48 Churchwardens to provide They are also to see that the church be provided with a large Bible of the last translation (0), a Book of Common Prayer (p), and the books of homilies allowed by authority (q). The ten commandments are to be set, at the charge of the parish, upon the east end of every church and chapel, where the people may best see and read the same; and other chosen sentences are, at the like charge, to be written upon the walls of the said churches and chapels in places convenient (r). The table of degrees of marriages prohibited is also in every church to be publicly set up at the charge of the parish (s). The churchwardens are also to provide and have a strong chest, with a hole in the upper part thereof, to be provided at the charge of the parish (if there be none such already provided), having three keys; of which one shall remain in the custody of the parson, vicar, or curate, and the other two in the custody of the churchwardens for the time being which chest they are to set or fasten in the most convenient place, to the intent the and the introductory rubric to the Book of Common Prayer. This rubric directs that such ornaments shall be retained and be in use as were in the church of England, by the authority of Parliament, in the second year of the reign of King Edward the 6th; and it would seem from the decision of the bishop of Exeter in the recent case before him, of the Rev. W. G. Parks Smith, of St. John's Chapel, Torquay, that the churchwardens would not be justified in placing vases of flowers, or a cross, upon the altar, as it cannot be shown that these ornaments were in use in the church by authority of parliament, in the second year of the reign of king Edward the 6th, as required by the rubric above referred to. (0) Can. 80: Gibs. 202. (p) Can. 80; 1 Eliz. c. 2, s. 19; 13 & 14 C. 2, c. 4. (q) Can. 80. (r) Can. 82. (8) Can. 99. Utensils of the Church, 49 parishioners may put into it their alms for their poor neighbours (t). They ought also, at the costs of the parish, to provide a decent bier for the burial of the dead (u), and a bell and rope to ring to church and toll at funerals (v). And finally, they are in like manner to supply a register book of christenings and burials, and a proper register book for marriages, wherein shall be written the day and year of every christening, wedding, and burial, within the parish (w), a proper book wherein to record the names and licences of the strangers who are admitted to preach in their church (x), a book for the churchwardens' accounts, a true note and terrier of all the glebe lands and other possessions duty of the parishioners to contribute to this chest and the blessings likely to follow their contributions are pointed out, and the due appropriation of their alms provided for, by the latter part of this canon; the words are as follow:-" And the Parson, Vicar, or Curate, shall diligently from time to time, and especially when men make their testaments, call upon, exhort, and move their neighbours to confer and give as they may well spare to the said chest, declaring unto them, that whereas heretofore they have been diligent to bestow much substance, otherwise than God commanded, upon superstitious uses, now they ought at this time to be much more ready to help the poor and needy, knowing that to relieve the poor is a sa D crifice which pleaseth God, and that also whatsoever is given for their comfort is given to Christ himself, and is so accepted of him, that he will mercifully reward the same. The which alms and devotion of the people, the keepers of the keys shall yearly, quarterly or oftener (as need requireth), take out of the chest, and distribute the same in the presence of most of the parish, or six of the chief of them, to be truly and faithfully delivered to their most poor and needy neighbours." See also the rubric to the visitation of the sick. (u) Lind. 252. (v) Pearce and Hughes, Churchwardens of Clapham, v. The Rector, Parishioners, and Inhabitants of the same Parish, 3 Hagg, C. R. 10. (w) Can. 70; 30 Car. 2, c. 3; 26 Geo. 2, c. 33. (x) Can, 52, 50 Freehold of Church not in Churchwardens. belonging to the church (y), and a chest with lock and keys, wherein to keep these books (2). The churchwardens are a corporation only so far as relates to the goods and chattels of the church, and have no legal interest in any lands belonging to the church, and are not a corporation in respect of land, excepting in the city of London, by special custom. But there, by such special custom, the churchwardens with the minister make a corporation for lands as well as for goods, and may, as such, hold, purchase, take, and demise lands for the use of the church, and sue and be sued on account thereof, as well as for goods and chattels; and this is alleged as a reason for that other custom (a), which hath also obtained in London, for the parishioners there to choose both churchwardens exclusive of the minister: for, say they, if the minister should there choose one of the churchwardens according to the canon, he, with the said churchwarden, as the major part of the corporation, may dispose of the lands to the damage of the parish, and therefore it is not safe there to lodge so great a trust in him; but there being no such custom in any other part of the kingdom, everywhere else the churchwardens only (y) Can. 87. The original terrier is, by the canon, to be deposited in the bishop's registry, but it is convenient that a copy of the same exemplified be kept in the church chest. See GOD. APPEND. 12, the form of a terrier, see Burn's Ecc. Law, tit. terrier. (z) Can, 70. The vestry book is to be provided by the churchwardens and overseers of the poor out of the poor rate, For and not by the churchwardens out of the church rate. Post, c. 2, s. 2. 58 Geo. 3, c. 69, Appendix; but, of course, this only applies to the vestry of a parish. Where the vestry is constituted for ecclesiastical purposes only, as under the church building Acts, the book must be provided by the churchwardens. (a) See ante, p. 21. In whom Freehold of Church vested. 51 make the corporation for the use of the church, and are such only for the goods belonging to the same, and not for lands (b). As regards the fabric of the church and the churchyard, the churchwardens are not a corporation in respect thereof, nor have they any property therein, for the freehold is in the parson, and not in the parishioners, or in the churchwardens in trust for them: all actions therefore touching the freehold must be brought in the name of the parson, and not in the name of the churchwardens or the parishioners (c). (b) Tyrw. Prid. 129, 130, Churchwardens, jointly with the overseers of the poor, are, however, authorized by statute (see 59 Geo. 3, c. 12,) to purchase, accept, and hold, in the nature of a body corporate, lands for the use of the poor and for certain other parochial purposes; but as this power is given to them in their character of overseers of the poor, and not as ecclesiastical officers, it does not fall within the province of this little work to enter more fully upon the subject. See the following cases upon the construction of this statute: Doe dem. Jackson v. Hilly, 10 B. & C. 885; 5 M. & Ry. 706, S.C. Doe dem. Higgs v. Terry, 4 A. & E. 274; 5 N. & M. 556, S. C. Doe dem Hobbs v. Cockell, 4 A. & E. 478; 6 N. & M. 179, S. C. Ex parte Annesley, 2 Y, & C. 350. Alderman v. Neat, 4 M. & W. 704. Allason v. Hook, 1 P. & D. 183. Woodcock v. Gibson, 4 B. & C. 462; 6 D. & R. 524, S. C. Wrench v. Lord, 4 Scott, 381. Phillips v. Pearse, 5 B. & C. 483; 8 D. & R. 43, S. C. Smith v. Atkins, 8 M. & W. 362. Goldsworth v. Knights, 11 M. & W. 337. Att. Gen. v. Lewin, 8 Sim. 366. In re Paddington charities, ibid. 629. Ward v. Clark, 12 M. & W. 747. Doe dem. Edney v. Billet, 14 L. J. Q. B. 343. Gavill v. Utter, 9 Jurist, 1081. Uthwait v. Elkins, 13 M. & W. 772. (c) Prid. 130. Com. Dig. Esglise. Walter v. Montague & Lamprell, 1 Curt. 253. The freehold of subscription churches and chapels under 5 Geo. 4, c. 103, and 1 & 2 W. 4, c. 38, is by 5 Geo. 4, c. 103, s. 14, and 1 & 2 Wm. 4, c. 38, s. 9, vested in certain trustees, and their successors, for ever, by such names and styles as are specified in the respective sentences of consecration. But by the 13th section of 8 & 9 Vict. c. 70, s. 13, the freehold of the site of every church of which the ecclesiastical commissioners may have accepted or shall accept a conveyance under the provisions of the various churchbuilding Acts, is, after consecration, vested in the incumbent " 52 Who bound to repair the Church, But although the churchwardens have no property in the church or churchyard, they have, in common with the rest of the parishioners, a right to the use of the edifice for the celebration of divine service, and of the holy sacraments and ceremonies of our religion, and of the churchyard for the purpose of access to the church and vestry on all fit occasions, and for the burial of the dead; and in consideration of this privilege, which is equally the right of every parishioner, the common law of the land imposes upon the parish not only the duty of providing the necessary furniture of the church, but also of keeping in good and sufficient repair the nave of the church, and the churchyard and upon the churchwardens, as the guardians and keepers of the church and the representatives of the body of the parish, the duty of effecting the necessary repairs by means of a rate to be levied upon the parishioners (d). This duty of repairing the church, however, a the expense of the parishioners, does not extend to the chancel; for, by the general law, the par son is bound to repair the chancel, if there be no custom for the parish, or the owner of some par ticular estate, to do it (e). But a custom for the parishioners to repair th chancel is good, and such custom prevails in th of such church; and the free- or persons as the commissioner may, with the consent of th bishop, direct, until there sha be an incumbent, and then i such incumbent, (d) Prid. 27, and see Walte v. Montague & Lamprell, Curt, 253. Nunn v. Varty Mopsey, 3 Curt. 352. (e) Gibs. Cod. 199. |