vested in ecclesiastical commissioners. 4 & 5 Vict. c. 39. Archdeacon ries may be benefices. possession at the time of the passing of this act, all lands, tithes, and other hereditaments (except any right of patronage) belonging to such archdeaconry at the time of such endowment may, by the authority hereinafter provided, be vested in the ecclesiastical commissioners for England, and their successors, for the purposes of this act; and any benefice annexed to such archdeaconry may be, by the like authority, disannexed therefrom, and the patronage of such benefice shall thenceforth revert to the patron to whom it belonged before such annexation, subject to any transfer of patronage provided by this act." And it is further enacted by 4 & 5 Vict. c. 39 Sect. 9. "That, notwithstanding anything in the said secondly-recited act contained, it shall be lawful by the authoendowed with rity in the same act provided, with the consent of the bishop of any diocese, and of the patron of any benefice within the limits of any archdeaconry in such diocese, to endow such archdeaconry, by the annexation thereto of such benefice, such annexation to take effect immediately if the benefice be vacant at the time of such endowment or otherwise upon the then next vacancy thereof; and every benefice so annexed, and every future holder thereof, shall be subject to all the provisions of 1 & 2 Vict. c. 106." Power to raise the income of any archdeaconry to £200 per annum. New dioceses. By sect. 10, the provision in 1 & 2 Vict. c. 106, as to archdeacons holding two benefices, "one of which benefices shall be situate within the diocese of which his archdeaconry forms a part, or one cathedral preferment in any cathedral or collegiate church of the diocese of which his archdeaconry forms a part, and one benefice situate within such diocese": "shall extend and apply to benefices locally situate within the diocese of which any such archdeaconry shall form a part, although the same may not be subject to the jurisdiction of the bishop of such diocese." It is provided by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners Act, 1840, Amendment Act, 1885 (48 & 49 Vict. c. 55), s. 2, that "it shall be lawful for the ecclesiastical commissioners for England, at any time after ascertaining the sum required to raise the income of any archdeaconry to the sum of two hundred pounds per annum, to submit to her Majesty in council for ratification under the powers of the said Ecclesiastical Commissioners Act, 1810, that is to say, the act 3 & 4 Vict. c. 113, s. 34, a scheme or schemes for authorizing the payment out of their common fund to the holder of the same archdeaconry for the time being of the sum so required, and this notwithstanding that the powers contained in the same section or in this act may have been previously exercised in favour of the same archdeaconry; provided always, that no augmentation to be granted under this act shall be such as to raise the average annual income of any archdeaconry to an amount exceeding two hundred pounds." Under the various acts for creating new bishoprics, special provisions have been made for altering the boundaries of arch deaconries and as to the status of archdeacons. See for St. Under 41 & 42 Vict. c. 68, s. 7, schemes may be made, inter alia, "For enabling any archdeacon whose archdeaconry is affected by the foundation of the new bishopric to reside in any place in which he is residing at the date of the scheme, and for making such arrangements as may seem to the ecclesiastical commissioners requisite to preclude any officer holding office at the date of the passing of this act from being prejudiced by this act or any Order in Council or scheme made thereunder." The provisions as to the Welsh archdeaconries contained in Welsh arch6 & 7 Vict. c. 77 have already been mentioned (m). deaconries. By sect. 3 of 3 & 4 Vict. c. 86, the archdeacon is enumerated Church Disamong those who may be the assessors of the bishop in hearing cipline Act, proceedings against a clergyman; but it is not imperative on the bishop to appoint him. 1840. By 7 & 8 Vict. c. 58, the Archdeacon's Court is empowered Parish clerks. to try questions relating to the discipline of parish clerks (n). Further provisions as to vesting the estates of archdeaconries Estates. in the ecclesiastical commissioners are contained in the later acts relating to this body, and will be found treated of in the chapter on the Ecclesiastical Commissioners (0). Under the Ecclesiastical Dilapidations Act, 1871 (34 & 35 Dilapidations. Vict. c. 43), the surveyors of dilapidations are to be elected by the archdeacons and rural deans of the diocese (s. 8); and an archdeacon or rural dean may complain to the bishop of the state of the buildings on any benefice (s. 12). Under the Incumbents' Resignation Act, 1871 (34 & 35 Vict. Incumbents' c. 44), any archdeacon in the diocese may be one of the commis- resignation. sioners (s. 5). By the Public Worship Regulation Act, 1874 (37 & 38 Vict. Public c. 85), s. 8, power is given to the archdeacon to make repre- Worship sentations under that act as to any church or burial ground Act. within his archdeaconry. Regulation By 48 & 49 Vict. c. 54, s. 3, the archdeacon or rural dean of the Commissions. archdeaconry or rural deanery in which a benefice is locally situate shall be one of the commissioners on inquiries under that act as to the inadequate performance of ecclesiastical duties by the incumbent of that benefice. And by sect. 5, the archdeacon of every archdeaconry must forthwith after the passing of the act, and afterwards at the expiration of every three years, convene a meeting of the beneficed clergy of his archdeaconry for the purpose of electing a commissioner. (m) Vide supra, p. 185. (n) Vide infra, Part VI., Chap. VII., sect. 1. (0) Vide infra, Part IX., Chap. III. See in particular 24 & 25 Vict. c. 131; 29 & 30 Vict. c. 111, ss. 15, 16. CHAPTER VI. RURAL DEANS. Antiquity of the office of rural dean. Appointment of rural deans. We have next to consider the institution of rural deans. The office of rural deans was not unknown to our Saxon ancestors (a). For in one of the laws ascribed to Edward the Confessor, it is provided, that of eight pounds penalty for breach of the king's peace, the king shall have an hundred shillings; the earl of the county fifty shillings; and the dean of the bishop in whose deanery the peace was broken, the other ten: "which words can be applied only to the office of rural deans, according to the respective districts which they had in the parts of every diocese " (b). And as in the aforesaid law of King Edward the Confessor the rural dean is there called the dean of the bishop, so without doubt he was appointed by the bishop to have the inspection of clergy and people within the district in which he was incumbent, under him, and him alone; in like manner as the archipresbyter at the episcopal see was one of the college of presbyters, appointed at the pleasure of the bishop, who in his absence might preside over them, and under him have the chief care of all matters relating to the church. But as in process of time, by the concession of the bishops, the cathedral archipresbyter or dean became elective, and being chosen by the college of presbyters, or the chapter, was only confirmed by the bishop; so after that the archdeacon, by the like concessions, became a sharer in the administration of episcopal jurisdiction, he became of course a sharer in the appointment of rural deans (c). The archdeacon likewise, at the end of his visitation, ought to present to the bishop all such persons as he shall find in every deanery, qualified in point of doctrine and judgment for preaching and instructing the people. And out of these the bishop may choose whom he pleases for his rural deans (d). (a) This introductory sketch is taken in substance from Kennett. But his speculations as to the boundaries of deaneries being conterminous with hundreds, or as to each deanery being a collection of ten churches, have been shown by The oath of office which in some dioceses was anciently Their ancient administered to them, was this:-"I, A. B., do swear diligently oath of office. and faithfully to execute the office of dean rural within the deanery of D. First, I will diligently and faithfully execute, or cause to be executed, all such processes as shall be directed unto me from my Lord Bishop of B. or his officers or ministers by his authority. Item, I will give diligent attendance, by myself or my deputy, at every consistory court, to be holden by the said reverend father in God, or his chancellor, as well to return such processes as shall be by me or my deputy executed, as also to receive others, then unto me to be directed. Item, I will from time to time, during my said office, diligently inquire, and true information give unto the said reverend father in God, or his chancellor, of all the names of all such persons within the said deanery of D. as shall be openly and publicly noted and defamed, or vehemently suspected of any such crime or offence as is to be punished or reformed by the authority of the said court. Item, I will diligently inquire, and true information give, of all such persons and their names, as do administer any dead men's goods, before they have proved the will of the testator, or taken letters of administration of the deceased intestates. Item, I will be obedient to the right reverend father in God, J., Bishop of B., and his chancellor, in all honest and lawful commands; neither will I attempt, do, or procure to be done or attempted, any thing that shall be prejudicial to his jurisdiction, but will preserve and maintain the same to the uttermost of my power (e). From whence it appears, that besides their duty concerning Their holding the execution of the bishop's processes, their office was to inspect the lives and manners of the clergy and people within their district, and to report the same to the bishop; to which end, that they might have knowledge of the state and condition of their respective deaneries, they had a power to convene rural chapters (f). Which chapters were made up of all the instituted clergy, or their curates as proxies of them, and the dean as president or prolocutor. These were convened either upon more frequent and ordinary occasions, or at more solemn seasons for the greater and more weighty affairs. Those of the former sort were held at first every three weeks, in imitation of the courts baron, which run generally in this form: de tribus septimanis in tres septimanas; but afterwards they were most commonly held once a month, at the beginning of the month, and were for this reason called kalendæ or monthly meetings. But their most solemn and principal chapters were assembled once a quarter, in which there was to be a more full house, and matters of great import were to be here alone transacted. All rectors and vicars, or their capellanes, were bound to attend these chapters, and to bring information of all irregularities committed in their respec P. (e) God. App. pp. 6, 7. VOL. 1. (f) Gibs. p. 973. P rural chapters. tive parishes. If the deans were, by sickness or urgent business, detained from their appearing and presiding in such conventions, they had power to constitute their sub-deans or vicegerents. The place of holding these chapters was at first in any one church within the district, where the minister of the place was to procure for, that is, to entertain the dean and his immediate officers. But because in parishes that were small and unfrequented, there was no fit accommodation to be had for so great a concourse of people; therefore in a council at London, under Archbishop Stratford, in the year 1342, it was ordained that such chapters should not be held in any obscure village, but in the larger or more eminent parishes (g). In pursuance of which institution of holding rural chapters and of the office of rural deans in inspecting the manners of clergy and people, and executing the bishop's processes for the reformation thereof, we find a constitution of Archbishop Peccham, by which it is required, that the priests, on every Sunday immediately following the holding of the rural chapter, shall expound to the people the sentence of excommunication (). And in these chapters continually presided the rural deans, until that Otho, the pope's legate, required the archdeacons to be frequently present at them, who being superior to the rural deans did in effect take the presidency out of their hands; insomuch that in Edward the First's reign, John of Athon gives this account of it: "Rural chapters," says he, "at this day are holden by the archdeacon's officials, and sometimes by the rural deans." From which constitution of Otho we may date the decay of rural chapters; not only as it was a discouragement to |