which the other is united shall be the Superiour and principal the other which is united is the Inferiour and Accessory yet shall enjoy the Priviledges of that Church to which she is united c. recolentes in fin de stat Monach. Lastly The more worthy Benefice is never united to the minus digno and therefore a Parochial Church may not be united to a Chappel sed è contra Sic c. exposuisti de Praebend CHAP. XV. Of Dilapidations 1. What Dilapidation signifies how many waies it may happen the Remedies in Law in case thereof and to what Court the cognizance thereof properly belongs 2. Provision made by the Canon for prevention of Dilapidations 3. Dilapidation twofold in construction of Law An Exposition of the said Canon the Bishops power of Sequestration in case of Dilapidation 4. By whom the Body of the Church and by whom the Chancel shall be kept in repair How the charge of Repair in the case of Dilapidations shall be apportioned and what the Law in such cases where one Parish is divided into Two 5. Dilapidation of Ecclesiastical Edifices a good cause in Law of Deprivation 6. The Injunction of King Ed. 6. for prevention of Dilapidations 7. Leases made by a Parson void by Statute for Non-residence to prevent Dilapidations 8. The wasting the Woods of a Bishoprick a Dilapidation in Law such Woods being the Dower of the Church 9. A Vicar felling down Timber Trees and Wood in the Church-yard is a Dilapidation and good cause of Deprivation 1. DIlapidation is the Incumbents suffering the Chancel or other the Edifices of his Ecclesiastical Living to go to ruine or decay neglecting to repair the same It extends also to his committing or suffering to be committed any wilful Waste in or upon the Glebe-woods or other Inheritance of his Church Against which provision is made by the Provincial Constitutions whereof Sir Simon Degge takes notice in his Parsons Counsellor though in truth the Canon there provides rather as to satisfaction for than prevention of such Dilapidations Lindw c. si Rector alicujus Ecclesiae Gloss ibid. But the Canon Law is express and full in all respects relating to this implicit Sacriledge nor doth the Custome of England or the Common Law leave the Church without sufficient Remedy in this case albeit it postpones the satisfaction of dammages for Dilapidations to the payment of Debts as the Canon Law prefers it before the payment of Legacies
but by death or resignation for otherwise Dilapidations should be in the time of the Successor and he cannot maintain Hospitality 8. The wasting of the Woods belonging to a Bishoprick is in the Law understood as a Dilapidation as was formerly hinted Note By Coke Chief Justice a Bishop is only to fell Timber for Building for Fuel and for his other necessary occasions and there is no Bishoprick but the same is on the Foundation of the King the Woods of the Bishoprick are called the Dower of the Church and these are alwaies carefully to be preserved and if he fell and destroy this upon a motion thereof made to us says the Lord Coke we will grant a Prohibition And to this purpose there was a great Cause which concerned the Bishop of Duresm who had divers Cole-Mines and would have cut down his Timber-Trees for the maintenance and upholding of his Works and upon motion in Parliament concerning this for the King Order was there made that the Judges should grant a Prohibition for the King and we will here says he revive this again for there a Prohibition was so granted And so upon the like motion made unto us in the like case we will also for the King grant a Prohibition by the Statute of 35 E. 1. If a Bishop cut down Timber-Tres for any cause unless it be for necessary Reparations as if he sell the same unto a Stranger we will grant a Prohibition And to this purpose I have seen said he a good Record in 25 E. 1. where complaint was made in Parliament of the Bishop of Duresm as before for cutting of Timber-Trees for his Cole-Mines and there agreed that in such a case a Prohibition did lie and upon motion made a Prohibition was then granted and the Reason then given because that this Timber was the Dower of the Church and so it shall be also in the case of a Dean and Chapter in which cases upon this ground we will grant as he said Prohibitions and the whole Court agreed with him herein Also in Sakar's case against whom Judgment being given for Simony yet he being by assent of parties to continue in the Vicarage for a certain time this time being now past and he still continuing in possession and committing of great Waste by pulling down the Glass-windows and pulling up of Planks the Court granted a Prohibition and said That this is the Dower of the Church and we will here prohibit them if they fell and waste the Timber of the Church or if they pull down the houses And Prohibition to prevent Dilapidations and to stay the doing of any Waste was in that case awarded accordingly 9. In a Prohibition the Case was this A Vicar lops and cuts down Trees growing in the Church-yard the Churchwardens hinder him in the carriage of the same away and they being in Trial of this Suit The Churchwardens by their Counsel moved the Court for a Prohibition to the Vicar to stay him from felling any more Coke Chief Justice This is a good cause of Deprivation if he fell down Timber-Trees and Wood this is a Dilapidation and by the Resolution in Parliament a Prohibition by the Law shall be granted if a Bishop fells down Wood and Timber-Trees The whole Court agreed clearly in this to grant here a Prohibition to the Vicar to inhibit him not to make spoil of the Timber this being as it is called in Parliament the Endowment of the Church Coke we will also grant a Prohibition to restrain Bishops from felling the Wood and Timber-Trees of their Churches And so in this principal Case by the Rule of the Court a Prohibition was granted CHAP. XVI Of Patrons de jure Patronatus 1. What Patron properly signifies in the Law the Original thereof and how subject to corruption 2. In what case the Bishop may proceed de jure Patronatus and how the Process thereof is to be executed 3. How the Admittance ought to be in case the same Clerk be presented by two Patrons to the same Benefice 4. In what cases of Avoydance Notice thereof ought to be given to the Patron and what course in that case the Bishop is to take in case he knews not the true Patron 5. Several Appellations in Law importing Patron 6. How many waies a Church may become Litigious 7. Whether an Advowson may be extended 8. In what case the Patron may Present where the King took not his turn upon the first Lapse 9. A Patron may not take any benefit of the Glâ—be during a Vacancy 10. In what case the Patron shall not by bringing the Writ of Qua. Imp. against the Bishop prevent the incurring of the Lapse to the Ordinary 11. The King is Patron Paramount and Patron of all the Bishopricks in England The Charter of King John whereby Bishopricks from being Donative became Elective 1. PATRON by the Canon Law as also in the Feuds wherewith our Common Law doth herein accord doth signifie a person who hath of right in him the free Donation or Gift of a Benefice grounded originally upon the bounty and beneficence of such as Founded Erected or Endowed Churches with a considerable part of their Revenue De Jur. Patronat Decretal Such were called Patroni à patrocinando and properly considering the Primitive state of the Church but now according to the Mode of this degenerating Age as improperly as Mons à movendo for by the Merchandize of their Presentations they now seem as if they were rather the Hucksters than Patrons of the Church But from the beginning it was not so when for the encouragement of Lay-persons to works of so much Piety it was permitted them to present their Clerks where themselves or their Ancestors had expressed their Bounty in that kind whence they worthily acquir'd this Right of Jus Patronatus which the very Canon Law for that reason will not understand as a thing meerly Spiritual but rather as a Temporal annexed to what is Spiritual Quod à Supremis Pontificibus proditum est Laicos habere Jus Praesentandi Clericos Ordinariis hoc singulari favore sustinetur ut allectentur Laici invitentur inducantur ad constructionem Ecclesiarum Nec omni ex parte Jus Patronatus Spirituale censeri debet sed Temporale potius Spirituali annexum Gloss in c. piae mentis 16. q. 7. Coras ad Sacerdot mater par 1. cap. 2. Yet not Temporal in a Merchandable sense unless the Presentor and Presentee will run the hazard of perishing together for prevention whereof provision is made by that Solemn Oath enjoyn'd by the Fortieth Canon of the Ecclesiastical Constitutions whereof there was no need in former Ages less corrupt when instead of selling Presentations they purchased Foundations and instead of erecting Idol-Temples for Covetousness is Idolatry they Founded Built and Endowed Churches for the Worship of the True God Patroni in jure Pontificio dicuntur qui alicujus Ecclesiae extruendae c. Authores
gains not the Patronage from the Crown 3. The Ordinary's Collation by Lapse is only in the Patron 's right 4. What Presentation is and how in ease of Co-heirs or Joynt-tenants or Tenants in Common 5. Whether the Grantee of the next Presentation not Presenting at the First Avoidance shall lose the benefit of his Grant 6. The Right of Presentation is not an Ecclesiastical but Temporal Inheritance and cognizable at the Common Law 7. The power of the Ordinary in case of Coparconers Joyntenants or Tenants in Common as to Presentation 8. In what Case the Bishop hath Election whose Clerk he will Admit 9. Whether a Presentation is revokable before Institution 10. Whether the Son may succeed his Father in the Church and who may vary from or repeal his Presentation 11. What Nomination is and the Qualifications thereof 12. In what Case the Presentation is the Nomination or both as one in Law 13. In what case the Nominator shall have a Quare Impedit as well as he that hath Right of Presentation And there may be a Corrupt Nomination as well as a Corrupt Presentation 14. Whether the Collatee be Incumbent if the Bishop Collate him within the Six months And in what Case the Kings Presentation within the Six months may be an Vsurpation or not 15. Where the Ordinary Collates the Patron is to take notice of it at his peril 16. Who shall Present in case the Ordinary to whom a Lapse is devolved be within the Six months translated to another Bishoprick 17. A Resignation to a Proctor without the Bishops Acceptance makes not the Church void 18. A Parochial Church may be Donative exempt from the Ordinary's Jurisdiction and is Resignable to and Visitable by the Patron not the Ordinary 19. Where Two are to Present by Turns what Presentation shall serve for a Turn or not 20. By the Canons the Son may not succeed the Father in the same Church 21. To what a Presentation may be made 22. The Kings right of Presentation as Supream Patron 23. In what case the Kings Prerogative to Present doth not take place 24. In what Cases it doth 25. To whom the Patronage of an Archbishoprick belongs 26. Whether Alien Ministers are Presentable to a Church in England 27. In what Cases the Patron may Present de novo 28. Difference between the King and a Common person in point of Presentation 29. A Collation makes no Plenarty where it is tortious 30. Presentation may be per parol as well as by Writing 31. What amounts to a Revocation of the King's Presentation 32. Causes of Refusal of the Clerk Presented 33. Certain Law Cases pertinent to this Subject 34. Whether Institution granted after a Caveat entered be void 35. What shall be held a Serving of a Turn and good Plenarty and Incumbency against a Patron in Severalty 36. A Clerk refused by reason of his not being able to speak the Welsh Language 37. What is the best Legal Policy upon every Presentation by Vsurpation 38. One of Two Grantees of an Advowson to whom the other hath released may Present alone and have a Qua. Imp. in his own Name 39. A Clerk refused for Insufficiency by the Bishop may not afterwards be Accepted 1. COllation in its proper signification is the bestowing of a Benefice by a Bishop that hath it in his own proper right gift or patronage distinguish'd from Institution only in this That Institution into a Benefice is at the instance motion or Presentation of the Patron or some other having pro tempore the Patrons Right performed by the Bishop Extra de Instit de Concess Praeben c. But Collation is not only when the person is Admitted to the Church or Benefice by the Bishop or other person Ecclesiastical but also when the Bishop or that other Ecclesiastical person is the rightful Patron thereof or when the Bishop or Ordinary hath right to Present for Lapse of the Patron and yet sometimes Collation is and hath been used for Presentation And so Presentation Nomination and Collation are commonly taken for one and the same thing in substance though at times distinguished And whereas it hath been a Question If one hath the Nomination and another the Presentation which of them shall be said to be the very Patron it hath alwaies been taken to be the better opinion that he who hath the Nomination is Patron of the Church And where an Abbot had the Presentation and another the Nomination and the Abbey surrendred to the King he that hath the Nomination shall now have all for the King shall not Present for him that being a thing undecent for the King But as to Collation and Presentation they were in substance one and the same thing as aforesaid But to speak properly Collation is where the Bishop himself doth freely give a Benefice which is of his own Gift by right of Patronage or Lapse This word Collation seems also to be frequently used when the King Presents and hence it is that there is a Writ called Collatione facta uni post mortem alterius c. directed to the Justices of the Common Pleas Commanding them to direct their Writ to a Bishop for the Admitting one Clerk in the place of another Presented by the King which Clerk during the Suit between the King and the Bishops Clerk is departed this life For Judgment once given for the Kings Clerk and he dying before his Admission the King may bestow his Presentation on another This Collation Presentation and Nomination are in effect Synonima being distinguished only in respect rather of Persons than of Things 2. Yet there may be a great difference betwixt Presentation and Collation which gains not the Patronage from the King as appears in the Case of the Queen against the Bishop of York where the Queen brought a Quare Impedit against the said Bishop and one Monk and counted upon a Presentment made by King Hen. 8. in the right of his Dutchy of Lancaster and so conveyed the same to the Queen by Descent The Bishop pleaded That he and his Predecessors have Collated to the said Church c. and Monk pleaded the same Plea upon which there was a Demurrer And it was moved by Beaumont Serjeant That the Plea is not good for a Collation cannot gain any Patronage and cannot be an Usurpation against a Common person much less against the Queen to whom no Lapses shall be ascribâ—d and although the Queen is seized of this Advowson in the right of her Dutchy yet when the Church becomes void the right to Present vests in the Royal person of the Qu. and yet vid. the Old Regist 31. Quando Rex praesentat non in jure Coronae tunc incurrit ei Tempus Hamm. Serj. By these Collations the Queen shall be put out of possession and put to her Writ of Right of Advowson but the same ought to be intended not where the Bishop Collates as Ordinary but where he Collates
Conviction of Perjury in the Spiritual Court according to the Ecclesiastical Laws which although as aforesaid it be a just Cause of Deprivation must yet be signified by the Ordinary to the Patron so also must that Deprivation which is caused by an Incapacity of the party Instituted and Inducted for want of Holy Orders 3. By the Statute of 21 H. 8. if an Incumbent having a Benefice with Cure of Souls value 8 l. per ann take another with Cure immediately after Induction thereunto the former is void and void without any Declaratory Sentence of Deprivation in the Ecclesiastical Court in case the Second Benefice were taken without a Dispensation and of such Avoidance the Patron is to take notice at his peril And as Avoidance may be by Plurality of Benefices incompatible without Dispensation so also by not Subscribing unto and not reading the 39 Articles as aforesaid which by the Statute of 13 Eliz. c. 12. is a Deprivation ipso facto as if the Incumbent were naturally dead insomuch that upon such Avoidance there need not any Sentence Declaratory of his Deprivation but the very pleading and proof of his not Reading the said Articles is a sufficient Barr to his claim of Tithes without any mentioning at all his being deprived in the Ecclesiastical Court Yet Sir Simon Degge in his Parsons Counsellor putting the Question What shall be intended by the words Deprived ipso facto as whether the Church shall thereby immediately become void by the Fact done or not till Conviction or Sentence Declaratory modestly waives his own Opinion and says it is a Quaere made by Dyer what shall be intended by the words ipso facto Excommunicate for striking with a Weapon in the Church-yard albeit by the Canon Law which condemns no man before he be heard requiritur sententia Declatoria 4. Touching Deprivation by reason of Miscreancy the Cardinal who by the Bishop of Durham was Collated to a Benefice with Cure is it seems the standing President in which case it was Agreed that notwithstanding the Cardinal 's being deprived for his Miscreancy in the Court of Rome yet whether he were Miscreant or not should be tried in England by the Bishop of that Diocess where the Church was 5. Among the many Causes of Deprivation forementioned you do not find that of Marriage in the Priest which was anciently practicable as appears by what the Lord Coke reports touching an Incumbent in the time of King Ed. 6. who being Deprived in Queen Maries daies partly because he was a Married person and partly because of his Religion was restored again in the time of Queen Elizabeth In whose Case it was Adjudged That his Deprivation was good until it was voided by a Sentence of Repeal whereby he became Incumbent again by virtue of his First Presentation without any new Presentation Institution or Induction In those days it was held That the Marriage of a Priest was a sufficient cause to deprive him of his Benefice Mich. 4. Ma. Dy. 133. 6. In the Case where a meer Lay-man is Presented Instituted and Inducted he is notwithstanding his Laity such an Incumbent de facto that he is not Deprivable but by a Sentence in the Ecclesiastical Court but then the Ordinary is in that case to give Notice of such Deprivation to the Patron otherwise in case the Ordinary for that cause refused him when he was Presented by the Patron But where Non-age is the cause of Deprivation as when one under the age of 23 years is Presented Notice is to be given it having been Adjudged That no Lapse shall incurr upon any Deprivation ipso facto without Notice seeing the Statute of 13 Eliz. 12. says nothing of Presentation which remaining in force the Patron ought to have Notice 7. As in the Admission of a Clerk to a Benefice whatever is a Legal impediment will also be a sufficient cause of Deprivation so in reference to both the Law takes care to distinguish between that which is only Malum prohibitum and that which is Malum in se and therefore doth not hold the former of them such as frequenting of Taverns unlawful Gaming or the like to be a sufficient cause of a Clerks Non-admission to a Benefice or of his Deprivation being Admitted Otherwise if you can affect him with that which is Malum in se in which case Notice is to be given the Patron by the Ordinary of the Cause of his Refusal or Deprivation as also it is in case of Deprivation for not Subscribing or not Reading the 39 Articles of Religion according to the foresaid Statute of 13 Eliz. 12. which Notice ought to be certain and particular a general Notice of Incapacity not sufficing in which case an Intimation of such particular Incapacity affixed on the Church-door if the Patron be in partibus longe remotis or may not easily be affected therewith will answer the Law Vid. 18 Eliz. Dyer 346. 22 Eliz. Dyer 369. 16 Eliz. Dyer 327. Co. par 6. 29. Green 's Case 8. It is evident from the Premisses That a Deprivation from an Ecclesiastical Benefice will follow upon a Disgrading or Degradation from the Ecclesiastical Function or Calling for this Degradation is the Incapacitating of a Clerk for discharge of that holy Function for it is the punishment of such a Clerk as being delivered to his Ordinary cannot purge himself of the Offence whereof he was convicted by the Jury And it is a Privation of him from those holy Orders of Clerkship which formerly he had as Priesthood Deaconship c. And by the Canon Law this may be done Two waies either Summarily as by Word only or Solemnly as by devesting the party degraded of those Ornaments and Rites which were the Ensigns of his Order or Degree But in matters Criminal Princes anciently have had such a tender respect for the Clergy and for the credit of the whole profession thereof That if any man among them committed any thing worthy of death or open shame he was not first executed or exposed to Publick disgrace until he had been degraded by the Bishop and his Clergy and so was executed and put to shame not as a Clerk but as a Lay-Malefactor which regard towards Ecclesiasticks in respect of the dignity of the Ministry is observed by a Learned Author to be much more Ancient than any Papistical Immunity and is such a Priviledge as the Church in respect of such as once waited on the Altar hath in all Ages been honoured with 9. Robert Cawdry Clerk Rector of the Church of L. was deprived of his Rectory by the Bishop of London and his Collegues by virtue of the high Commission to them and others directed because he had pronounced and uttered slanderous and contumelious words against and in depravation of the Book of Common Prayer but the Form of the Sentence was That the said Bishop by and with the assent and
in such Vacancy for the succeeding Parson shall have the Tithes happening during the Vacancy deducting the charges of collecting the same and serving the Cure during such Vacancy Also if an Incumbent be removed in a Quare Impedit the Plaintiff shall not have the main profits And an Incumbent being in by Usurpation he cannot be removed but by a Quare Impedit 4. An Incumbent Resident that keeps a Curate is obliged to read the Common Prayers in his Parish-Church once a month in his own person on pain of forfeiting Five pounds for every omission 5. In Thomson's Case where T. Libelled for Dilapidations against the Executors of his Predecessors and Henden moved for a Prohibition for that that T. is not Incumbent for his Presentation was by the King ratione Minoritatis of one C. and the King had not any such Title to Present for where the King mistakes his Title the Presentation is void and he is no Incumbent 6. Rep. 26. Green's Case And Sir Tho. Gawdy's Case where the King Presented jure Prerogat when he had another Title and the present Action was adjudged void and whether he is Incumbent or not that shall be tried But by the Court a Prohibition was denied because that he was now Incumbent And the Judges would not take notice of the ill Presentation of the King But in case of Simony the Statute makes the Church void and then the Judges may take notice of that and grant a Prohibition if the Parson sues for Tithes But if a Quare Impedit be brought and appears that the King had not cause of Presentation then a Prohibition may be granted which was also granted by all the other Justices Mich. 3 Car. C. B. Thomson 's Case Hetley's Rep. 6. In Dame Chichleys Case against the Bishop of Ely it was said by Henden That an Incumbent by the Statute of 25 Ed. 3. c. 7. cannot plead quatenus such unless he be Incumbent ante diem impetrationis Brevis unless he be Incumbent pendente lite he cannot plead c. Hutton If one be Presented Instituted and Admitted before the Writ and Inducted after and before his Pleader he may plead well 7. A Libel was against H. Vicar of S. in the High Commission-Court at York because that he was not Resident but lived at Doncaster and neglected to serve his Cure and that divers times he when the High Court visited spoke so loud that he was offensive to many and being reproved for that he gave a Scornful Answer And that there was one Wright in the Parish who had a Seat in the Church and that the Vicar would Spit in abundance into the said Seat and that when Wright and his Wife were there And that in his Sermon he made Jests and said That Christ was laid in a Manger because he had no mony to take up a Chamber but that was the knavery of the Inn-keeper he being then in contention with an Inn-keeper in the Parish And that in time of Divine Service he thrust open the door of Wright's Seat and said That he and his Wife would sit there in disturbance of Divine Service And for that a Prohibition was prayed and granted for the High Commission cannot punish Non Residency nor breaking the Seat in Divine Service And the other were things for which he shall be bound to the good behaviour and the Complaint ought to be to the Ordinary 8. Note by Tanfield that by the Statute of 13 Eliz. cap. 20. of Non-Residency That if the Parson be Absent 80 daies in a year although it be at several times viz. ten daies at one time and twenty daies at another time until eighty daies c. That is within the Statute by which it hath been Adjudged 9. The personal Residence of all Ecclesiastical persons on their Cures respectively is a duty so incumbent on them for the better discharge of their Sacred Function the prevention of Dilapidations and the maintenance of Hospitality that it is enacted That every Spiritual person promoted to any Archdeaconry Deanary or Dignity in any Church Cathedral or Collegiate or Beneficed with any Parsonage or Vicarage shall be personally Resident and abiding in at or upon such Dignity Prebend or Benefice or one of them at the least and that if any such person wilfully Absent himself from his said Benefice c. by the space of a Month at one time or two Months at several times in any one year to be accounted at several times that such person so absenting shall forfeit ten pounds for every such default It is also further provided That the Parson or Vicar shall be Resident in and upon his Parsonage or Vicarage-House if he have any and not at any other House in the Parish but if he hath no House on his Glebe or be removed without fraud for his Health or without fraud Imprisoned or be beyond Sea in his Majesties Service or without fraud abide in any University within this Realm to study or be a Chaplain qualified for Plurality by the Statute of 21 H. 8. either of these may excuse his Residence for the time Also the King may give a License to any of his own Chaplains to be Non-Resident And any Ecclesiastical person may be Non-Resident for such time as without fraud he is attending a Suit in Chancery There are also other Chaplains of other persons that are qualified for Non-Residence which for brevities sake are here omitted And where a Chaplain is qualified in respect of his Service for Plurality if his Lord die or be Attainted or be removed from his place it will not it seems suffice that he be Resident only upon one of his Livings without the King 's Special License with a Non obstante 10. The Canon made by Cardinal Otho and afterwards Confirmed and de novo Established by Othobon seems very severe as to Vicars in case of Non-Residence for in their Constitutions it is Ordained That if any Non-Resident shall receive the profits or Fruits of a Vicarage he shall restore the one Moity thereof to the Church one half of the other Moity to the Poor of that Parish and the rest to the Archdeacon of the place if he discharge his duty in making a diligent Enquiry yearly herein and shall forthwith make it known to the Bishop and whoever shall disobey the Premisses by one Month shall also be deprived of his other Benefices if he have any and be rendered incapable of ever having that Vicarage again or any other Benefice for Three years And in case the Archdeacon shall neglect what herein is enjoyned him he shall be deprived of that part allotted him as aforesaid and suspended ab ingressu Ecclesiae Constit Othobon de Residentia Vicariorum 11. The Oath of Residence on a Vicarage is as followeth viz. Ego A. B. juro Quod ero Residens in Vicaria mea nisi aliter dispensatum fuerit à Dioecesano meo What
Adrian in the time of Offa King of Mereia during Englands Heptarchy in An. 786. Answ Possibly it might be so what follows thence does a thing lawful in it self become unlawful because a Pope enjoyns it what if he had commanded Alms to be given instead of Tithes must we therefore be neither honest in payment of the one nor charitable in giving the other because there was a Command of a Pope in the case 4. That AEthelstane Edmond Edgar Canutus and AEthelwolfe Kings of England Ordained the payment of Tithes meerly to pacifie their Consciences and thereby to make Atonement for their Blood-guilty Souls Answ Admit it were Historically true yet the final Cause of any Action or the End for which a thing is done alters not that quality that is inherent naturally in the thing A thing lawful in it self commanded for a wrong End perverts the Action not the thing if a man gives Alms that the Poor may be drunk though that be no Alms yet it doth not render Alms as unlawful nor alter that quality of Charity which is inseparable from Alms. 4. Tithes Anciently were Fourfold as 1 That which the People paid to the Levites 2 That which the Levites thence paid to the Priests 3 That which the Jews reserved for Expence in their Solemn Feasts when they went to the Tabernacle or Temple 4 A Third years Tenth which was then laid up for the Levite and the Poor The first of these is held a Natural Moral and Divine Tribute the second and third Ceremonial the fourth Judicial The Jews had also their Theruma which was not properly Tithe but a second kind of First-Fruits There were two kinds hereof the one called the Great Theruma the exact quantity whereof was not defined by Moses but the Ancient Lawyers determin'd that it might not be less than the fourtieth fiftieth or at least the sixtieth part of the kinds already dress'd and prepared as Wheat Fann'd Oyl and Wine Corn in the Ear taken from the heap and given to the Priests The other was the Lesser Theruma which was that when the former was taken away for the Priests the rest of the Heap was Tithed for the Levite the tenth part whereof the Levites gave to the Priests which was called the Tithe of the Tithe or the Theruma of the Tithe 5. Because the Law of Moses hath been divided into Three parts viz. Moral Judicial and Ceremonial some of the Schoolmen have thence conceived That Tithes admit the like division whereof the Moral part was only a necessary Maintenance for the Minister and therefore natural and perpetual The Judicial part was the number of Ten as fit only for the Jews and therefore positive and remotive The Ceremonial part was the Mystery contained in this Number of Ten which being as they taught but a shadow only was vanish'd and abolish'd with the Law it self and thence inferr'd that the Quotity or precise number of Ten being taken away by reason of the Ceremony a competency now only remains for the Minister out of the Tithes This Conceit hath occasioned no small prejudice to the Church although it hath no more probability of truth in it than that whereon it is grounded viz. That the Number of Ten is a type of Christ and that the inferiour Digits do signifie the People Levi himself paid Tithes to the first Priest we ever read of that is he paid them in Abraham which being urged by the Apostle against the Levitical Ceremonies argues that they are more than meerly Levitical and Ceremonial indeed if we consider their assignment to Levi's Tribe they are such but not otherwise The Sabbath and Tithes were both before the Law in their very Numbers respectively and were but repeated by Moses under the Law because they had been approved of God before the Law in the self-same Numbers The Sabbath is said to have a Moral and a Ceremonial part The Moral is perpetual and unalterable which is that God should have a Seventh day the Ceremonial being Typical of our Rest in Heaven is only positive and not so unalterable but that it might be as it is changed from the Seventh day of the Creation to the Seventh after our Saviours Resurrection So Tithes they also have a Natural and a Positive part the Natural is permanent and unalterable which is that God hath reserved to himself a Tenth of the increase c. for the Maintenance of his Ministers in which sense immediately after the dissolution of the Jews policy the Christians of the Primitive Church as soon as they could get any outward form of a Church and peace from Persecution received it in the very Quotity the Positive is That the Lord annexed those Tithes by Moses to the Priests and Levites for their maintenance during the dispensation of the Mysteries under the Law and thâ—refore changed by the Christians in the Primitive Church to the Christian Ecclesiasticks so that how this Quotity can be changed into a Competency sâ—â—ms neither demonstrable nor warrantable by the Word of God but that the Quotity ought to remain as a perpetual Right due to God and his Church And if any shall argue that Tithes are not to be paid or required in a Protestant Church because they have been ever so upheld in the Church of Rome such may as well argue they ought not to be paid in a Christian Church because they are paid to Mahumetan Princes for so they are and that because they were Priests for every Husbandman is bound to pay for Tribute the Tenth part of all his Corn to the Patriarch for the use of the Prince the relief of Impotent people and Widows and for maintenance of War against the Enemy Purch Pilgr lib. 6. cap. 1. § 3. p. 803. nu 10. 6. Tithes which anciently were meerly Ecclesiastical are now made Temporal Inheritances therefore are they Assets in the hands of the Heir the Wife endowed of them and the Tenant by the Courtesie shall hold them They are not grantable for life or years or for a longer term than one year but by Deed They cannot be extinguished by a Fâ—offment of the Land nor pass by a Devise of Lands with all profits and commodities thereto belonging and yet may be exchanged for Temporal Inheritances Anciently and at the Common Law there were none qualified to receive them but either an Ecclesiastical person or a mixt person as the King They are not extinct by their coming into any hands but of the Parson himself And that which is given in lieu of them is turned into a Spiritual Fee It is not paid more than once for one and the same thing in one and the same year and that only for the neat and clear profit of the thing Tithable It must be paid in kind if there be Corn now where Wood grew before or Wood planted now where Woodlands formerly were And the Law allows the Parson a convenient time to
alter not the Prescription And he cited a Cause which was in this Court argued at Barr and afterwards at Bench between Cooper and Andrews Mich. 10 Jac. Rot. 1023. for the Park of Cowhurst Vid. 32 E. 1. Fitz. Avowry 240. 5 E. 2. Fitz. Annuity 44. 20 E. 4. 14. 14 E. 4. 4. But this Case was adjudged for the Plaintiff Quod stet Prohibitio and that which is by the name of Park is for the Land and is annexed to the Land by the name of Park if the Prescription had been to pay a Buck or a Doe out of the Park then it would alter the Case But it is general and had been paid also after the Park disparked And the Case of Cooper and Andrews was a shoulder of every third Deer that was killed in the Park and two shillings in money and that Case was never Adjudged 32. V. brought Trespass against T. Clerk Vicar of A. for taking Bona Catalla and count for the taking of two Carectac glaci Anglicè Wood And upon Not guilty pleaded the Jury gave this Special Verdict viz. for the Moity of a Load of Wood Si videbitur Curiae quod Decimae glaci ne sunt Minutae Decimae then the Defendant Not guilty but Si sunt Minutae Decimae then he is Guilty This Case was argued at Barr by Bridgman and Henden Serjeants And the Court Vnement agreed That for ought that here appears this Verdict being found without any Circumstance that this Wood shall be taken to be Minutae Decimae It was agreed by Henden That if it had been found Wood growing in a Garden then Minutae Decimae And it was agreed by the Court That it might have been so found that it should be Majores Decimae and Praedial as if all the profits of the Parsonage consist of such Tithes And so of other things which in their own nature are Minutae may become Majores if all the profit of the Parish consist therein As in some Countries a great part of the Land within the Parish is Hemp or Lime or Hâ—ps there they are Great Tithes and so it may be of Wool and Lambs Pasch 3 Jac. B. R. in Beddingfield's Case Farmer to the Dean and Chapter of Norwich who had the Parsonage Impropriate and had used to have Tithes of Grain and Hay and the Vicar had the Small Tithes And a Field of 40 Acres was planted with Saffron and it was Adjudged That the Tithes thereof belong to the Vicar There was a Case in this Court as it was vouched by Henden 3 Jac. between Potman a Knight and another And the Question was for Hops in Kent and Adjudged that they were great Tithes but as for Hops in Orchards or Gardens these were Resolved to belong to the Vicar â—s small Tithes There was a Case in this Court for Tithe of Weild which is used for Dying and that was in Kent and it was sown with the Corn and after the Corn is reaped the next year without any other manurance the said Land brings forth and produces Weild And that was a Special Verdict whether the Vicar shall have the Tithe of it or the Parson but one of the parties died before any Judgment And if Tobacco be planted here yet the Tithes thereof are Minutae Decimae And all these new things viz. Saffron Hops Weild c. if it doth not appear by material Circumstances to the contrary shall be taken as Minutae Decimae And so this Case was Adjudged for the Defendant 33. In the Case of a Prohibition in case of a Libel in the Ecclesiastical Court for the Tithes of Cattels the Plaintiff alledged that those Cattel of which Tithes were demanded are for his Dairy and for the Plough and Winch being only present said That the Parson shall not have Tithes of such Cattel but if he breed up Cattel to sell it is otherwise Secondly the Plaintiff in the Prohibition alledged That time beyond memory the Parishioners had paid a halâ—â—â—â—or the Tithe of a Calf and a peny for a Cow and that upon a day limited they use to bring this to the Church and to pay this to the Vicar and now the Vicar had Libelled in the Ecclesiastical Court against them to compel them to bring it home to his housâ— And Winch said That this is no occasion of a Prohibition for they agree in the Mâ—dus but vary in the place of payment and this is not matter of substance and for that reason no Prohibition will lie 34. B. brought a Prohibition against C. and alledged that the Dean and Chapter of D. was seized of the Mannor and the Defendant being Vicâ—r sued in the Ecclesiastical Court to have Tithes and shewed that time beyond Memory c. they had held that Discharged of Tithes for them and their Tenants and that they lett that to the Plaintiff And it was moved by Henden Serjeant That the Dean and Chapter are a Body Politick and Temporal which are not capable of this Prescription in non Decimando Coke 2. the Bishop of Winchester's Case Hobart said That the Dean and Chapter are a Body Spiritual and are annexed to the Bishop throughout all England and if the Bishop is capable of that as it is plain he is then the Dean and Chapter is also capable of that which was granted by Hutton but Winch doubted for he said That he-may be a Lay-man and for that the Plaintiff ought to averr That he is a Spiritual person Hutton confessed That the Dean may be a Lay-man as was the Dean of Durham by special License and Dispensation of the King but that is rare and a Special Case and is not common and general and therefore not to be brought as an Example which was also granted by Hobart Chief Justice and upon that day was given over to the Defendant to shew cause wherefore the Prohibition shall not be granted 35. A. Libelled against W. in the Ecclesiastical Court for the Herbâ—ge-Tithe of young Cattel sâ—il for a peny for every one And Hitcham moved for a Prohibition and said that he ought not to have Tithes if they are young Beasts brought up for the Cart or Plough And so it hath been Adjudged As it a Parson prescribe to have Tithes for Hedgingstuff he cannot because that preserves the Land out of which he had Tithes and then a Parson Libels for Tithes of an Orchard for that it was a young Orchard and the Custome of the place was to pay 4 d. for an Orchard Hitcham said There is not any such difference between old and new Orchards for iâ— the Custome be that he shall pay 4 d. for every Orchard it will reach to the new Orchard And then he Libels for a Hearth-peny for the Wood burnt in his house Hutten said The Hearth-peny is more doubtful for it is a Custome in the North parts to give an Hearth-peny for Estovers burnt for
not averr that that Hay was growing upon Greenskips c. And an Exception was taken by Henden 1. That the Exception is double the Custome and the Common Law And by Yelverton That is not material for you may have twenty Suggestions to maintain the Suggestion of the Court but Richardson was against that that a Suggestion might be double here for the Suggestion of the Common Law is a Surplusage As in Farmer and Norwich's Case here lately One Prescribes to be discharged of Tithes where the Law discharged him and so was discharged by the Common Law Second Exception is That he doth not apply the Custome to himself in the Suggestion for he that lays the Custome does not shew that the Hay grew upon the Skips upon which a Plough might turn it self and for this cause by the whole Court the Suggestion is naught And here Richardson moved how that Two should joyn in a Prohibition Yelverton If they are joyned in the Libel they may joyn in the Prohibition and that is the common practice of the Kings Bench. Richardson The wrong to one in the Ecclesiastical Court by the Suit cannot be a wrong to the other Hutton They may joyn in the Writ but they ought to sever in the Declaration to which Harvey agreed Yelverton The Prohibition is the Suit of the King and he joyns tant as in a Writ Richardson But it is as the Suit of the party is and if any joyn here I think good cause of a Consultation It is against the profit of the Court to suffer many to joyn And it is usual in the Case of Customes of a Parish in debate to order Proceedings in the two Prohibitions and that to bind all the Parish and Parson And it was said by them all That the Consideration of making Hay is a good Discharge because it is more than they are bound to do 53. F. sued V. for Tithes of Hay which was upon Land that was Heath-ground and for Tithes of Pidgeons And by Richardson If it was meer Waste-ground and yield nothing it is excused by the Statute of payment of Tithes for seven years But if Sheep were kept upon it or if it yield any Profit which yield Tithes then Tithe ought to be paid As the Case in Dyer And for the Pidgeons which were consumed in the House of the Owner he said and for Fish in a Pond Conies Deer it is clear that no Tithes of them ought to be paid of Right wherefore then of Pidgeons quod nemo dedixit And a day was given to shew cause wherefore a Prohibition should not be granted And the Court agreed That it was Felony to take Pidgeons out of a Dove-house And afterwards a Prohibition was granted but principally That the Pidgeons were spent by the Owner But by Henden They shall be Tithable if they be sold 54. P. the Vicar of Eaton in the County of Oxon Sues C. the Parson Impropriate in the Ecclesiastical Court in Oxford pro Minutis Decimis C. sues a Prohibition against the Vicar upon a Surmize of a Prescription P. comes and pleads the first Endowment made An. Dom. 1310. by which the Minute Tithes were allotted to the Vicar C. demurrs and Adjudged for the Plaintiff for the Parson cannot Prescribe against the first Endowment 55. In Debt upon the Stat. of 2 E. 6. for not setting out of Tithes the Plaintiff declares That the Defendant was seized of the Lands in question within that Parish and that the Tithes did belong to the Parson and Vicar viz. Two parts to the Parson and the Third part to the Vicar or their Farmers payable in specie for 40 years last past that the Plaintiff was Farmer proprietary of the Tithes to the Parson and Vicar spectant and shews the value of the Tithes due and demands the treble value the â—â—â—ndant pleads Niâ—il debet per patr and it was found for the 〈◊〉 It was now moved in Arrest of Judgment because the Plaintiff ought to have brought two Actions as the Parson and the Vicar ought for their several parts But Resolved that the Action is well brought for it is a Personal and one entire Debt for one wrong 56. Bott sues a Prohibition against Sir Edward B. and suggests That the Defendant is Parson Impropriate of W. and that time out of mind there hath been a Curate of an Incumbent by the appointment of the said Rector who administred the Sacraments c. And that the Custome of that Parish time out of c. was that the Curate should have 〈◊〉 Tenths renewing within that Parish except Decimas graâ—â—â—â—m which were paid to the Parson and that every Parishioner who had so paid the Tenths to the Curate was discharged against the Parson And that notwithstanding that c. Sir Edward B. had sued him c. And now he prays a Prohibition and had it but after that Surmize was adjudged insufficient without Argument by the Court and a Consultation granted for such Curate cannot Prescribe against his Master that may remove him at his pleasure And for that reason it was not a good Prescription for the Parishioners 57. Goodwin being Vicar sues in the Ecclesiastical Court the Dean and Chapter of Wells bâ—ing Parson of a Church for a Pension and they pray a Prohibitionâ— and it was denied For that Pension is a Spiritual thing for which the Vicar may Sue in the Spiritual Court Note that they entitle themselves to that Parsonage by a Grant of H. 8. who had it by 31 H. 8. of Dissolutions 58. It was said by Hutton in Spencer's Case That by the Civil Law the Parishioner ought to give notice to the Parson when the Tithes are set forth But it was adjudged That the Common Law doth not so oblige a man 59. B. by his Deed Compounds for Tithes and after Sues for them in the Ecclesiastical Court by Popham and Gawdy That an Action upon the Case lies Vid. E. 4. 13 Mich. 4 Jac. The Lady Waterhouse was sued for the Tithes of Trees whereof none were due c. there an Action upon the Case does not lie for the Parson or person may well be ignorant of what things are due otherwise he Sues against his own knowledge 60. To have a Prohibition the Surmize was That the Inhabitants of D. of which he is an Inhabitant have paid un mod decimand c. And they were at Issue and he proved only that he himself had paid it and yet well And no Consultation for every particular is included in the general and proved by it And it appears sufficient matter for a Prohibition and to oust a Spiritual Court of their Cognizance 2 Agreed that where the Statute appoints Proof of the Surmize to be by Two it is sufficient if Two affirm that they have known it to be so or that the Common Fame is so 61. Upon a Surmize by a Parishioner That he had Compounded
Prohibition for that the Law shall decide thereupon it was between Dawes and Huddlestone No Tithes shall be paid in kind without a Custome for Fish taken in the high Sea out of any Parish Hill 14 Car. B. R. between Long and Dircell per Curiam and Prohibition granted accordingly And Justice Jones said that on an Appeal to the Delegates out of Ireland in the Lord Desmond's Case it was Agreed That for such Fish so taken only Personal Tithes are due deductis expensis Likewise no Tithes in kind shall be paid de jure for Fish taken in a Common River which is not enclosed as in a Pond enclosed for that they are Ferae naturae although they are taken by one who hath a severed Piscary there and although the place where they are taken be within the Parish of that Parson who claims them for it is a Personal Tithe in which Tithes ought to be paid deductis Expensis Pasch 15 Car B. R. between Gold and Arthur and others Prohibition was granted where the Suit was for Tithes of Salmon in the River of Exe. Mich. 15 Car. between Whislake and the said Arthur and others the like Prohibition granted on the same matter between other parties And in the Case of a Prohibition it was Resolved That Tithe shall be paid for Fish taken in the Sea which is not within any Parish and they shall be paid to the Parson of the Parish where the Fish is landed Flax pays a Predial Tithe payable when dressed up Coke Mag. Char. 649. The Tithes of Flax are Minutae Decimae Mich. 14 Car. B. R. in Noah Webb's Case Forest-Lands that lie in no Parish or between two Parishes and anciently such are not Tithable by the King or his Patentees but if the Forest be in a Parish and Land therein which is Tithe-Free if the Forest happen to be disforested it shall pay Tithes in kind Crompt Jurisd 52. Bacon Chief Justice at Sarum-Assize the Case was A. Lessee for years of the Earl of H. prayed a Prohibition against the Vicar of L. to stay a Suit in the Ecclesiastical Court for Tithes because the Lands out of which the Tithes were demanded were parcel of the Forest of B. whereof the King was seised in right of his Crown and he and all his Predecessors held the said Land discharged of Tithes and shewed that the King had granted the said Forest to the Earl of Hertford in Fee and so he ought to have them discharged of Tithes In that Case it was held by the Court That it was only a Priviledge annexed to the Crown during the time that the Land was in the Crown but the Court doubted whether the Patentee might have such Priviledge But yet de bene esse the Prohibition was granted If Tithes do lie in any Forest as in the Forest of Windsor Rockingham Sherwood or other Forest which is not any Parish the King shall have them by his Prerogative and not the Bishop of the Diocess or Metropolitan of the Province as some have thought But yet it seems by 22 Ass 25. if there be cause of Suit for such Tithes against the parties who ought to pay the same such Suit might be brought in the Ecclesiastical Court But if a Stranger takes away such Tithes from the Parson or Vicar there for such Trespass the Suit may be in the Temporal Court as the same may be for taking away other goods in the like case Adjudg 15 Car. B. R. Fowl taken by a Faulkner who hawks for his pleasure shall not pay Tithe but if a Fowler kill Fowl and make a profit of them it hath been held that he shall pay a Personal Tithe for them Pasch 15 Car. Adjudg acc Fruits of Trees as Apples Pears c. are Tithable presently upon their gathering and are Predial Tithes for the subtraction whereof the Parishioner is impleadable Stat. 2 Ed. 6. c. 13. Fruits of Trees Apples Pears c. Mast of Oak Beech c. are Predial Tithes Coke Magn Chart. 649. The Fruits of Orchards and Gardens are Tithable in their proper kinds and to be paid when they are gathered unless there be some Modus or Rate-Tithe paid in lieu thereof Furse is Tithable and pays a Predial Tithe unless the Owner thereof can prescribe or prove a Custome of Tithing Milk or Calves of the Cattle on the ground where the Furse grows Mich. 29. Eliz. B. R. Vid. Heath G GArdens are Tithable as other Lands and therefore the Herbs which grow therein pay Tithes in kind Also Plants Seeds Woad Saffron Hemp Rape c. pay Tithes in kind unless the Parson make an Agreement for the same otherwise the Tenth part must be set forth for the Parson when the Owner receives his Nine parts Mich. 8. Jac. C. B. in Baxter's Case Trin. 9 Jac. B. R. The whole Court Glebe is a portion of Land Meadow or Pasture belonging to or parcel of the Parsonage or Vicarage over and above the Tithes If it be Demised by the Parson to a Lay-man it pays Tithe otherwise if he keep it in his own hands For Glebe kept in the Vicars own hands pays no Tithe to the Parson Impropriate it is otherwise if it be in the hands of his Lessee by whom it is Tithable if lett by a Parson Impropriate And although Glebe-Lands are not properly Tithable because Ecclesia Ecclesiae Decimas non debet solvere yet if Glebe-Lands be leased out the Parson the Lessee shall pay the Small Tithes arising out of such Glebe-Lands to the Vicar that hath Small Tithes upon his endowment as in Blinco's Case And yet in that case the Vicar Libelled in the Ecclesiastical Court to have Tithes of the Glebe of the Parson and a Prohibition was granted for that the Glebe shall pay no Tithe Notwithstanding which if a Parson lease his Glebe-Lands and do not withal Grant the Tithes therof the Tenant shall pay the Tithes to the Parson Likewise if a Parson sow his Glebe-Land and then Lease the same the Tenant shall pay the Tithes of this Corn to his Landlord the Parson Yet if a Parson sow his Glebe and die before Severance some have held that his Executors shall not pay Tithes of this Corn. And albeit where Glebe-Lands are leased out by the Parson the Lessee shall as aforesaid pay the Small Tithes thereof to the Vicar that hath the Small Tithes upon his Endowment yet he shall not have the Small Tithes arising upon such of the Parsons Glebe-Lands as the Parson keeps in his own hands Likewise on the other hand it hath been held That the Vicar upon a general Endowment shall not pay Tithes of his Glebe to the Parson or of the Fruits that arise from the same and that for the same reason aforesaid Quia Decimas Ecclesia Ecclessae reddere non debet But the Lessee of the Parsons Glebe shall pay him the Tithes thereof to this purpose the Case was A Parson
had before are Bastards at the Common Law and Muliers by the Civil Law If a Man hath Issue by a Woman and after marry the same Woman the Issue by the Common Law is Bastard and Mulier by the Ecclesiastical Law Likewise if a man espouse a Woman bigg with Child by another Man and within three dayes after she is delivered of Child by the Common Law this is a Mulier and by the Ecclesiastical Law a Bastard If a Woman Elope and hath Issue in Adultery such Issue is a Mulier at the Common Law and a Bastard by the Ecclesiastical Law yet if the Woman continue in Adultery and hath Issue such Issue are Bastards even by the Common Law But by the Law of the Land a man may not be reputed a Bastard who is born after Espousals unless there be some special matter in the Case as aforesaid But if a man who hath a wife doth during her life take another wife and hath Issue by her such Issue are Bastards by both the Laws for the second Marriage is void 20. A Divorce causa Praecontractus doth Bastardize the Issue so also doth a Divorce causa Consaguinitatis likewise if the Divorce be Causa Affinitatis it doth Bastardize the Issue and the Law is the same in case the Divorce be causa Frigiditatis A Man hath Issue a Bastard and after marries the same Woman and hath Issue by her divers Sons and then deviseth all his Goods to his Children Q. whether the Bastard shall take by the devise But if the Mother of the Bastard make such a devise it is clear the Bastard shall take because he is known to be Child of the Mother 21. B. contracted himself to A. afterwards A. was Married to F. and cohabited with him whereupon B. sued A. in the Court of Audience and proved the contract and Sentence was there pronounced that she should Marry the said B. and cohabit with him which she did and they had Issue C. B. and the Father died It was argued by the Civilians that the Marriage betwixt B. and A. was void and that C. B. was a Bastard But it was resolved by the Justices that C. the Issue of B. was legitimate and no Bastard 22. The Case was wherein a Man was divorced causa Fridigitatis and afterwards took another Wife and had Issue it was argued by the Civilians and also by the Justices whether the Issue were Bastard or not it was adjudged that the Issue by the second Wife was not a Bastard For that by the Divorce the Marriage was dissolved à vinculo Matrimonii and each of them might Marry again But admit that the second Marriage was voidable yet it good till it be dissolved and so by consequence the Issue born during the Coverture is a lawful Issue 23. Upon an information in the Castle-chamber in Ireland against the Bishop of K. and C. B. and others that by Practice and Combination and by undue course of proceedings they endeavoured to prove the said C. B. who was ever before reputed a Bastard to be the legitimate or lawful Son and Heir of G. B. Esq to the disherison and defamation of E. B. who was the sole Daughter and Heir of the said G. B. And upon Oier of this cause the Case appear'd to be this viz. About twenty six years before the exhibiting of this Bill the said G. B. had Issue the said C. B. on the Body of one J. D. who during the life of G. B. was not reputed his Wife but his Concubine and the said C. B. for all the time aforesaid was only accounted the natural Son of G. B. but not for legitimate Afterwards viz. sixteen years after the birth of C. B. his Mother being then living G. B. took to Wife a Lady of good Estate and Reputation with the assent of her Friends by whom he had Issue the said E. B. and died After the death of the said G. B. the said C. B. his reputed Son nor his Mother who was yet living said nothing by the space of nine years but at last they practiced and combined with the said Bishop of K. being of their Kin and with many others to prove the legitimation of the said C. B. by an irregular and undue course to the intent to bastardize and disinherit the said E. B. according to which practice and combination the Bishop without any Suit commenced or moved in any of the Kings Temporal Courts or any Writ directed to him to certifie Bastardy or Legitimation in that Case and which is more without any Libel exhibited in his Ecclesiastical Court touching that matter of his own will and pleasure privately and not convocatis convocandis nine years after the death of the said G. B. took the depositions of many Witnesses to prove that the said G. B. twenty nine years before had lawfully Married and took to Wife the said J. D. Mother of the said C. B. and that the said C. B. was the legitimate and lawful Son and Heir of the said G. B. And these depositions so taken the said Bishop caused to be engross'd and reduced into the form of a solemn Act and having put his Signature and Seal to that Instrument delivered the same to C. B. who published it and under colour of that Instrument or Act declared himself to be the Son and lawful Heir of the said G. B. c. And for this practice and misdemeanour the said Bishop of K. and others were censured and thereupon these points were resolved 1. That although all Matrimonial causes have of a long time been determinable in the Ecclesiastical Courts and are now properly within the jurisdiction and cognizance of the Clergy yet ab initio non fuit sic For causes of Matrimony as well as cause Testamentary were heretofore civil Causes and appertaining to the civil Magistrate as is well known to all Civilians until the Christian Emperors and Kings as an honour to the Prelates of the Clergy did grant and allow unto them the cognizance and jurisdiction of these Cases And therefore the King of England who is and of right ever was the Fountain of all Justice and Jurisdiction in all Causes as well Ecclesiastical as Civil within his own Dominions although that he allow the Prelates of the Church to exercise their several Jurisdictions in those Causes which properly appertain to their cognizance yet by the Rules of the Common Law he hath a superintendency over their proceedings with power of direction how they shall proceed and of restraint and correction if they do not proceed duly in some cases as is evident by the Writs of several natures directed to Bishops by which the King commands them to certifie Bastardy Excommunication Profession Accouplement en Loyal Matrimony De admit Clericis de Cautione admittenda c. as also by the Writs of Prohibition Consultation and Attachment upon a Prohibition 2. It was resolved that
is the causes thereof the difference between the Civil and Canon Law touching the proof of impotency frigidity or disability and what manner of proof the Law requires thereof 2. What time of absence in the Husband may cause a Divorce 3. Whether Divorce by reason of Adultery dissolves the Marriage à vinculo or whether the innocent party may remarry altera existente 4. What the Canon in Concilio Arelatense provides in that Case 5. The opinion of some eminent Common Lawyers in this point 6. The different Opinions of Divines and Lawyers and of each among themselves touching this matter 7. The Opinion in summa Hostiens as also of Suarez touching the legality of second Marriage after Divorce 8. The Canon of the Council of Trent concerning Matrimony also the Opinion of some of the Ancient Fathers and a Decree of one of the Popes touching second Marriage after a Divorce 9. Decrees and Histories of great Antiquity relating to this Subject 10. What the Pontifical Law what Justinian what Baldus and what Grotius says in this matter 11. Opinions in this point take their diversification much from the cause of the Divorce as whether ex causa praecedenti vel subsequenti 12. Judgments at the Common Law that a Divorce for Incontinency is only à Thoro mensa non à vinculo 13. What the Law intends by Alimony and what Elopement signifies no Alimony due to her that Elopes 14. In what Cases the Law will allow Alimony or not 15. How the Civil Law provides in that Case of Alimony 16. The Ecclesiastical Court is the proper Court for Alimony 17. Whether the High Commission-Court had power of Alimony or not 18. Prohibition denied to the Husband sued in the Ecclesiastical Court by the Wife for Alimony in causa saevitiae 19. Whether the Ecclesiastical Court may take Bond for Alimony or Imprison for non-payment thereof 1. A Divorce is a Sententence pronounced by an Ecclesiastical Judge whereby a Man and Woman formerly Married to each other are separated and parted The word Divortium or Repudium is often taken promiscuously both for a Total and Perpetual Divorce à vinculo Matrimonii as also for a Partial and Temporal Divorce or Separation à Cohabitatione vel à thoro mensa The causes of this Divorce whereof some are precedent others subsequent to the Marriage are many in the Law Thomas Aquinas reckons up no less than a dozen of them and thinks he hath Poetically compriz'd them all in four Verses viz. Error Conditio Votum Cognitio Crimen Cultus Disparitas Vis. Ordo Ligamen Honestas Si sis Affinis Si forte Coire nequibis Haec Socianda vetant Connubia Facta retractant But the Causes of Divorce in the Law as now commonly practicable may be reduced to these few 1. The Levitical Degrees within which it is prohibited to Marry 2. Precontract And so if a Man Marry one precontracted and have Issue by her it is the Fathers Child until there be a Divorce upon the precontract and then it is Nullius Filius a Bastard 3. Impuberty or Minority And so if two be Married infra annos nubiles and after full age are Divorced for the same the Woman may bring an Assize against the Man for Land given her in Frank-marriage which proves that the Divorce is by that Law from the very Bond of Matrimony 4. Frigidity in the Man or Impotency in the Woman termed Arctitudo in the Law but the word Impotency is promiscuously used in both Sexes for it is said that if after a Man be Divorced for Impotency he take another Wife and have Children by her these shall not be Bastards because a Man may be habilis inhabilis diversis temporibus But in this Case the Civil Law hath made other provision for that Law in causa Frigiditatis requires three years Cohibitation for Trial of the Disability before it doth upon other legal evidence and proof conclude any Married persons either Frigid or Impotent Indeed the Canon Law expects present proof and in case of such Impotency or Frigidity not Accidental but Natural and Incurable concludes that the Matrimony was never a Matrimony The evidence of which Disability depends on the Oaths of able Physicians as also of aged and grave Matrons experienced in such affairs nor is it to be alledged till after a Triennial experience of each other post Matrimonium Consummatum and is a just cause of Divorce for that it frustrates one of the chief ends of Marriage viz. Procreation of Issue if it be sufficiently proved by Inspection of the Body Triennial Cohabitation and the Oaths aforesaid Consil Matrim To. 2. Consil 8. nu 1. And in Cases doubtful whether it did precede the Marriage or not the Law will presume it to antecede the Marriage and consequently nulls it in case it be Natural otherwise both as to the presumption and operation in case it be only Accidental Sanch. lib. 7. disp 103. nu 4. And where the Impotency doth sufficiently Constare to be Perpetual by the Oaths aforesaid upon Inspection there the Triennial probation ceases Vt cum Glossae cap. Fraternitatis De Frigidis Maleficiis Panor nu 11. Pope Sixtus 5 th in his Bull An. 1587. declared that Matrimonia cum spadonibus vel eunychis prorsus eviratis seu utroque testiculo carentibus cum quibuslibet Mulierihus seu defectum praedictum ignorantibus seu scientibus esse semperque fuisse irrita Antonini â—â—ana resolutiones morales Tract 4. Miscelan resol 75. p. 190. 2. There are also other seeming causes of Divorce than what are forementtoned for the Civil and Canon Law do allow of Divorce after a long absence but are not agreed touching the Time of that Absence for in one place it is after Two years Absence in another after Three years in another after Four Cod. lib. 5. tit 1. l. 2. post biennium tit 27. post tres an l. 27. post Quatuor an others hold that the Civil Law requires Five years Absence before there may be a Divorce on that account In the Council of Lateran a Sentence was allowed by the whole Council which was given by a Bishop pronouncing a Divorce for a Woman complaining that her Husband had been absent Ten years giving also leave to the Woman to Marry again In Concil later par 50. cap. 23. But the truth is no absence be it for any time whatever doth properly cause a Divorce in Law Indeed Seven years Absence without any tidings or intelligence of or from the Absent Party will so far operate in Law towards what is equivalent to a Divorce as to indempnifie the Woman from the penalty of Polygamy if in that case she Marry again Also the Canon Law hath decreed that if the Wife refuse to dwell with her Christian Husband he may lawfully leave her Causa 28. q. 1. c. 4. And some of the Imperial Laws allow Homicide Sacriledge Theft Man-stealing c. for
the Presentees Obligation to make a Resignation within Three months after the Patron so please may amount to Simony within the Statute of 21 Eliz. cap. 16. 19. A corrupt Contract for an Advowson may make the subsequent incumbent Simoniacal 20. To plead a Simoniacal Contract against a Bond it not so appearing is no admissable Plea 21. Masters of Chancery why so called and what they were anciently 22. Prihibition to the High Commissioners that would have put a Parson to his Oath touching Simony 23. In what Cases by reason of Simony the Patron may present after Six months and the Church said to be full as to one not to another 24. The injunction of King Ed. 6. against Simony 25. The form of the Oath of Simony 26. A Simoniacal Contract a good plea in Barr of Tithes 27. A further description in Law of the difference between Simoniacus and Simoniace Promotus 28. The Simoniace Promotus though ignorant of the Simony yet is deprivable in the Ecclesiastical Court 29. A Simoniacal Contract to which neither the Incumbent nor the Patron are privy may yet be Simony within the Statute of 31 Eliz. 30. Simony in it's utmost latitude is properly cognizable in the Ecclesiastical Court 31. Simony worse than Felony A Bond or Obligation good though entred into upon a Simoniacal Contract 32. Whether a Parson outsed for Simony may be after admitted to the same Benefice by the Kings presentation 33. A Person Simoniace promotus and ousted is by the express words of the Statute disabled to accept the same Benefice 34. Where Simony is pleaded in Barr of Tithes the Ecclesiastical Court shall take cognizance and no Prohibition lies 35. Whether the Father may buy the next avoidance and present his Son no Simony to buy an Advowson 36. To procure a Man in consideration of Marriage to be presented to a Benefice is Simony 37. Four observations on the Statute of 31 Eliz. cap. 6. by the Lord Coke 38. The extent of the words Present or Collate in the said Statute also the diversity in Law between a Presentation made by a Rightful Patron and an Usurper 39. What punishment by the Canon Law in case of Simony and the strange conceit of Rebuffus touching the same 40. The reasons why it hath its denomination from Simon Magus how many ways it may be committed according to the Canon Law 1. SIMONY from Simon Magus as Thomas Aquinas and others conceive Tho. Aquin. 20. 2. ae q. 100. art 1. 40. is according to Panormitan's definition thereof studiosa voluntas emendi vel vendendi aliquid Spirituale vel Spirituali annexum opere subsecuto Panor c. Nemo extra c. Or it may be described thus viz. Simony is when any person is presented or collated to any Benefice with Cure of Souls Dignity Prebend or Living Ecclesiastical c. or hath any such given or bestowed on him for or in respect of any Sum of Money reward payment gift profit or benefit directly or indirectly or for or by reason of any promise agreement grant bond covenant or other assurance for any Sum of Money reward payment gift profit or benefit whatsoever directly or indirectly or for or in respect of any such corrupt cause or consideration and every Presentation Collation and gift as also every Admission Investure and Induction thereupon is by the Statute utterly void and whereby the King his Heirs and Successors for that one turn only shall present collate c. And every person so giving or taking any such Sum of Money c. or taking or making any such promise c. doth forfeit and lose the double value of one years profit of every such Benefice Moreover the person so corruptly taking any such Benefice is thereupon and from thenceforth adjudged a person disabled in Law to hold and enjoy the same Benefice The like penalty of the said double value doth he incurr who for any Sum of Money reward c. directly or indirectly other than the Lawful Fees or for or by reason of any promise c. doth admit institute install induct any person to or in any Benefice with Cure c. Likewise if any Incumbent of any such Benefice shall corruptly resign or exchange the same or for or in respect thereof shall corruptly take directly or indirectly any pension sum of money or benefit whatever in such case both the giver and taker corruptly as aforesaid shall forfeit double the value of the sum so given taken or had whereof the one Moiety to the King c. the other to him that shall sue for the same in any Court of Record In which Statute of 31 Eliz. there is a Proviso that the censures Ecclesiastical shall not be restrained by any of the premises therein contained 2. They that Simoniacally buy Ecclesiastical Livings are compared to Simon Magus and they that sell them to Gehazi the Servant of Elisha if a person be possest of an Ecclesiastical Living by such Simony as whereunto he was not privy be is said to be in only Simoniace but if he be in any corrupt and Simoniacal Contract to which himself is a party and was privy and consenting thereunto in that case he is Simonaicus both which are inhibited by the Canons Ecclesiastical or Provincial Constitutions as also are the said corrupt and Simonaical selling as well as buying Ecclesiastical Livings Lindw e. Nulli liceat Ecclesiam c. Quia plerunq and that under penalties greater than the Temporal Laws did then or now will allow of And although by Simony in the vulgar acceptation of the word is commonly understood such corrupt Contract for Ecclesiastical Livings as aforesaid yet it hath a more extensive signification and that is a more proper sense which is by corrupt Ordinations of Ministers or for undue Licences to Preach for prevention whereof it is provided in the Statute aforesaid that if any person shall receive or take any Money Fee Reward or any other profit directly or indirectly or any Promise Agreement Covenant Bond or other assurance thereof Lawful Fees excepted for or to procure the Ordaining or Making of any Minister c. Or giving any Order and License to Preach shall forfeit Forty shillings and the Minister so made Ten pound beside the loss of any Benefice Living or other Ecclesiastical promotion after Induction that any such Minister shall within Seven years next after such corrupt entring into the Ministry accept and take the one half of which Forfeitures do go to the King c. the other to the Informer c. And the Patron in that case may present c. as if the party so inducted were naturally dead 3. The forfeiture of the double value of one years profit of the Church by way of penalty as is beforementioned is not to be computed only according to the valuation in the Kings Books in the First-fruit Office but according to the just and full annual value of the
and only Six in the other In the First of these Marriage was prohibited the time of Lent and three weeks before the Feast of St. John the Baptist and during the time between Advent and Epiphany At Sidon in the Twentieth year of the Emperour Anastasius a National Council of 80 Bishops was Assembled by the procurement of Xenaeas Bishop of Hierapolis for undoing the Council of Chalcedon which as far as in them lay they did accordingly At Aurelia that is Orleance in France in the 22 d year of Anastasius and under the Reign of Clodoveus King of France were convened 32 Bishops on purpose to settle some Order in Ecclesiastical Discipline which by reason of the irruption of Barbarous people into the Countrey of France had been brought into great disorder At Gerunda and Caesaraugusta in Spain were Two Councils under Theodoricus King of Gothes then Reigning in Spain In the former of these were only Seven Bishops convened who made some Constitutions chiefly about Baptism In the latter were Eleven Bishops and they in opposition to Supersitition and the Manichaean Hereticks prohibited Fasting on the Lords day At Rome in the Sixth Century by the Mandate of Theodoricus King of Gothes Reigning in Italy a Council was Assembled by Hormisda Bishop of Rome wherein the Error of Eutyches is damned de novo and Ambassadours sent to the Emperour Anastasius and to the Bishop of Constantinople to divert them from that Error At Constantinople in the same Century under the Emperour Justinus was another Council convened wherein many great Accusations were exhibited against Severus Bishop of Antioch who was then condemned of Heresie and afterwards Banished by the Emperour At Toledo in the same Century was a Second Council assembled partly for renewing Ancient Constitutions and partly for making New in order to Ecclesiastical Discipline By the first Canon of this Second Council of Toledo Marriage was tolerated to such of the Clergy as on their initiation to that Function protested that they had not the gift of Continency At Constantinople in the year 532. under Justinian was another Council consisting of One hundred Sixty five Bishops Menes being President or rather his Successor Eutychius Patriarch of Constantinople but Pope Vigilius who came to Constantinople to Summon the Emperour yet would not himself be present at the Council lest a seeming yielding to Eutychius might be prejudicial to his Supremacy The Emperour endeavoured to reconcile the Eutychians and the Orthodox for the Publick Tranquillity and therefore would have revoked the Articles concerning the condemning of Theodorus of Mopsuesta and of Theodoret against Cyrillus that was Anathematized But the Western Churches with Pope Vigilius constantly opposed it and confirming not only the Decrees Anathematizing those Hereticks with their Heresies of former Councils but also of Chalcedon The Errors of Origen also expunged which either denied the Divinity of Christ or the Resurrection of the Body or affirmed the Restitution of Reprohates and Devils Consult concering this Council Zonar in vit Justinian If this be that Council which some report to have been at Constantinople under the Emperour Justinian in the year 551. there appears above Twenty years difference in computation of Time This Council is said to have been occasioned chiefly for pacifying the Controversie between Eustochius Bishop of Jerusalem and Theodorus Ascidas Bishop of Caesarea Cappadocia touching Origens Books and Tenets as also for the determination of other Contentious Disputations In this Council a Question was moved Whether men that were dead might lawfully be Cursed and Excommunicated To which it was Answered That as Jâ—sias not only punished Idolatrous Priests while they were alive but also opened the Graves of them that were dead to dishonour them after their death who had dishonoured God in their life time Even so the Memorials of men might be accursed after their death who had disturbed the Church of Christ in their life At Orleans under Childebertus King of France were frequent Meetings and Assemblies of Bishops the 2 3 4 5 Councils whereby many Constitutions were made prohibiting Marriage to Priests and in the Fourth Canon of the Second Council Simony was damned At Overnie in France under Theodobertus King of France the Bishops who were present at the Councils of Orleans did assemble and Ordained That no man should presume to the Office of a Bishop by Favour but by Merit At Tours under Aribertus King of France a Council was held wherein Provision was made against such Poor as wandered out of their Parishes In this Council several Constitutions also were made relating to Bishops and the other Clergy in reference to Marriage At Paris a Council was held wherein order was taken concerning the Admission of Bishops to their Offices and that not to be by favour but with the consent of the Clergy and People At Toledo Assembled a Council of 62 Bishops where Recaredus King of Spain and the whole Nation of the West-Gothes in Spain renounced the Arrian heresie At Constantinople under the Reign of Maruitius a Council was held for trying the Cause of Gregorius Bishop of Antioch accused of Incest but declared to be Innocent and his Accuser scourged with Rods and Banished At Matiscon about the time of Pelagius the Second a Council was held wherein Command was given That none of the Clergy should Cite another having a Spiritual Office before a Secular Judge And that she who is the Wife of a man that becomes a Bishop or a Presbyter should after such Dignity become his Sister and he be changed into a Brother At Matiscon another Council was Convened under Gunthranns King of France in the 24 th year of his Reign wherein it was Ordained That Children should be Baptized at Easter and Whitsontide and that Secular men should reverence the Clergy At Rome in the year 595 and in the Thirteenth year of the Reign of the Emperour Mauritius was a Council assembled of 24 Bishops and 34 Presbyters wherein the first Four General Councils were confirmed and that for Ordination of men in Spiritual no Reward should be given or taken Before the Conclusion of this Sixth Century and precedent to the Councils last mentioned there were some other Councils of less moment such as Concilium Gradense Braccarense Lataranense Lugdunense Pictaviense Metense which being for the most part employed chiefly in damning Old Heresies and in contentious Disputations are here omitted At Rome in the year 607. under Phocas the Emperour a Council of 72 Bishops 30 Presbyters and 3 Deacons was Assembled In this Council the priviledge of Supremacy given by Phocas to the Roman Church was published And in the Eighth that is the last year of Phocas Boniface the Fourth assembled another Council at Rome wherein he gave power to the Monks to Preach Administer Sacraments hear Confessions to Bind and Loose and associate them in equal Authority with the
c. The Venerable Mr. Bede doth suppose that this answers to the heaviest Curse amongst the Jews for they had 1 their Niddui 2 their Cherem that is Anathema This their Cherem was either the simple and single Anathema or their Shematha or Maranatha For this dreadful kind of Excommunication here called Maran-atha the Jews called Sammatha Sem signifying the name of God Tetragrammaton or Jehovah and atha he cometh though others will have that Sammatha to be derived from Sam that is their and Mitha that is death their death But not to insist further on the words whereby this Ecclesiastical Censure of Excommunication is signified for that is but as a Flash of Lightning in respect of the Thunder of the Curse it self 3. Although every Excommunication is an Ecclesiastical Censure yet every Ecclesiastical Censure is not an Excommunication for an Ecclesiastical Censure may be as well per Suspensionem and per Interdictum as per Excommunicationem Extr. de verb. sig c. quaerenti Hanc autem Censuram fulminare possunt Eccles Praelati quibus ab homine Lege vel Canone aut Consuetudine tribuitur Jurisdictio Ordinaria De Offic. Ord. c. cum ab Ecclesiar 4. It hath been sometimes question'd what the Law intends by Excommunication ipso facto that Clause imports ac si diceret ipso jure that is nullo hominis ministerio interveniente Not. per Arch. de Rescrip c. 1. verb. ipso jure li. 6. Lindw de Offic. Archid. gloss in c. Vt Archidiacont verb. ipso facto And regularly when a person is Excommunicated it is not intended only of the Lesser Excommunication Nam Excommunicatio simpliciter prolata intelligitur de Majori Extr. de Sen. Excom c. Si quem 11. q. 3. debent Lindw glos verb. Excommuni c. Exhorrenda De Procuratorib 5. Notwithstanding the Law doth not exclude the Excommunicate from such lawful Acts as sine quibus vix potest consistere vita hominis Glos ibid. in verb. Actu Legitimo And although depending the Excommunication he is disqualified to commence Actions at Law as a Plaintiff yet he may ad sui defensionem appellare caetera in Judicio facere exercere quae ad ejus defensionem pertinent Gloss Lindw ibid. And according to Lindwood he may Matrimonium Contrahere etiam Testari Lindw ibid. 6. This Sentence of Excommunication ought not to be pronounced against Offenders otherwise than rite cum debita solennitate that is juris ordine servato and therefore the Canon requires That there issue a Summons or previous Citation to the Delinquent before Sentence of Excommunication be pronounced against him Primo vocetur Delinquens propositurus Causam rationabilem quare pronunciari non debeat incidisse in dictam Sententiam Ad effectum namque quod aliquis denuncietur Excommunicatus à Canone vel Constitutione requiritur Citatio praevia C. Si per vim vel alio modo l. fin de Man Obed. c. inter quatuor de Cens c. fi in Oec cum glos So likewise the Canon is That Nemo Excommunicationem promulget ubi Excessus non est manifestus nisi Monitione Canonica praecedente Lindw de Sentenia Excom c. Vt Archidiaconi unless the same party for the same cause be Excommunicated again in which case there needs not any previous Citation or Monition as before Nam Excommunicatio quae sit saepius ex eadem Causa potest fieri nulla Citatione nullaque Monitione praevia Ibid. c. praeteria ver Excommunicentnr For in truth this Excommunication in such case is not any new Sentence of Excommunication but only a Renâ—vation of the former with an Aggravation for which reason it is that such Excommunication as is again pronounced against the same person for the same cause repeated by him may be nulla Citatione nullave Monitione praecedente Ibid. Extr. de Judaeis c. ita quorundam Whence it doth appear That a person Excommunicated may be Excommunicated again either for the same or some other new Cause Ibid. 3. q. 4. engeltrudam And although the First Excommunication is in effect sufficient for the ejecting such an one out of the Church so that he who is once cast out of the Church amplius excludi non potest yet by this Second Denunciation there follows another effect and that is That thereby he may be reputed and held by all the Faithful in all places as a person utterly shut out of the Church donec per suum Judicem secundum formam Ecclesiae fuerit absolutus Gloss ibid. verb. denuncientur 7. Also when a person Excommunicated hath Forty daies persisted in his obstinacy contrary to Law under that Sentence the Bishop may then make his humble address to the King for the apprehending and imprisoning such obstinate Excommunicates but this may not be done by any inferiour to a Bishop Nam ad rogatum praelatorum inferiorum Rex non consuevit scribere pro Captione Excommunicatorum Lindw de Sententia Excom c. praeteria glos in verb. Praelatorum And therefore if a man be Excommunicated by any inferiour to a Bishop as by a Dean Archdeacon or the like yet the Supplication for his Majesties Writ ought to be by the Bishop of that Diocess and in his Name Nam Inferiores Episcopis non possunt invocare Brachium Seculare Ibid. Lindw de Cohab. Cler. Mul. c. 1. § si nec ver Brachium Seculare And in case the Bishop shall herein refuse to do what the Law requires he may be constrained thereto by the Archbishop Ibid. de jur patron c. nullus Nor can the Excommunicated person who after Forty daies persisting in his obstinacy is upon the Kings Writ on the Significavit pro Corp. Excom Capiendo apprehended or like to be apprehended evade Imprisonment or defend himself by an Appeal or by virtue thereof or by shewing the same to the Temporal Judge that so under pretence of a dependency of an Appeal he may escape Imprisonment because such Appeal as to the validity or invalidity thereof or teneat vel non teneat legitima vel non legitima falls under the scrutiny and examination not of the Temporal but Ecclesiastical Judge and therefore si talis indagâ— sive discussio pertains not to the Secular Judge it were frivolous to alledge that before one not qualified to examine the merits of the Appeal Dict. c. praeteria glos in verb. Dari debet And as persons Excommunicated cannot legally have any shelter or subterfuge under pretence of such Appeals so neither do the Canons suffer the Contemners of this Sentence of Excommunication to go unpunished under which number regularly and generally are computed all such as animo indurato do persevere under Excommunication by the space of Forty daies according to the Custome of the Realm of England Lindw de Sententia Excom c. ut Archidiaconi glos in verb. Contemnentes But more particularly the Canons hold them Contemners of this Excommunication who add Culpam culpae or go
He may have a Writ out of Chancery to Absolve him 14 H. 4. fol. 14. And with this agrees 7 Ed. 4. 14. 2 When he is Excommunicated against the Law of this Realm so that he cannot have a Writ de Cautione admittenda then he ought Parere mandatis Ecclesiae in forma Juris i. e. Ecclesiastici where in truth it 's Excommunicatio contra Jus formam Juris i. e. Communis Juris But if he shew his Cause to the Bishop and request him to assoil him either because he was Excommunicate after the Offence pardoned or that the Cause did not appear in Ecclesiastical Cognizance and he refuse he may have as the Lord Coke sayes an Action sur le Case against the Ordinary and with this agrees Dr. Stu. lib. 2. cap. 32. fo 119. 3 If the party be Excommunicated for none of the Causes mentioned in the Act of 5 Eliz. cap. 23. then he may plead this in the Kings Bench and so avoid the Penalties in the Act. Note It was Resolved by the Court c. That where one is Cited before the Dean of the Arches in cause of Defamation for calling the Plaintiff Whore out of the Diocess of London against the Statute of 23 H. 8. and the Plaintiff hath Sentence and the Defendant is Excommunicated and so continues Forty daies and upon Certificate into Chancery a Writ of Excommunicato Capiendo is granted and the Defendant taken and Imprisoned thereby That he shall not have a Prohibition upon the Statute of 23 H. 8. for no Writ in the Register extends to it but there is a Writ there called De Cautione admittenda de parendo Mandatis Ecclesiae when the Defendant is taken by the Kings Writ De Excommunicato Capiendo and to assoil and deliver the Defendant 25. Where the Court of B. R. was moved for the Bailing of one who was taken by force of a Capias de Excommunicato Capiendo upon the Statute of 5 Eliz. cap. 23. and came to the Barr by a Habeas Corpus Williams Justice He that is taken by force of a Capis de Excommunicato Capiendo is not Bailable upon the Statute of 5 Eliz. cap. 23. which Statute doth only dispense with the Forfeiture of the Ten pounds and such a person is not Bailable and as to the other matter the same remains as it was before at the Common Law and the Statute of 5 Eliz. dispenseth only with the penalty of Ten pounds Yelverton Justice of a contrary Opinion and that in this case he is Bailable Flemming Chief Justice This is a Case which doth deserve very good consideration and that therefore he would consider well of it and also of the Statute of 5 Eliz. before he would deliver his Opinion Williams Justice clearly he is not Bailable in this Case Afterwards at another time it was moved again unto the Court to have him Bailed Yelverton Justice That he is Bailable and so was it Resolved in one Keyser's Case where he was taken by a Writ De Excommunicato Capiendo brought hither by a Habeas Corpus and upon Cause shewed he was Bailed by the Court de die in diem but neither the Sheriff nor any Justice of Peace in the Countrey can Bail such a one but this Court here may well Bail as in the Case before de die in diem It was further alledged here in this That in the Ecclesiastical Court they would not there discharge such a one being taken and Imprisoned by force of such a Writ De Excommunicato Capiendo without a great Sum of Money there given and a Bond entered into for the same otherwise no discharge there Yelverton Justice and the whole Court The Bishop ought not to 〈◊〉 such a Bond for the performance of their submission The Rule of the Court here in this was That upon their submission they shall be Absolved without any such Bond entred into Flemming Chief Justice They shall Absolve them and if they perform not according to their promise and undertaking they 〈…〉 again by the Writ De Corpore Excommunicato Capiendo but the Bishop is to take no Bond of them for their Absolution to perform their Submission the taking of such Bond by them being against the Law And as to the Bailment all the Judges except Williams Justice did agree that he was Bailable and so by the Order and Rule of the Court he was Bailed vid. Bulstr Rep. par 1. fo 122. Pasch 9 Jac. in Case of Hall vers King CHAP. XLIII Of the Statutes of Articuli Cleri and Circumspecte agatis 1. Several Statute-Laws relating to Ecclesiastical persons and things enacted under the Title of Articuli Cleri in the Ninth year of King Ed. 2. 2. Some other Statute-Laws touching Ecclesiastical matters made the Fourteenth year of King Ed. 3. 3. The Ratification and Confirmation of the 39 Articles of Religion The Subscription required of the Clergy 4. Certain Cases wherein a Prohibition doth not lie to the Ecclesiastical Courts according to the Statute of Circumspecte agatis made the Thirteenth of King Ed. 1. And in what case a Consultation shall be granted 1. THese are certain Statutes made in the time of King Ed. 1. and Ed. 2. touching Persons and Causes Spiritual and Ecclesiastical By the latter of these it is Enacted 1 That upon demand of Tithes Oblations c. under that Name a Prohibition shall not lie unless the demand be of money upon the Sale thereof 2 That upon debate of Tithes amounting to a Fourth part of the whole and arising from the Right of Patronage as also upon demand of a Pecuniary penance a Prohibition may lie Not so in case of demand of money voluntarily accorded unto by way of Redemption of Corporal penance enjoyned 3 That upon demand of money Compounded for in lieu of Corporal penance enjoyned for the Excommunication for laying violent hands on a Clerk a Prohibition shall not lie 4 That notwithstanding any Prohibition the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction may take cognizance and correct in Cases of Defamation and the money paid for redeeming the Corporal penance thereon enjoyned may receive notwithstanding a Prohibition be shewed 5 That no Prohibition shall lie where Tithe is demanded of a Mill newly erected 6 That in cases of a Mixt cognizance as in the Case aforesaid of laying violent hands on a Clerk whereby the Kings Peace is broken and such like the Temporal Court may discuss the same matter notwithstanding Judgment given by the Spiritual Court in the case 7 That the Kings Letters may not issue to Ordinaries for the discharge of persons Excommunicate save only in such Cases as wherein the Kings Liberty is prejudiced by such Excommunication 8 That Clerks in the Kings Service if they offend shall be correct by their Ordinaries but Clerks during such time as they are in his Service shall not be oblig'd to Residence at their Benefices 9 That Distresses shall not be taken in the Ancient
Fees wherewith Churches have been endowed otherwise in possessions of the Church newly purchased by Ecclesiastical persons 10 That such as Abjure the Realm shall be in peace so long as they be in the Church or in the Kings High-way 11 That Religious Houses shall not by compulsion be charged with Pensions resort or Purveyors 12 That a Clerk Excommunicate may be taken by the Kings Writ out of the Parish where he dwells 13 That the examination of the Ability of a Parson presented unto a Benefice of the the Church shall belong unto a Spiritual Judge 14 That the Elections to the Dignities of the Church shall be free without fear of any Temporal power 15 That a Clerk flying into the Church for Felony shall not be compelled to abjure the Realm 16 And lastly That the Priviledge of the Church being demanded in due form by the Ordinary shall not be denied unto the Appealor as to a Clerk confessing Felony before a Temporal Judge 2. In conformity to the premisses there were other Statutes after made in the time of King Ed. 3. whereby it was Enacted 1 That the goods of Spiritual persons should not without their own consents be taken by Purveyors for the King 2 That the King shall not collate or present to any vacant Church Prebend Chappel or other Benefice in anothers Right but within Three years next after the Avoidance 3 That the Temporalties of Archbishops Bishops c. shall not be seized into the Kings hands without a just cause and according to Law 4 That no waste shall be committed on the Temporalties of Bishops during Vacancies and that the Dean and Chapter may if they please take them to Farm 5 And lastly That the Lord Chancellor or Lord Treasurer may during such vacancies demise the Temporalties of Bishopricks to the Dean and Chapter for the Kings use 3. And as there are Articuli Cleri so there are also Articuli Religionis being in all thirty nine Agreed upon at a Convocation of the Church of England Ann. 1562. Ratified by Q. Elizabeth under the Great Seal of England Confirmed and Established by an Act of Parliament with his Majesties Royal Declaration prefixed thereunto Which Act of Parliament requires a Subscription by the Clergy to the said thirty nine Articles the same also being required by the Canons made by the Clergy of England at a Convocation held in London Ann. 1603. and ratified by King James The said Subscription referrs to three Articles 1. That the Kings Majestie under God is the only Supream Governour of the Realm and of all other his Highness Dominions and Countreys c. 2. That the Book of Common Prayer and of Ordaining of Bishops Preists and Deacons containeth nothing in it contrary to the Word of God c. 3. That he alloweth of the said thirty nine Articles of Religion and acknowledgeth them to be agreeable to the Word of God By the Statute of 13. Eliz. 12. the Delinquent is disabled and deprived ipso facto but the Delinquent against the Canon of King James is to be prosecuted and proceeded against by the Censures of the Church And it is not sufficient that one subscribe to the Thirty Nine Articles of Religion with this Addition so far forth as the same are agreeable to the Word of God For it hath been resolved by Wray Cheif Justice and by all the Judges of England That such subscription is not according to the Statute of 13. Eliz. because the Subscription which the Statute requires must be absolute But this is no other then Conditional 4. The Circumspecte agatis is the Title of a Statute made in the 13 th year of Ed. 1. Ann. D. 1285. prescribing certain Cases to the Judges wherein the Kings Prohibition doth not lie As in Case the Church-yard be left unclosed or the Church it self uncovered the Ordinary may take Cognizance thereof and by that Statute no Prohibition lies in the Case Nor in case a Parson demands his Oblations or the due and accustomed Tythes of his Parishioners nor if one Parson sue another for Tythes great or small so as the fourth part of the Benefice be not demanded nor in case a Parson demand Mortuaries in places where they have been used and accustomed to be paid nor if the Prelate of a Church or a Patron demand of a Parson a Pension due to him nor in the Case of laying violent hands on a Clerk nor in Cases of Defamation where Money is not demanded nor in Case of Perjury In all which Cases the Ecclesiastical Judge hath Cognizance by the said Statute notwithstanding the Kings Prohibition So that the end of that Statute is to acquaint us with certain Cases wherein a Prohibition doth not lie And the Statute of 24 Ed. 1. shews in what Case a Consultation is to be granted And by the Statute of 50. Ed. 3. cap. 4. no Prohibition shall be allowed after a Consultation duely granted provided that the matter of the Libel be not enlarged or otherwise changed CHAP. XLIV Of several Writs at the Common Law pertinent to this Subject 1. What the Writ of Darrein Presentment imports in what case it lies and how it differs from a Quare Impedit 2. Assise de utrum what and why so called 3. Quare Impedit what for and against whom it lies 4. What a Ne admittas imports the use and end thereof 5. In what case the Writ Vi Laica removenda lies 6. What the Writ Indicavit imports and the use thereof 7. What the Writ Advocatione Decimarum signifies 8. Admittendo Clerico what and in what Case issuable 9. The Writ Beneficio primo Ecclesiastico habendo what 10. That Writ Cautione Admittenda and the effect thereof 11. The writ of Clerico infra Sacros ordines constituto non eligendo in Officium What the use or end thereof 12. The Writ Clerico capto per Statutum Mercatorum what 13. What the Writ of Clerico convicto commisso Goalae in defectu Ordinarii deliberando was 14. What the Writ of Annua Pensione was anciently 15. The Writ of Vicario deliberando occasione cujusdam Recognitionis what 16. Three Writs relating to Persons excommunicated 17. Assise of Darrein Presentment brought after a Quare Impedit in the same cause abates 18. Difference of Pleas by an Incumbent in respect of his being in by the Presentment of a stranger and in respect of his being in by the Presentment of the Plaintiff himself 19. Notwithstanding a recovery upon a Quare Impedit the Incumbent continues Incumbent de facto until Presentation by the Recoverer 20. Of what thing a Q. Imp. lies and who shall have it 21. Who may have a Quare Impedit and of what things 22. How and for whom the Writ of Right of Advowson lies 23. What the Writ de jure patronatus and how the Law proceeds thereon 24. The Writ of Spoliation what and where it lies 25. The Writ
or profit of his Spiritual Jurisdiction As to the Third point they said That although a Proxie is a Personal thing payable only in respect of persons Visitable yet admit that these Proxies are become Real and that the Commandry and Rectory are charged with these Proxies then the unity of possession doth extinguish them in the hands of the King as a Seignory Rent-charge Common and the like are extinguished by the purchase of the Terre-tenant if he hath the like Estate in the Land and in the thing which charged the Land And to this purpose was cited the Case of 2 H. 4. 19. a. where a Prior had an Annuity out of a Parsonage by Prescription the Parsonage is after appropriate to the Priory the Annuity is extinguimed for ever But on the other side it was answered by the Kings Council and Resolved by the Court That the said Proxies were not extinguished by the dissolution of the said Religious houses but were well preserved and saved to the Bishop and the Bishop had well granted them to the King and the unity of possession in the hands of the King made but a Suspension and no Extinguishment of the said Proxies 1 As to the First point it was first observed that these Proxies had not their original in the primitive Church for St. Paul in visiting all the Churches which he had planted in Asia and Europe demanded not any Proxies but laboured with his own hands for his subsistance lest he should be burthensom to the Churches Yet long after this the Canon Law which declares that Proxies are due to Bishops in their Visitations says that it is agreeable to the doctrine of St. Paul ut à quibus spiritualia recipimus eisdem Temporaliae communicemus Instit Jur. Can. l. 2. c. de Censib It was also observed that that which we call Proxie or Procuracy is called by the Canonists Procuratio for that upon every Visitation the persons visitable procurant necessary Provisions for the Visitors which Provisions at first were made in Victuals viz. in Esculentis Poculentis but that was with moderation and temperance Ne jejuniorum doctrinam rubentibus buccis praedicant But afterwards when the pomp and excess of Visitors required such provisions as were grievous and intolerable to the Churches and Religious houses then every Church and such House was reasonably Taxed and for that every Proxie was reduced to a certain sum of money payable yearly in the nature of a Pension to the Ordinary who had power of Visitation de mero Jure as is said 10 Eliz. Dyer 273. b. After the Procuration of Victuals was reduced to a certain sum the Churches and Religious houses paid it to the ordinary yearly albeit he made not any Visitation And so the Rule of Cessante causa cessat effectus doth not hold in this case These certain sums of money which come in lieu of Proxies and retain the name of Proxies are by ancient Composition made parcel of the certain and settled Revenues of the Bishop do remain for ever and are not subject to extinguishment And at this day the King himself pays and allows Proxies out of all the Impropriations which he hath in his possession for which reason in every Lease made by the King of a Rectory Impropriate there is a Covenant on the Lessee's part that he shall bear and pay all Proxies Synodals Pensions c. And as for the Saving in the Act of 33 H. 8. cap. 5. it is not an idle or Flattering Saving but real and effectual for it was agreed before that these Proxies were in being at the time of making the Act and are not extinguished by the Surrender of the Religious houses for their Corporations are not dissolved till the Religious persons have relinquished their houses and are dispersed And such things as were in being at the time of making the Act may well be preserved and saved by the Act albeit the things which were extinct before cannot be revived by a Saving without express words of Grant and Restitution As to the Second point it was Resolved That the Proxies in their original nature being Duties payable for Visitation are grantable to the King and the King is capable of such a Grant specially when the said duties are converted to a sum of money certain in the nature of a Pension or Annuity For by the Ancient Law of the Realm the King had power to Visit reform and correct all Abuses and Enormities in the Church And by the Statutes made in the time of King H. 8. the Crown was but remitted and restored to his ancient Jurisdiction which had been usurped by the Bishop of Rome 33 Ed. 3. tit Ayd del Roy 103 Reges sacro oleo uncti Spiritualis Jurisdictionis sunt Capaces And Proxies are profits of the Jurisdiction 10 H. 7. 18. Rex est mixta persona cum Sacerdote So the King shall have Tithes by the Common Law whereof no meer Lay-person was capable 22 Assis pl. 75. 21 H. 7. 1. The King himself may Visit his Free Chappels and Hospitals 8 Ass p. 29. N. Br. 42. a. And Cassanae in Catol Glo. mund par 5. Cons 24 cites a Text of the Canon Law viz. Quod omnes Reges dicuntur Clerici also another Text which faith Quod Causa Spiritualis committi potest Principi Laico And whereas it was said that in respect of the grandeur of the King and his Train competent Proxies cannot be provided for him and by consequence a Grant thereof cannot be made to him that Objection is removed in that the Proxies at the time of that Grant was reduced to certain reasonable sums of money Also the Rule of the Canon Law was not rightly and fully cited before for the Rule is Procuratio exhibenda est secundum qualitatem personae visitantis substantiam Visitatorum It was also Resolved that the Bishop with the assent of his Clergy might well grant the Proxies to the King for that the Law hath qualified the person of the King to receive such a Grant albeit it be such a Prerogative of the Bishop as may not be assigned to any other person As the Creation-money of a Duke or Earl may be granted and surrendred to the King although it can be granted to a Subject Also the Proxies being now reduced to certain sums of money and so made part of the certain settled and perpetual Revenue of the Bishop may be granted by him as well as a part of the Tithes or an Annuity or any of his Rents Services or other Hereditaments Temporal And as to the Third point it was also Resolved and Adjudged That the Unity of Possession of the Proxies with the Rectories impropriate and religious Houses out of which the Proxies are payable do not extinguish the Proxies in the hands of the King but suspends the payment of them tantum pro tempore quousque or until the King by his Grant shall sever the one from the other To conclude