Lecturers and Parish Clerks Act 1844

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Lecturers and Parish Clerks Act 1844

1844 CHAPTER 59 7 and 8 Vict

An Act for better regulating the Offices of Lecturers and Parish Clerks.

[29th July 1844]

Whereas in divers districts, parishes, and places there now are or hereafter may be certain lecturers or preachers in the holy orders of deacon or priest of the[F1 Church of England] elected or otherwise appointed to deliver or preach lectures or sermons only, without the obligation of performing other clerical or ministerial duties . . .F2

Textual Amendments

F1Words substituted by virtue of Irish Church Act 1869 (c. 42), s. 69

F2Words omitted by virtue of Statute Law Revision Act 1891 (c. 67)

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1Short title given by Short Titles Act 1896 (c. 14)

Commencement Information

I1Act wholly in force at Royal Assent

[1.] Lecturers or preachers may be required to perform other clerical duties in certain cases.U.K.

It shall be lawful for the bishop of the diocese wherein any such lecturers or preachers shall be so elected or appointed as aforesaid, if he shall think fit, with the assent of the incumbent of every such district, parish, or place, to require, by writing under his hand and seal, any such lecturer or preacher to undertake and perform such other clerical or ministerial duties, as assistant curate or otherwise, within such district, parish, or place, as the said bishop, with the assent of such incumbent as aforesaid, shall think proper, and also to vary from time to time, if necessary, and with the like assent, the particular duties so required to be performed as aforesaid; . . . F3

2 Power to appoint persons in holy orders to the office of church clerk, and to require such persons to act as assistant curates, if necessary.U.K.

When and so often as any vacancy shall occur in the office of church clerk, chapel clerk, or parish clerk, in any district, parish, or place, it shall be lawful for the rector or other incumbent or other the person or persons entitled for the time being to appoint or elect such church clerk, chapel clerk, or parish clerk as aforesaid, if he shall think fit, to appoint or elect a person in the holy orders of deacon or priest of the [F4Church of England] to fill the said office of church clerk, chapel clerk, or parish clerk; and such person so appointed or elected as aforesaid shall, when duly licensed as hereinafter provided, be entitled to have and receive all the profits and emoluments of and belonging to the said office, and shall also be liable in respect thereof, so long as he shall hold the same, to perform all such spiritual and ecclesiastical duties within such district, parish, or place as the said rector or other incumbent, with the sanction of the bishop of the diocese, may from time to time require; but such person in holy orders so appointed or elected as aforesaid shall not by reason of such appointment or election have or acquire any freehold or absolute right to or interest in the said office of church clerk, chapel clerk, or parish clerk, or to or in any of the profits or emoluments thereof, but every such person in holy orders so appointed or elected as aforesaid shall at all times be liable to be suspended or removed from the said office, in the same manner and by the same authority, and for such or the like causes, as those whereby any stipendiary curate may be lawfully suspended or removed; such suspension or removal nevertheless being subject to the same power of appeal to the archbishop of the province to which any stipendiary curate is or may be entitled.

Textual Amendments

F4Words substituted by virtue of Irish Church Act 1869 (c. 42), s. 69

3 Such persons to be licensed by the bishop, and when appointed otherwise than by the bishop to be subject to the approval of the incumbent.U.K.

. . . F5 no person in holy orders so appointed or elected as aforesaid shall be competent to perform any of the duties of his said office, or any other spiritual or ecclesiastical duties, within such district, parish, or place, or to receive or take any of the profits or emoluments of his said office, unless and until he shall have duly obtained from the bishop of the diocese within which such district, parish, or place is situate such licence and authority in that behalf as are required and usual in respect of stipendiary curates; but nevertheless such licence and authority, when so obtained as aforesaid, shall entitle the person so obtaining it to hold the said office, and to receive and take the profits and emoluments thereof as aforesaid, until he shall have resigned the same, or have been so suspended or removed as aforesaid, without any annual or other re-appointment or re-election thereto.

Textual Amendments

4 Appointments of assistant clergy under this Act not to exempt incumbents from the duty of providing curates in cases where they are now liable.U.K.

Provided also, that no rector or other incumbent of any district, parish, or place wherein any such person or persons shall be so employed as aforesaid, or wherein any lecturer or preacher shall have been required to undertake and perform other clerical and ministerial duties, in the manner hereinbefore provided, or wherein any person in holy orders shall have been appointed or elected to fill the office of church clerk, chapel clerk, or parish clerk as aforesaid, shall by reason of any such provisions be exempt from any duty or obligation of employing within the same district, parish, or place any curate or other assistant to which by any law, statute, canon, or usage he is or may be already liable; but it shall be lawful for the bishop of the diocese from time to time to require every such rector or other incumbent to provide, or for the said bishop to nominate and licence, such other curates and assistants to officiate within every such district, parish, or place, in addition either to the person or persons so intended to be employed as aforesaid, or to such lecturer or preacher, or to such church clerk, chapel clerk, or parish clerk, and to make regulations for the payment of the stipends of such other curates and assistants, as fully and in the same manner and subject to the same restrictions as he might have done by law if this Act had not been passed.

5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F6U.K.

6 Power to remove person ceasing to be employed as mentioned in this Act from premises held by him in right of his employment. U.K.

In case any person, having ceased to be employed in any of the offices or duties in this Act mentioned or referred to, or having been duly suspended or removed from any such office or employment as aforesaid, shall at any time refuse or neglect to give up the possession of any house, building, land, or premises, or any part or parcel thereof, by him held or occupied by virtue or in respect of any such office or employment as aforesaid, it shall be lawful for the bishop of the diocese, upon complaint thereof to him made, to summon such person forthwith personally to appear before him, and to show cause for such refusal or neglect; and upon the failure of the person so summoned as aforesaid to obey such summons, or, upon his appearance, to show to the said bishop such cause as may be deemed by the said bishop sufficient for such refusal or neglect, the said bishop shall thereupon grant a certificate of the facts aforesaid, under his hand and seal, to the person or persons entitled to the possession of such house, building, land, or premises as aforesaid, who may thereupon go before any neighbouring justice of the peace; and such justice, upon production of such certificate, and proof of such wrongful retention of possession as aforesaid, shall and he is hereby required to issue his warrant under his hand and seal, directed to the constables or other peace officers of the district, parish, or place within which such house, building, land, or premises is or are situate, or to the constables or other peace officers of any neighbouring district, parish, or place, requiring them forthwith to expel and remove from the said house, building, land, or premises, and from every part and parcel thereof, the person so wrongfully detaining possession thereof, and to deliver the peaceable possession thereof to the person or persons so entitled to the same as aforesaid; and such constables or other peace officers shall and they are hereby required promptly and effectually to obey and execute such warrant, according to the exigency thereof, and thereupon it shall be lawful for them also to levy, upon the goods and chattels of the person so by them expelled and removed as aforesaid, the necessary costs and expences of executing such warrant, the amount whereof, in case the same shall be disputed, shall be forthwith settled and determined by the said justice of the peace by whom the said warrant was so issued as aforesaid, or by any other justice of the peace residing in or near to the said district, parish, or place, whose decision thereupon shall be final, and who is hereby authorized to make such order in that behalf as to him shall seem reasonable.

Modifications etc. (not altering text)