The Rules provide a code of procedure for the trial of offences under the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963, and their arrangement closely follows the arrangement of the Measure. After general provisions for the laying of complaints in all cases, the Rules proceed to deal separately with the different kinds of offences and the different courts, whether of first instance or appellate.
The Rules also cover deposition from Holy Orders consequent on censures of deprivation, and deprivation and deposition consequent on certain judgments, orders and findings of secular courts.