Welsh Church Act 1914

DisestablishmentU.K.

1 Disestablishment and prohibition of future appointments.U.K.

On the day . . . F1 (in this Act referred to as the date of disestablishment), the Church of England, so far as it extends to and exists in Wales and Monmouthshire (in this Act referred to as the Church in Wales), shall cease to be established by law, and, save as by this Act provided, no person shall, after the passing of this Act, be appointed or nominated by His Majesty or any person, by virtue of any existing right of patronage, to any ecclesiastical office in the Church in Wales.

2 Ecclesiastical corporations and bishops.U.K.

(1)On the date of disestablishment every cathedral and ecclesiastical corporation in the Church in Wales, whether sole or aggregate, shall be dissolved.

(2)On and after the date of disestablishment no bishop of the Church in Wales shall as such be summoned to or be qualified to sit or vote as a Lord of Parliament; but save as aforesaid every person who is at the passing of this Act a bishop, dean, canon, or archdeacon of or the holder of any ecclesiastical office in the Church in Wales, shall during his life enjoy the same title and precedence as if this Act had not passed.

(3)Writs of summons shall be issued to bishops not disqualified by this enactment for sitting in the House of Lords as if the bishops so disqualified had vacated their sees.

F2(4). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3 Ecclesiastical law and courts.U.K.

(1)As from the date of disestablishment ecclesiastical courts and persons in Wales and Monmouthshire shall cease to exercise any jurisdiction, and the ecclesiastical law of the Church in Wales shall cease to exist as law.

(2)As from the same date the then existing ecclesiastical law and the then existing articles, doctrines, rites, rules, discipline, and ordinances of the Church of England shall, with and subject to such modification or alteration, if any, as after the passing of this Act may be duly made therein, according to the constitution and regulations for the time being of the Church in Wales, be binding on the members for the time being of the Church in Wales in the same manner as if they had mutually agreed to be so bound, and shall be capable of being enforced in the temporal courts in relation to any property which by virtue of this Act is held on behalf of the said Church or any members thereof, in the same manner and to the same extent as if such property had been expressly assured upon trust to be held on behalf of persons who should be so bound:

(3)The said constitution and regulations of the Church in Wales may, notwithstanding anything in this section, provide for the establishment for the Church in Wales of ecclesiastical courts, and, if the Archbishop of Canterbury consents, for appeals from any of the courts so established being heard and determined by the provincial court of the Archbishop, and the Archbishop may, with the approval of His Majesty in Council, give such consent, but no such courts shall exercise any coercive jurisdiction and no appeal shall lie from any such court to His Majesty in Council.

(4)The power of making by such constitution and regulations alterations and modifications in ecclesiastical law shall include the power of altering and modifying such law so far as it is embodied in F3. . . any F3. . . Act of Parliament.

(5)As from the date of disestablishment the bishops and clergy of the Church in Wales shall cease to be members of or be represented in the Houses of Convocation of the Province of Canterbury, but nothing in this Act shall affect the powers of those Houses so far as they relate to matters outside Wales and Monmouthshire.