No. I.

1 & 2 W. 4, c. 38.

let.

which a new church or chapel is intended to be built under the provisions of this act.

IV. That the pews or sittings in such church or chapel shall be let by the churchwardens or chapelwardens, or by some person appointed Pews may be by the trustees, or person or persons building and endowing the same, to act in that behalf, according to a scale of pew rents fixed by the trustees or such person or persons as aforesaid, and approved of by the bishop, which scale it shall be lawful for the trustees or such person or persons as aforesaid, with consent of the bishop, to alter from time to time as occasion may require: Provided always, that all such pews as shall not be taken at the rent respectively fixed thereon, within fourteen days after the commencement of the ensuing year, shall in every such case be let to any inhabitant of any adjoining parishes or places in which there shall not be sufficient accommodation in the churches and chapels of the parish or place for the inhabitants thereof, at the rent respectively so affixed upon such pews, for any term not exceeding the end of the year, and at the expiration of the year, and also of every succeeding year in which any such pews shall be rented by inhabitants of any adjoining parishes, such pews shall be inserted in the list of vacant pews, to be taken in preference by the inhabitants of the parish or place to which the church or chapel shall belong; and all such pews as may not be so taken by any inhabitants of the parish or place may again be let, and so on from year to year, to any inhabitants of any adjoining parish or place.

In all other

cases where a church or chapel has

satisfaction of

the commissioners, they

V. That in all other cases not herein-before provided for, in which any person or persons shall have already endowed, with the sanction of the said commissioners, or shall endow or declare their intention of endowing, to the satisfaction of the said commissioners, any church or been built and chapel built or intended to be built by such person or persons, with endowed to the some permanent provision in land, or in money charged upon land, or money in the funds, exclusively of and in addition to the pew rents or profits arising from the said church or chapel, in case any such rents may, with the should be taken, and also of providing a sufficient fund for the repairs consent of the of the said church or chapel, it shall be lawful for the said commisbishop, declare sioners, with the consent of the bishop of the diocese, if under all the the right of circumstances it shall appear to them fit and proper so to do, to declare, nominating to that after certain conditions herein-after mentioned are performed or be in the person shall have been already satisfied, the right of nominating a minister to so building and such church or chapel shall for ever thereafter be in the person or endowing.

persons building and endowing or having built and endowed the same, his, her, or their heirs and assigns, or in such person or persons, ecclesiastical person or body corporate, and his or their successors, as he, she, or they shall appoint; and in case such church or chapel shall have been or shall be built by subscription, then in such person or persons, their heirs or assigns, or in such ecclesiastical person or body corporate, and his and their successors, as the major part in value of such subscribers shall, at the time of the application to the commissioners, nominate or appoint: Provided always, that the patronage of any such church or chapel shall at no time be vested in or held in trust for more than five persons, except in cases where the said commissioners shall have already sanctioned a larger number of trustees, or such patronage patronage shall shall pass by descent to coparceners, or by the custom of gavelkind to more than five, or shall be conveyed by will or deed to more than five children, grandchildren, nephews, or nieces of the grantor or devisor.

Limitation as to the number of persons in whom the

vest.

Application required to be made to commissioners pre

vious to their declaring the right of

nomination.

VI. Provided always, that previous to such declaration of the right of nomination as aforesaid being made by the said commissioners, application in writing shall be made to the said commissioners, setting forth the population of the parish in which such church or chapel is built or proposed to be built, together with the accommodation provided in the several churches or chapels built or building or intended to be built within such parish, together with the population of the district for which such church or chapel is intended to provide, and the accommo

No. I.

& 2 W. 4,

c. 38.

dation proposed to be provided in such church or chapel, and its distance from the existing churches or chapels in the parish; and that 1 copies of such application shall, in every such case, be sent by the said commissioners to the patron and incumbent respectively of the parish, chapelry, township, or extra-parochial place in which such church or Copies of such chapel is built or intended to be built, in order to afford such patron application and incumbent the opportunity of laying before the said commissioners to be sent to any statement relating thereto; and the said commissioners shall not the patron and declare, or signify their intention of declaring, such right of nomination incumbent of as aforesaid, until after the expiration of three calendar months from the parish. the time when they shall have sent such copies to such patron and incumbent respectively, except in those cases where the said commissioners shall before the passing of this act have already expressed their satisfaction with the endowments proposed, and their willingness to accede to the conditions proposed, and such church or chapel shall have been built or be now building in pursuance thereof.

build and en

dow to the

VII. That in all cases whatsoever under this act, any person or persons Persons intendintending to build or purchase and endow any such church, chapel, or ing to build and building as aforesaid, in any such parish as aforesaid, shall, in the first endow to give place, cause to be served upon the patron or patrons and incumbent of notice to the such parish a notice in writing of such intention, which notice shall spe- patron and incify the various particulars herein-before mentioned, and shall also state cumbent, stathe number of persons intended to be accommodated in such church or ting particulars. chapel, and the amount of money intended to be laid out in the building or purchasing thereof; and in case such patron or patrons shall, within If the patron two calendar months after being served with such notice as aforesaid, bind within two him, her, or themselves, by bond or other sufficient security, to the said mouths after commissioners in such cases as shall come before them, and to the bishop such notice of the diocese in all other cases, that he, she, or they shall within two years shall bind thereafter build or purchase, and completely finish and endow, an addi- himself to tional church or chapel in such parish, to the satisfaction of the bishop of the diocese, and that he, she, or they shall also comply with and per- satisfaction of form all and singular the conditions herein-before mentioned, then and the bishop of in such case such patron or patrons shall be preferred to any other per- the diocese, he son or persons so intending to build or purchase such additional church shall be preor chapel as aforesaid: Provided always, that no declaration of the right ferred. of nominating a minister to any church or chapel built and endowed under the provisions of this act shall in any case take effect until such church or chapel shall have been duly consecrated: Provided always, that in case any such church or chapel has been or shall hereafter be built or endowed by subscription, the application to the bishop or commissioners of the major part in value of the subscribers shall be deemed and taken to be the application of the party building or endowing the same: Provided always, that the churches or chapels already built and completed on the faith of the said recited act of the seventh and eighth years of the reign of King George the Fourth be excepted as to the two months' notice, such notice having already been given to his Majesty's said board of commissioners and incumbents when such churches or chapels were built.

VIII. That where there is a population of not less than one thousand Preference to persons in any parish, district parish, district chapelry, or extra-paro- be given to chial place within two miles from an existing church, if there be any enlargement of person or persons who shall be desirous of enlarging the church accom- churches in modation therein, and who shall, with the consent of the select vestry certain cases. or persons exercising the powers of vestry in such parish, signify such their intention to the bishop of the diocese, or to the said commissioners, as the case may be, and shall also bind themselves in a bond or other sufficient security to the said bishop, or to the said commissioners, as the case may be, that they will within two years from the date of declaring such their intention as aforesaid enlarge the existing church so as to add one fourth to its then existing church accommodation, so that more than one third of the parishioners shall be accommo

No. I.

1 & 2 W. 4,

c. 38.

As soon as churches or chapels are finished and consecrated, the right of nomination to

be vested in the persons building and endowing.

offices to be performed therein.

dated, then and in all such cases such persons, having complied with such conditions as aforesaid, shall be preferred to any person or persons proposing to build and endow any new chapel in such parish or extra-parochial place under the provisions of this act: Provided always, that plans for the enlargement of such existing church shall in all cases be prepared, and, before the commencement of such enlargement, shall be laid before the bishop of the diocese, or the said commissioners, as the case may be, for his or their approbation thereof; and that a certificate from an architect employed therein, as to the due execution of such plans, shall in every case be sent to the said bishop, or to the said commissioners, as the case may be, on the completion of the enlargement of such church.

IX. That as soon as conveniently may be after any such church or chapel as aforesaid shall have been so built or purchased and endowed as aforesaid, and completely furnished and fitted up for the performance of Divine Service, and the other conditions herein-before mentioned shall have been performed, and the said church or chapel shall have been consecrated, the right of nominating a minister to the same, and also the land, ground, and site whereon the same shall be built, with the cemetery thereto belonging, if any, which land, ground, and site shall be specified and described in the sentence of consecration of the church or chapel, shall be and are hereby declared to be for ever vested in the person or persons building or purchasing and endowing the said church or chapel, his, her, or their heirs and assigns, or in such trustee or trustees, or ecclesiastical person or body corporate, as are herein-before mentioned, by such name and style as shall be specified in the sentence of consecration of the church or chapel; and such right of nomination shall and may be exercised without requiring the consent of the patron or incumbent of the parish or district in which such chapel shall be built, and notwithstanding no compensation shall have been made to them or either of them, without prejudice however to the fees herein-after mentioned; and such right of nomination, when vested in more than two persons, shall in all cases be exercised by the majority; and the person or persons in whom the said right of nomination, and the said land, ground, and site, shall be so vested, shall in every such case have perpetual succession in the name and style specified in the sentence of consecration, and shall hold the said right of nomination, and also the said lands, grounds, and sites so vested in them, as bodies corporate, by such name and style, without incurring or being subjected to any of the penalties or forfeitures of the statute of mortmain, or of any other law or statute whatsoever, to the use, intent, and purpose that every such church or chapel, with the cemetery to the same, if any, shall, when consecrated, be for ever thereafter set apart and dedicated to the service of Almighty God, as a place of divine worship according to the liturgy and usages of the united church of England and Ireland as by law established.

Commissioners X. That the said commissioners, with the consent of the bishop of or bishop may the diocese, in all such cases as shall come before them, and the assign a district bishop of the diocese alone in all such other cases as are herein-before to every mentioned, and also with the consent of the patron and incumbent in all church, and other cases in which additional churches or chapels shall have been determine the already built and endowed, shall, with all convenient speed, proceed to assign a particular district to every such church or chapel, except where from special circumstances they shall deem it not advisable to assign a district, and such district shall be under the immediate care of the minister who shall have been duly licensed to serve such church or chapel, so far only as regards the visitation of the sick and other pastoral duties, and shall not be deemed a district for any other purpose whatsoever: Provided always, that it shall be lawful for the said commissioners, with the consent of the bishop of the diocese, in all such cases as shall come before the said commissioners, and for the said bishop alone in all other cases, to determine whether baptisms, churchings, or

burials shall be solemnized or performed in any such church or chapel,

No. I.

c. 38.

or not; And the said commissioners or bishop respectively, as the case 1 & 2 W. 4, may be, shall cause a description of the boundaries of the district assigned by them to such church or chapel to be registered in the regis

try of the bishop of the diocese, and shall also cause their order and Boundaries of direction in writing, as to all offices to be performed in any such church the district to or chapel, to be registered in the registry of the diocese. be registered.

XI. Provided always, That in cases where the district to be provided Provision in for any church or chapel erected or to be erected shall extend into more cases where parishes than one, all the conditions hereby directed to be complied districts exwith shall be observed with respect to the patrons and incumbents of tend beyond each parish any part of which shall be comprised in such district, and one parish. the patron or patrons, incumbent or incumbents, of each such parish, shall be entitled to such and the same notices, and such and the same rights and privileges, as if such district were solely situate in one only of such parishes.

sons serving

XII. That every such church or chapel to which such particular dis- Churches or trict has been assigned as aforesaid shall be deemed a perpetual curacy, chapels to be and shall be considered in law as a benefice presentative, so far only as perpetual that the licence thereto shall operate in the same manner as institution curacies. to any such benefice, and shall render voidable other livings in like manner as institution to any such benefice; and the spiritual person serving the same shall be deemed the incumbent thereof; and such in- Powers and cumbents shall have perpetual succession, and shall be and are hereby duties of perdeclared to be bodies politic and corporate, and may receive and take such endowments in lands or tithes, or both, or any such augmentation, the same. as shall be granted to them or their successors; and all such incumbents, and all persons presenting or appointing any such incumbents, shall respectively be subject to all jurisdictions and laws, ecclesiastical or common, and to all provisions, regulations, penalties, and forfeitures contained in any acts of parliament in force relating thereto respectively; and in case of any failure or neglect in not presenting or nominating any such incumbent for the space of six months, such presentation or appointment shall thereupon lapse, as in cases of actual benefices; and Jurisdiction. all churches or chapels built or appropriated under the provisions of this act shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the bishop of the diocese and the archdeacon of the archdeaconry within which the same shall be locally situated.

XIII. That no such church or chapel to which a particular district has District been assigned as aforesaid shall be tenable or holden with the original churches not to church of the parish, chapelry, or place in which such church or chapel be held with has been built, or with any other benefice having cure of souls: Provi- the original. ded always, that no person holding any benefice shall be exempt from residence upon such benefice in respect of any duty which he may perform in any such church or chapel to which no district shall have been assigned as aforesaid.

:

form them.

XIV. That where the said commissioners or bishop of the diocese The laws relarespectively, as the case may be, shall have determined that baptisms, ting to bapchurchings, or burials shall be solemnized or performed in any such tisms, burials, churches or chapels, all acts of parliament, laws, and customs relating &c. to apply to to the performance of such offices of the church shall apply to such the churches churches or chapels as to the performance of such offices respectively hereby authoProvided always, that all fees, dues, offerings, and other emoluments, rized to perwhich of right or custom belong to the incumbent or clerk of any parish, chapelry, or place in which such church or chapel shall have Fees. been or shall be erected, shall be received by or for and on account of such incumbent and clerk respectively, and be paid over to them, any thing in the said recited acts contained to the contrary notwithstanding, except such portion of the said fees, dues, offerings, or other emoluments as the said commissioners, with the consents of the bishop of the diocese, the patron, and the said incumbent respectively, in those cases which shall come before the said commissioners, by order under their

No. I.

1 & 2 W. 4,

c. 38.

To whom copies of applications

shall be sent, in case the patronage of any place shall be in the crown.

Churchwardens to be appointed.

common seal, or the bishop of the diocese alone, with the consent of the patron and incumbent, in all such other cases as herein-before mentioned, by order under his hand and seal, shall assign to the minister of such church or chapel; and every such instrument of assignment shall be registered in the registry of the bishop of the diocese within which such church or chapel shall be locally situated.

XV. Provided always, That where the patronage of any living or benefice of any parish, chapelry, or place as aforesaid shall be in the crown, and such living or benefice shall be above the yearly value of twenty pounds in the king's books, a copy of the application made to the said commissioners as aforesaid shall in every such case be sent to the lord high treasurer or first lord commissioner of the treasury for the time being, instead of being sent to the patron of such living or benefice, as herein-before directed; and that if such living or benefice shall not exceed the value of twenty pounds yearly in the king's books, a copy of the application as aforesaid shall in every such case be sent to the lord high chancellor, lord keeper or commissioners of the great seal, for the time being; and that if such living or benefice shall be within the patronage of the crown in right of the duchy of Lancaster, then in every such case a copy of the application as aforesaid shall be sent to the chancellor of the duchy for the time being, instead of being sent to the patron of such living or benefice, as herein-before directed; and the sending a copy of such application to the said party or parties, as the circumstances may be, shall be as effectual for the purposes of this act, in all such cases, as if the same had been sent to the patron of such living or benefice: Provided also, that in all cases respecting the building, endowment, or disposition of the patronage of any church or chapel heretofore built or hereafter to be built, where the patronage of the living or benefice in which such church or chapel is or shall be situate is in the crown, it shall and may be lawful for the lord high treasurer or first lord commissioner of the treasury for the time being (if such living or benefice shall exceed the value of twenty pounds yearly in the king's books), and for the lord high chancellor, lord keeper or commissioner of the great seal for the time being (if such living or benefice shall not exceed the value of twenty pounds yearly in the king's books), to give such consent by any instrument under his or their hand and seal or hands and seals, on behalf of the crown, and such consent shall be as binding and effectual to all intents and purposes as if given by the crown itself.

XVI. That two fit and proper persons shall be appointed to act as churchwardens for every church or chapel built or appropriated under the provisions of this act, at the usual period of appointing parish officers in every year, and shall be chosen, one by the incumbent of the church or chapel for the time being, and the other by the renters of pews in such church or chapel; and the two persons, when so elected churchwardens, shall appear, and be admitted and sworn according to law, and shall collect and receive the rents of the seats and pews, and pay over the residue thereof which shall remain after the annual reservation aforesaid for repairs, and after paying the salary of the clerk, beadles, pew-openers, and other expences incident to the performance of Divine Service, to the minister of the said church or chapel, to be taken by the said minister to and for his own use by way of stipend, in addition to the yearly interest or dividends which shall arise from the landed or funded endowment herein-before mentioned; and the said churchwardens shall also do, perform, and execute all lawful acts, matters, and things necessary and requisite for and concerning the repairs, management, good order, and decency of behaviour to be kept and observed in the church or chapel by the congregation thereof; and the persons so to be appointed or chosen churchwardens shall continue in their said office until others shall be chosen in like manner in their stead; and all the persons so chosen churchwardens are hereby authorized and empowered, in case of nonpayment of the rents of the seats