1. This Act may be cited for all purposes as "The Church "Seats Act, 1872."

2. [Ecclesiastical Commissioners may accept a church site under a grant in which it is declared that pews or seats shall not be let.] It shall be lawful for the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, in the exercise and fulfilment of the powers and duties conferred or imposed upon them by the Acts administered by them or any or either of the same Acts, to accept a church site under a grant or conveyance in which it is declared that the pews or seats in the church erected or to be erected on the same site, or some specified portion of the same pews or seats, shall not be let for any payment of money, and thereupon it shall be unlawful to let the same pews or seats or portion of the same for payment of money.

3. [Securing stipend to incumbent where seats are wholly or partially free.] In every case in which it is so declared that no portion of the pews or seats shall be let for any payment of money, a sufficient endowment or stipend of not less than one hundred pounds per annum shall be secured to the incumbent by or to the satisfaction of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and in every case in which a portion only of the pews or seats may not be so let, an endowment or stipend of such amount as the said Commissioners may determine, regard being had to the proportion of pews or seats which may not be so let, shall be in like manner secured.

36 & 37 VICT. CAP. 50.

An Act to afford further facilities for the Conveyance of
Land for Sites for Places of Religious Worship and for
Burial Places.
[21st July, 1873.]

WHE

HEREAS it is expedient to afford greater facilities for granting sites for buildings for religious worship and for burial places in England and Wales :

Be it therefore enacted, &c., as follows:

1. [Landlords empowered to convey land to be used as sites for places of worship and residence of the minister.] Any person or persons being seised or entitled in fee simple, fee tail, or for life or lives of or to any manor or lands of freehold tenure, and having the beneficial interest therein, and being in possession for the time being, may grant, convey, or enfranchise by way of gift, sale, or exchange in fee simple, or for any term of years, any quantity not exceeding one acre of such land, not being part of a demesne or pleasure ground attached to any mansion house, as a site for a church, chapel, meeting house, or other place of divine worship, or for the residence of a minister officiating in

such place of worship or in any place of worship within one mile of such site, or for a burial place, or any number of such sites, provided that each such site does not exceed the extent of one acre: [If lands cease to be used for the purposes of the Act, then to revert.] Provided also, that no such grant, conveyance, or enfranchisement made by any person seised or entitled only for life or lives of or to any such manor or lands shall be valid unless the person next entitled to the same for a beneficial interest in remainder in fee simple or fee tail (if legally competent) shall be a party to and join in the same, or if such person be a minor, or married woman, or lunatic, unless the guardian, husband, or committee of such person respectively shall in like manner concur Provided also, that in case the said land so granted, conveyed, or enfranchised as aforesaid, or any part thereof, shall at any time be used for any purpose other than as a site for such place of worship or residence, or burial place, or, in the case of a place of worship or residence, shall cease for a year at one time to be used as such place of worship or residence, the same shall thereupon revert to and become a portion of the lands from which the same was severed, as fully to all intents and purposes as if this Act had not been passed, anything herein contained to the contrary notwithstanding. The provisions hereinbefore contained with respect to any manor or lands of freehold tenure shall apply to lands of copyhold or customary tenure, but_so, nevertheless, that the provisions of "The Lands Clauses Con"solidation Act, 1845," with respect to copyhold lands (being sections 95, 96, 97, and 98 of such Act) shall for the purposes of this enactment be incorporated with this Act.

2. [As to payment of purchase money, &c.] The purchase money or enfranchisement money or money to be received for equality of exchange on any such sale, enfranchisement, or exchange shall, if such sale, enfranchisement, or exchange be made by any person or persons seised or entitled in fee simple or fee tail, be paid to the person or persons making such sale, enfranchisement, or exchange, but if such sale, enfranchisement, or exchange be made by any person or persons seised or entitled for life or lives only, then such purchase money, or enfranchisement money, or money to be received for equality of exchange, shall be paid to the existing trustees or trustee (if any) of the instrument under which such person or persons is or are so seised or entitled, to be held by them upon the trusts upon which the land conveyed for such site was held, or if there be no such existing trustees or trustee to two or more trustees to be nominated in writing by the person or persons making such sale, enfranchisement, or exchange; and the receipt of any person or persons to whom such money is hereby directed to be paid shall effectually discharge the person or persons paying such purchase or enfranchisement money or money for equality of exchange

therefrom, and from all liability in respect of the application thereof; and the trustees so to be nominated as aforesaid shall invest such purchase or enfranchisement money or money to be received for equality of exchange in the purchase of other lands or hereditaments to be settled to the same uses and trusts as the land conveyed for such site should have stood limited to; and until such investment, such purchase or enfranchisement money or money to be received for equality of exchange shall be invested upon such securities or investments as would for the time being be authorized by statute or by the Court of Chancery, and for the purposes of devolution and enjoyment shall be treated as land subject to the same uses and trusts as the land conveyed for such site should have stood limited to.

3. [Persons under disability empowered to convey lands for the purposes of the Act.] Where any person or persons is or are equitably entitled to any manor or lands, but the legal estate therein shall be in some trustee or trustees, it shall be sufficient for such person or persons to convey or otherwise assure the same for the purposes of this Act without the trustee or trustees being party or parties to the conveyance or other assurance thereof, and where any married woman shall be seised or possessed of or entitled to any estate or interest, manorial or otherwise, in land proposed to be conveyed or otherwise assured for the purposes of this Act, she and her husband may convey, or otherwise assure the same, for such purposes by deed without any acknowledgment thereof; and where it is deemed expedient to purchase any land for the purposes aforesaid belonging to or vested in any infant or lunatic, such land may be conveyed or otherwise assured by the guardian of such infant or the committee of such lunatic respectively, who may receive the purchase money for the same, and give valid and sufficient discharges to the party paying such purchase money, who shall not be required to see to the application thereof; and in every such case respectively the legal estate shall, by such conveyance or other assurance, vest in the trustees of such place of worship or residence; and if any land taken under this Act be subject to any rent, and part only of the land subject to any such rent be required to be taken for the purposes of this Act, the apportionment of such rent may be settled by agreement between the owner of such rent and the person or persons to whom the land is conveyed; and if such apportionment be not so settled by agreement, then the same shall be settled by two justices as provided in "The Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845," section 119: Provided nevertheless, that nothing herein contained shall prejudice or affect the right of any person or persons entitled to any charge or incumbrance on such land.

4. Form of grants, &c.] All gifts, grants, conveyances, assurances, and leases of any site for a place of worship, or the

residence of a minister, under the provisions of this Act, in respect of any land, messuages, or buildings, may be made according to the form following, or as near thereto as the circumstances of the case will admit; (that is to say),

66 6

66

I

[or We] under the authority of an Act passed in the thirty

toria, intituled 'An Act to afford further facilities for the conveyance of land for sites for places of religious worship "and for burial places,' do hereby freely and voluntarily, and "without any valuable consideration, [or, do, in the considera"tion of the sum of pounds to me or the said paid] grant [alienate] and convey [or lease] to A. B. all [description of the premises], and all [my or our or the right, title, and “interest of the] to and in the same and every part thereof, to "hold unto and to the use of the said and his or their "heirs, or executors, or administrators, or successors, for the purposes of the said Act, and to be applied as a site for a place "of worship, or for a residence for a minister or ministers offi"ciating in or for a burial place, and for no other purposes whatever. [In case the site be conveyed to trustees, a "clause providing for the removal of the trustees, and in cases "where the land is purchased, exchanged, or demised, usual "covenants or obligations for title may be added.]

66

66

"In witness whereof, the conveying and other parties have "hereunto set their hands and seals, the

66

day of

Signed, sealed, and delivered by the said
“in the presence of

of

One witness to the execution of the document by each party shall be sufficient, and any assurance under this Act shall be and continue valid if otherwise lawful, although the donor or grantor shall die within twelve calendar months from the execution thereof.

5. [Ecclesiastical Commissioners may accept trusts.] The persons herein-before specified may convey, by way of gift, sale, or exchange, any site or sites, not exceeding in the case of any one site the quantity aforesaid, for any of the purposes of the Church Building Acts, to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England, or as such Commissioners may direct, and such Commissioners may also act as trustees for the purpose of taking and holding any sites granted under this Act; and all conveyances made under this present enactment shall be deemed to be made under the Church Building Acts, and the land conveyed shall vest in conformity with such conveyances and the Church Building Acts.

6. Act not to extend to Scotland or Ireland.

7. This Act may be cited as "The Places of Worship Sites "Act, 1873."

37 & 38 VICT. CAP. 85.

An Act for the better administration of the Laws respecting the regulation of Public Worship. [7th August, 1874.]

WE

THEREAS it is expedient that in certain cases further regulations should be made for the administration of the laws relating to the performance of divine service according to the use of the Church of England:

Be it enacted, &c., as follows:

1. This Act may be cited as The Public Worship Regulation Act, 1874.

2. This Act shall come into operation on the 1st of July, 1875, except where expressly herein-after provided.

3. Act to extend to England, to the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man.

4. Proceedings taken under this Act shall not be deemed to be such proceedings as are mentioned in the Act of the 3 & 4 Vict. c. 86, s. 23.

5. [Saving of jurisdiction.] Nothing in this Act contained, save as herein expressly provided, shall be construed to affect or repeal any jurisdiction which may now be in force for the due administration of ecclesiastical law.

6. [Interpretation of terms.] In this Act the following terms shall, if not inconsistent with the context, be thus interpretedThe term “bishop means the archbishop or bishop of the diocese in which the church or burial ground is situate to which a representation relates :

The term "Book of Common Prayer” means the book annexed to the Act of the fourteenth year of the reign of King Charles the Second, c. 4, intituled "The Book of "Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, "and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, according "to the use of the Church of England; together with the "Psalter or Psalms of David, pointed as they are to be sung 66 or said in churches; and the form or manner of making, "ordaining, and consecrating, of Bishops, Priests, and "Deacons ;" together with such alterations as have from time to time been or may hereafter be made in the said book by lawful authority:

The term "burial ground” means any churchyard, cemetery, or burial ground, or the part of any cemetery or burial ground, in which, at the burial of any corpse therein, the order for the burial of the dead contained in the Book of Common Prayer is directed by law to be used: The term "church means any church, chapel, or place of public worship in which the incumbent is by law or by the