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or in any chapel or church licensed for marriages. (2.) The special licence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, under which the marriage may take place at any place or time. To marry persons without banns or

licence is a felony.

The minister should be careful that there are two witnesses present, and that these witnesses attest the entries in the register books, which are kept in duplicate. (6 & 7 Wm. 4, cap 86, ss. 17 31.)

A short Act was passed in 1835, rendering void certain marriages between relatives which before were voidable. (5 & 6 Wm. 4, cap. 54)

All civil jurisdiction over marriage was taken away from the Ecclesiastical Courts by the Act of 1857 (20 & 21 Vict. cap. 85). An incumbent may under this Act decline to marry a divorced person, but he must allow another clergyman of the diocese to perform the service (ss. 57, 58).

Although the presumption of law is in favor of the validity of a marriage (Phill. E. L. 822), great care should be taken to comply with the directions of the several statutes in every particular. Where it is impossible to comply literally, the parties must do all they can to comply with the law. (Stallwood v. Tredger, 2 Phill. Rep. 287.)

As to giving certificates, etc.: Vide CERTIFICATE: FEES.

Member of the Church.

A term found in several modern statutes, and therefore to be noted here, but a term so vague as to defy definition. In some sense all who have been baptised are members of the Church; in another, only those who attend, with more or less frequency, its services. More exactly speaking, communicants alone are entitled to be called members of the Church. Under the new statutes" of the Irish Church any "member" may be registered as a vestryman, but

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only a communicant' may be elected diocesan or general synodsman. There is no definition given of the word "communicant" in these new statutes.

Under the P. W. R. Act, 1874, the Judge must be a member of the Church; and the three complainant parishioners must certify themselves to be members of the Church. The complainant churchwarden (unless of a new statutory parish) may happen however to be a Dissenter, or of no religion.

Minister.

An ambiguous term, and not even restricted to those who have received Holy Orders. In the Book of C. P. it is applied in some cases to the officiating clergyman, whether priest or deacon. But where it is enacted (13 Eliz. cap. 12) that none shall be made minister under the age of twenty-four, this must be taken to refer to priests only. Can. 42 refers to "Vicars-choral, and other ministers" of a cathedral. It has lately been decided that the expression "Wesleyan minister" (Keet v. Smith, 1 P. Div. 73) is allowable as part of the inscription on a tombstone.

The only definition of the word that can now be given is this-one whose regular vocation it is to minister, whether in the Church or in any religious sect or denomination.

Oaths.

The only oath now to be taken in place of the old oaths of allegiance and supremacy, is the brief one of allegiance to the Queen her heirs and successors. (28 & 29 Vict. cap. 122; and 31 & 32 Vict. cap. 72.)

Offertory: vide ALMS.

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Ordination

May be given or refused by a Bishop at his absolute discretion. This power, inherent in the episcopal office, cannot be interfered with. (Phill. Eccl. Law 5.)

Can. 34 fixes twenty-three as the lowest age for receiving deacon's, and twenty-four as that for receiving priest's orders; but in the former case, by special leave, or faculty, deacon's orders may be conferred at an earlier age. After ordination no question as to age can be allowed to be raised,-it is conclusive as to the legal qualifications of the candidate.

Orders are indelible; but, for secular purposes, a deacon or priest may divest himself of the clerical character in the manner pointed out by a statute of 1870. Vide CLERGY..

The rule is, that no person shall receive orders without a title or certain sphere of duty, such as a promised curacy or an university fellowship. (Can. 33.)

Subscription to the Articles and the Book of C. P. was required on ordination by Can 36, and oaths were formerly required which are now dispensed with by statute. Both Convocations in 1865 passed new canons conformable to the present law.

No oath is now required to be taken in the ordination service (stat. 28 & 29 Vict. cap. 122, sec. II), and declaration of assent is made instead of subscription.

An Act of 1864 removed disabilities which attached to clergy of the Scottish Church. (27 & 28 Vict. cap. 94.) The legal fees to the diocesan officers on ordination amount to 47s.

The effect of ordination in Scotland, and Ireland, and abroad, and in the colonies, is far too wide a question to enter upon here. It is fully treated of in Phill. Eccl. Law, pp. 145, 2271 et seq. The Colonial Clergy Act, 1874 (printed in the Appendix to this work), repealing some of the older enactments, allows clergymen ordained out of England, on making a

declaration, and with the licence of the Archbishop, to enter on benefices or cathedral preferments in England.

Organist: Vide CHURCH-OFFICERS.

Ornaments.

This term must, after the judgments in the case of Mr Liddell and Mr. Mackonochie, be taken to include any furniture, fittings, or articles necessary to be used in the services and rites of the Church. The font, the Holy Table and its coverings, the communion plate, bells, and lawful vestments, are to be ranked as 66 ornaments." The "Ornaments Rubric," in the Book of C. P., was lately reconsidered by the Judicial Committee in the case of Mr. Ridsdale; and the general result seems to be that what was used in the year 1661, i.e., what had been retained and was used after the Restoration, is rather to be looked at, than what was in use in the time of Edw. VI. The uncertainty of fact was considered by the Final Court to be in a great degree capable of being cleared up by reference to the Canons of 1603, and to historical documents, all forming expositio contemporanea. The other cases on the construction of this and the other rubrics dealing with rites and ceremonies, are referred to in the judgment in Mr. Ridsdale's Case, which will be found in the Appendix to this volume.

As pictures and statuary are in a conventional sense ornaments, although not within the legal definition of that term, it may here be noted that, in the case referred to, the Court condemned a crucifix which surmounted the chancel screen, and also a series of paintings resembling the "stations of the Cross,” seen in Roman Catholic Churches. A reredos which included a sculptured representation of the Crucifixion has, however, been admitted. (Hughes v. Edwards, 2 P. Div. 361.)

Parish Clerk.

Anciently in holy orders; but now usually, though not necessarily, a lay-assistant, holding a temporal office. Can. 91 directs that he shall be of competent skill in singing, and that he shall be appointed by the parson or vicar. It is however proper, if not obligatory, that the appointment should be signified to the parishioners in vestry.

In 1844 an Act was passed to prevent neglect of duty and misbehaviour on the part of parish clerks (not being in holy orders), and to impose discipline on such, the Archdeacon's Court being the proper tribunal. (7 & 8 Vict. cap. 59.) This Act provides (sec. 2) that a clerk in holy orders may be appointed parish clerk, who shall be in the position of a stipendiary curate, and shall hold the Bishop's licence as such.

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The parish clerk is by custom entitled to fees on marriages and burials, but not on baptisms.

Under the New Parishes Acts the clerk is appointed and removed by the incumbent; and he may be removed for misconduct. (19 & 20 Vict. cap. 104, sec. 9). If the living is vacant the curate in charge appoints the parish clerk. (Pender v. Barr, 4 Ell. & B. 105.)

Parishioner.

Every parishioner or resident in the parish has a right to accommodation for himself and his family, so far as it can be accorded, in the parish church. He has also well-known rights as to interment in the graveyard, if there is one available. He may also claim to have his children baptized in church without fee; but on marriages and burials the fees sanctioned by local custom may be required of him.

Rate-paying parishioners have the right of attending the meetings of vestry, and ordinarily of choosing one of the two churchwardens. It is (according to old law) the duty of the parishioners at large to re

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