Handbooks for the Clergy
EDITED BY
ARTHUR W. ROBINSON, B.D.
VICAR OF ALLHALLOWS BARKING
BY THE TOWER
BY
P. V. SMITH, LL.D.
CHANCELLOR OF THE DIOCESE OF MANCHESTER
AUTHOR OF "THE LAW OF CHURCHWARDENS AND SIDESMEN
IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY," ETC.
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
NEW YORK AND BOMBAY
1905
All rights reserved
In the following pages an endeavour has beenmade to give a succinct sketch of the legalposition of the parish clergy of the Church ofEngland in respect both of spiritualities andof temporalities. The book, being intendedfor their use, does not touch upon the subjectof ordination by which they acquired the statusof deacons or priests. Nor does it deal with theepiscopate or the non-parochial clergy, except sofar as these subjects are connected with theparochial system.
Like all other human arrangements, our EnglishChurch law is, of course, far from being ideallyperfect. It may be safely affirmed that there hasnever been either a Church or a State in which thelaw has actually been what it ideally ought to havebeen. It is important to recognise the differencebetween the two positions; for there has sometimesbeen a disposition on the part of individualsto confuse them, and to treat what they considerto be the ideal law, as if it were the actual law,and as if, as such, it demanded their loyal obedience.Such an attitude, whether in ecclesiasticalvior civil matters, is anarchical in its tendency; forit sets up private judgment instead of the constitutedauthority as the criterion of what oughtor ought not to be done. It can only be justifiedwhere the actual law is absolutely inconsistentwith the fundamental principles of morality orof Christian truth. The object of the presenttreatise is to state succinctly what the law is,—notwhat it ought to be; and no opinion is expressedor suggestion offered as to points in which amendmentwould be proper or expedient.
Within the limited compass of the book it isobviously impossible to enter into details; andthe reader who desires information as to thesewill find them in the authorities to which referenceis made. It must also be borne in mindthat the general law on the subject of buildings,property, and pecuniary rights is, in variousplaces, modified by special local enactments orcustoms. These can only be ascertained on thespot, or by consulting the Acts of Parliamentin which they are embodied or recorded.
One other word of caution is desirable. Inexplaining the legal position of the parochialclergy, it is, of cou