and that every person disobeying any such writ so to be issued. by the said president, shall be considered as in contempt of the said judicial committee, and shall also be liable to such and the same penalties and consequences as if such writ had issued out of the said Court of King's Bench, and may be sued for such penalties in the said court.

pealing.

[Sect. 20. "That all appeals to his Majesty in council shall Time of ap be made within such times respectively within which the same may now be made, where such time shall be fixed by any law or usage, and where no such law or usage shall exist, then within such time as shall be ordered by his Majesty in council; and that, subject to any right subsisting under any charter or constitution of any colony or plantation, it shall be lawful for his Majesty in council to alter any usage as to the time of making appeals, and to make any order respecting the time of appealing to his Majesty in council."

[The remaining clauses of the act refer to the East Indian Colonial and Admiralty Courts.-Ed.]

9. During the appeal, the sentence given by the inferior court or judge is suspended.

Suspension of

the Sentence during the

Thus, if a church be voidable by deprivation, and the eccle- Appeal. siastical judge hath actually pronounced a sentence of deprivation against the incumbent; yet if the person deprived doth make his appeal, the church is not actually void, so long as the appeal dependeth; and if the sentence of deprivation upon the appeal be declared void, the clerk is perfect incumbent as before, without any new institution (p).

10. And pending the appeal it is usual, at the instance of Inhibition. the appellant, for the superior court to grant an inhibition to stay the execution of the sentence in the inferior court until the appeal shall be determined.

Concerning which, by Can. 96, it is ordained "that no inhibition shall be granted out of any court belonging to the archbishop, at the instance of any party, unless it be subscribed by an advocate practising in the said court. And the like course shall be used, in granting forth any inhibition at the instance of any party, by the bishop or his chancellor against the archdeacon, or any other person exercising ecclesiastical jurisdiction. And if in the court or consistory of any bishop there be no advocate, then shall the subscription of a proctor practising in the same court be held sufficient."

And by Can. 97, it is further ordered and decreed "that henceforward no inhibition be granted by occasion of any interlocutory decree, or in any cause of correction, except under [65] the form aforesaid. And moreover, that before the going out of any such inhibition, the appeal itself, or a copy thereof (avouched by oath to be just and true), be exhibited to the

(p) Wats. c. 6; Dy. 240, B; 6 Rep. 18.

judge or his lawful surrogate, whereby he may be lawfully informed, both of the quality of the crime and of the cause of the grievance, before the granting forth of the said inhibition. And every appellant, or his lawful proctor, shall before the obtaining of any such inhibition, shew and exhibit to the judge or his surrogate in writing, a true copy of those acts wherewith he complaineth himself to be aggrieved, and from which he appealeth; or shall take a corporal oath, that he hath performed his diligence and true endeavour for the obtaining of the same, and could not obtain it at the hands of the register in the country, or his deputy, tendering him his fee. And if any judge or register shall either procure or permit any inhibition to be sealed, so as is said, contrary to the form and limitation above specified; let him be suspended from the execution of his office for the space of three months; and if any proctor, or other person whatsoever by his appointment, shall offend in any of the premises, either by making or sending out any inhibition, contrary to the tenor of the said premises; let him be removed from the exercise of his office for the space of a whole year, without hope of release or restoring."

[See this subject further discussed under the head of Practice.-ED.]

Appraisement-see ills.

Appropriation.

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I. Original of the Appropriation of Churches.

FOR the first six or seven centuries, the parochia was the diocese or episcopal district, wherein the bishop and his clergy lived together at the cathedral church; and whatever were the tithes and oblations of the faithful, they were all brought into a common fund, from whence a continual supply was had, for support of the bishop and his college of presbyters and deacons, and for the repair and ornaments of the church, and for other suitable works of piety and charity. So that before the distri bution of England into parishes (as the word is now used) all tithes, offerings, and ecclesiastical profits whatsoever, did entirely belong to the bishop and his clergy for pious uses, and by their original nature could not be in the hands of any lay

man, or be employed to any secular purpose. This community and collegiate life of the bishop and his clergy, appears to have been the practice of our British, and was again appointed for the model of our Saxon churches.

While the bishops thus lived amongst their clergy, residing with them, in their proper seats or cathedral churches; the stated services, or public offices of religion, were performed only in those single choirs; to which the people of each whole diocese resorted, especially at the more solemn times and seasons of devotion. But to supply the inconveniences of distant and difficult access, the bishop sent out some presbyters into the remoter parts, to be itinerant preachers, or occasional dis- [67] pensers of the word and sacraments. Most of these missionaries returned from their holy circuit to the centre of unity the episcopal college, and had there only their fixed abode; giving the bishop a due account of their labours and successes in their respective progress. Yet some few of the travelling clergy, where they saw a place more populous, and a people zealous, built there a plain and humble conveniency for divine worship; and procured the bishop to consecrate it for an oratory or chapel at large, not yet for a parish church, or any particular congregation, to be confined within certain bounds and limits. And while the necessities of the country were thus upon occasion supplied, it did not alter the state of the ecclesiastical patrimony; which still remained invested in the bishop for the common uses of religion, as devoted solely to God and his clergy.

The division of a diocese into rural parishes, and the foundation of churches adequate to them, cannot be ascribed to any one act, nor indeed to any one single age.

Several causes and persons did contribute to the rise of parochial churches. Sometimes the itinerant preachers found encouragement to settle amongst a liberal people, and (by their assistance) to raise up a church, and a little adjoining manse. Sometimes the kings, in their country vills and seats of pleasure or retirement, ordered a place of worship for their court and retinue, which was the original of royal free chapels. Very often the bishops, commiserating the ignorance of the country people, took care for building churches, as the only way of planting or keeping up Christianity amongst them. But the more ordinary and standing method of augmenting the number of churches depended on the piety of the thanes or greater lords; who having large fees and territories in the country, founded churches for the service of their families and tenants within their dominion. It was this gave a primary title to the patronage of laymen: it was this made the bounds of a parish. commensurate to the extent of a manor: it was this divided the several portions of the same church, according to the separate interest of the several lords: and it was this distinct property

VOL. I.

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of lords and tenants, that by degrees allotted new parochial bounds, by the adding of new auxiliary churches.

This first designation of parish churches did not at all break in upon the right of the bishop, either in respect of spirituals or temporals. For the bishop had still the proper cure of souls within his whole diocese, and a title to all the ecclesiastical revenues; and it was by his authority and consent, that parish churches and priests were so ordained, as helps and assistants given to him. For their number not only promoted the services of religion, but even advanced the revenues of the see. Yet for fear the bishop's committing so many parts of his charge to subordinate curates might seem a sort of recess from his right and claim to them, he had the most solemn reservations made to him and his successors. No church, however built, was to be employed for public service, till consecrated by the bishop. And no priest was to reside and officiate there, but by the bishop's delegation. And there were indeed as many acknowledgments of right and respect paid to the head of the diocese, as were by feudal customs paid to the head of the seigniory or civil dominion. For as the lord's own seat was the head of the barony, or the lord's court, whither the inferior tenants were summoned to answer for the conditions of their tenure; so the bishop's chair was always the seat and heart of the diocese, to which the clergy were cited to give account of their offices and possessions, as in their mother church. As each inferior tenant was admitted with some oath of fidelity to the prime lord; so every parish priest had admission to his church, with a like obligation of obedience to his bishop. As each tenant paid some sort of rent unto his lord, for being quieted in his possession; so the presbyter made a return of some part of the parochial profits to his bishop, for the security of enjoying the remainder to his own use. As no one tenant could desert his holding, or substitute another in it, without consent and acceptance of the lord; so neither could any parish priest forsake his charge, or appoint another to succeed him in it, without express leave and authority of the bishop. And as upon the death of a feudatory tenant, the custody of the lands came back to the lord, till an able heir should be instated in it; so likewise the custody of all vacant benefices did revert to the bishop, and he received the mean profits of them, till a successor was confirmed and settled in them. And in many other forms and customs of dependency and subjection, the parochial clergy were as accountable to the bishop, as the lay tenants were to the prime lord. So that during all this first constitution of parishes, there was nothing of tithe or glebe or oblations diverted into lay hands, or applied to any secular purposes; but the absolute [69] property, and the entire disposal of them, did remain in the bishops and the clergy, for their own support, and other pious

uses.

The first way of diverting the tithes and oblations from the immediate uses of the bishop and his clergy, did arise from the confusion of parochial bounds; which having no other limits set to them than those of the possessions of the respective founders, this obliged them and their retinue and tenants to pay their duties to that one church: but if any new fee were erected within such lordship, or there were any people within the precinct who were independent on the patron, they were at liberty to choose any neighbouring church or any religious house, and to pay their tithes and make their offerings, whereever they received the benefits of religion. So the bishop receding from this former claim, and his substituted clergy not yet knowing the bounds of their respective cures; this let in an opinion, that tithes and oblations were an arbitrary disposition of the donor, who might give them as the reward of religious service done to him, in what place, or from what person soever he received that service. Which notion gave occasion to the monasteries, to ingross all the neighbouring people, and especially the richer lords and patrons, to themselves; and to draw them from their own priests to communicate in their cells; and so to bring their tithes and offerings with them. But yet this discretionary allotment of tithes and offerings, though injurious to particular priests and parish churches, was no violation of the general rights of the national church and clergy; for though the people so chose their own way of distribution, they did by no means detain the stated dues unto themselves, nor alienate them to any ordinary uses; they ever looked upon them as consecrated to the altar, and offered them purely for the sake of God and their souls.

A second prejudice to the parochial clergy was, the early division of tithes and offerings into several parts, for the several purposes of piety and charity. The benevolence of a

diocese was at first entirely at the bishop's receipt and disposal; but that there might appear to be a just application of it, a rule obtained for dividing the fund into four parts; one to the fabric and ornaments of the church; another to the officiating priest; a third to the poor, and necessitous travellers; and a fourth reserved to the more immediate service of the bishop and his college. But when fees began to be endowed with lands and other firm possessions; then the bishops (to encou rage the foundation of churches, and to establish a better pro- [ 70 ] vision for the residing clergy) did tacitly recede from their quarter part, and were afterwards by canons forbidden to demand it, if they could live without it. So as the division was now only into three parts; and every priest was the receiver and distributer as the bishop had been before, standing obliged to expend one part on the raising, supporting, and adorning his church and manse, another part upon entertaining strangers and relieving the poor, and to have a third reserved for his own